Danbury mayor and Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Boughton said this week that he hopes to be at or near the $250,000 fund raising goal for public financing in time for the party’s nominating convention in May.
“If we’re not qualified by then I believe we’ll be close, within striking distance,” Boughton said Wednesday.
Boughton, who is seeking the nomination along with Greenwich businessman Tom Foley, state Sen. John McKinney and state Sen. Toni Boucher, said he has “dozens” of fund raising events scheduled for the coming weeks.
The next campaign finance reports, which cover contributions and expenses through the end of March, is due in mid April.
As of the last filing on Jan. 10, Boughton was behind other gubernatorial hopefuls in fund raising efforts having raised about $53,000.
Foley, who spent more than $10 million of his own money during the 2010 gubernatorial race, raised about $131,000 as of Dec. 31. Foley has said that he’ll use the Citizens Election Fund to finance his campaign this time around, although he’s left the door open to self fund if he desires to do so.
Anyone seeking the public money needs to raise $250,000 in $100 donations from at least 2,500 to become eligible for state funds for both a primary battle and the general election.
Having that money already in place before the convention would be a huge feather in the cap for any of the candidates as they vie for delegate support.
As of Dec. 31, McKinney had raised about $134,000 while Boucher had about $67,000 in her war chest.
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