The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Making their pitches
Top candidates for governor take part in ‘job interview’
WEST HARTFORD — The four leading candidates for governor sat for job interviews this week during a televised forum that got beneath the surface bluster of this budding political campaign season.
Under one-on-one questioning from Chris Ulrich, a professional and personal coach, ninth-term Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who won the Republican nomination, said he wants to break down barriers and bring people together.
“I think I’m a great person-to-person person,” Boughton said, stressing that he is a good listener. “You have to bring me the solution,” he said, describing a typical meeting in City Hall. “I know the problem.”
He said the issue of illegal immigration among his city’s South American population was a “learning experience” that led to a more harmonious relationship.
“I think what people understand is that we’re about delivering results,” he said. “If I tell you I’m going to pave your road, it might not happen tomorrow, but I’m going to pave your road.”
Since undergoing brain surgery last year, Boughton, the endorsed Republican, said he has discovered hiking, yoga and the beauty of the state. “I think that I’m grounded. I think that’s important,” he said.
The forum, called “A Job Like No Other” and sponsored by the Gov. M. Jodi Rell Center for Public Service at the University of Hart--
ford, featured remarks from
the former governor who took over management of the state after the resignation of John G. Rowland in 2004 and served until 2010.
She told the audience of about 150 in the 600-seat auditorium that the 2018 election is very important.
“I honestly believe that Connecticut is at a crossroads now,” she said. “Civil discourse is probably needed more now than at any other time in our history.”
To Ulrich’s probing, Republican candidate Tim Herbst described himself as “resilient” and tenacious” as well as “loyal, hard-working and principled.”
“I’m very, very persistent,” he said. “I don’t give up. You have to be tenacious. You have to be persistent, and you have to put the extra effort in.”
The former first selectman of Trumbull said that collaboration was the key for him. “You go from making noise in a campaign to governing and improving people’s lives,” he said.
Ned Lamont, the Greenwich businessman who won the Democratic nomination last month, recalled being a volunteer accounting teacher at Bridgeport’s Harding High School in the 1990s.
“Today, I’ve got to tell people how state government helps people’s lives,” he said.
Recalling that he was hyperactive as a 10-year-old, Lamont said that he was able to channel adult levels of that energy to help his telecom company become successful. He recalled leading his team wiring the University of Hartford on a tight deadline. “You had to convince people that it was worth every dime of that effort,” he said.
Ulrich had Lamont think back to his 2006 challenge to U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, when he won the primary then lost to Lieberman’s independent run for reRell, election.
“I was proud that I worked my heart out, and I am back here again,” Lamont said. “I think integrity is doing what you believe is right every day. I’m going to make a lot of tough decisions.”
Steve Obsitnik, a Republican tech entrepreneur from Westport, whose name Ulrich mispronounced at least twice, said that his two daughters, ages 15 and 13, first told him last year not to run for governor, then realized it was a passion for him.
“There’s something inside my heart and my soul and my mind that has been preparing me for this for a long time,” Obsitnik said.
Saying he was “all about team-building and esprit de corps,” he recalled that he helped develop the voiceresponsive application Siri during a 13-year process in Palo Alto.
“How do we solve these little problems for a bolder vision?” asked Obsitnik, who said he plans to add 300,000 Connecticut jobs over the next 10 years.
The four candidates have either won their party’s endorsement — Lamont and Boughton — or qualified for the Aug. 14 primary during the recent state conventions.
Several petitioning candidates were shut out of participating in the one-on-one, including Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, who attended the event and greeted Rell prior to the live broadcast on CPTV.
“To have a tilted process that says to people that might be viewing publicaccess TV that we’re having a debate with one candidate at least on the Democratic side, makes no sense to me,” Ganim told reporters. “I don’t take it personally, but I’m kind of interested into why Ned Lamont is participating in this.”