GOP candidates mingle with guests

Hopefuls for multiple offices meet and greet at party mixer

WILTON — Lisa Pojano hasn’t been on the Wilton Republican Town Committee long — she joined this year — but her father has bombarded her with questions for years about who he should vote for and why.

This time, instead of answering, she brought him to an RTC-sponsored mixer so he could get the answers first-hand.

“It was great for him to get to ask his questions,” she said of her father, Rob, who declined to provide his last name. Of those politicians in attendance, Rob said he was most impressed with Harry Arora who is challenging Democratic incumbent Jim Himes for his seat in the 4th Congressional District, and Art Linares, who faces a tough Republican primary for state treasurer.

The kind of candid interaction Pojano and her father had with the candidates was exactly what RTC leadership hoped would happen Sunday afternoon when they banned speeches inside the quaint Old Wilton Town Hall. With more candidates for statewide office than any election in recent memory — there’s still six Republicans and three Democrats vying for votes for the governor’s office alone — the speeches have been plentiful, and in most cases, repetitive.

“What we didn’t want was two hours of speeches,” said Wilton RTC Chairman Bill Lawlor. “No one would show up for that.”

Instead, a dozen Republican candidates for

offices ranging from U.S. Senate to state Rep. mingled with members of the RTC and their guests over sandwiches and seltzer. It was a small crowd of roughly 50 people and the few tables scattered throughout the room were littered with campaign materials touting the candidates’ names, various credentials and talking points. But if candidates were trying to reach the general public, this wasn’t the place to do it. Most of the people in the room were candidates, people affiliated with a specific

campaign or Wilton RTC members.

But in a crowded election season — candidates for nearly every office face a primary — every voter matters, especially those registered with a specific party as they’ll be the ones at the polls come August.

“We’ve broadened our circle from delegate voters to primary voters and the people here are in tune with the Republican voters in their community,” said John Shaban, who is running for Attorney General and qualified for a primary against party-endorsed candidate Sue Hatfield, who was also in attendance. “It's great to have

these face-to-face conversations.”

Steve Obsitnik, the Westport tech entrepreneur running for governor, parked his campaign RV outside. With a smile on his face, he made the rounds, chatting with nearly every person in the room, seemingly aware when a camera was pointed his direction, though that could just be coincidence.

Many of the people who attended events had already thrown their support behind Obsitnik as delegates at the state Republican convention last month, where he earned enough votes to qualify for the primary ballot against Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst. Boughton also stopped by for the final hour of mingling, while Herbst was nowhere to be seen.

“I just met Steve, but he’s got an impressive background and if that can translate into a new thought process in government that would be great,” said Christian Bilella, the husband of a Wilton RTC member and one of the token few who hadn’t already met every candidate in attendance.