Caligiuri to file Senate bid today
BY STEVE GAMBINI | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN 11/30/2005
Waterbury — Former acting Mayor Sam S.F. Caligiuri plans to register his candidacy for the 16th state Senate district with the Secretary of the State today.
Caligiuri, a Republican, will be the first official candidate for the seat being vacated by Democrat Christopher Murphy, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for Congress against U.S. Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, R-5th District.
The election is in November 2006.
"I don't like the direction that I see the Democrats-controlled legislature going,” Caligiuri said. “I think they’re increasingly out of step with the people in this district.”
The “lethal formula” of excessive spending and business-unfriendly legislation prompted Caligiuri to get in the race, he said.
The field of potential competitors for the seat is large.
Among the current front-runners for the Democratic nomination are Rep. Zeke Zalaski, D-Southington, and Rep. John Mazurek, D-Wolcott.
The Senate district covers the East End of Waterbury, Wolcott, Cheshire and Southington.
“Good for him,” said Mazurek, responding to Caligiuri’s planned filing.
Mazurek said he will decide in January whether to seek his party’s nomination, but is 95 percent certain that he will run.
“I think it would be a very spirited race. A very good race,” Mazurek said. “We can put the issues out there on the table and let the people decide.”
Caligiuri, an attorney who was recently made partner at Day, Berry & Howard in Hartford, is well known in Waterbury for his brief tenure as mayor. As president of the Board of Aldermen, he tool over the city when former Mayor Phillip Giordano was arrested in July 2001.
During his time as mayor, Caligiuri reformed the city’s corrupt towing system and negotiated two contracts through the state oversight board, which had taken over city finances earlier that year.
He also is remembered for his overthrow of aldermanic President Nick Augelli in 2001.
His candidacy won the early endorsement of Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who is quoted as saying he is “exactly the sort of person we need in Hartford,” in a news release announcing Caligiuri’s candidacy.
Sen. Lou DeLuca, R-32nd District, also chipped in with early support for Caligiuri.
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