Rudy! Rudy!

Declaring himself a long shot, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi, who says tolls will help solve the state’s massive deficit, officially announced his Democratic candidacy for governor today. From the Marconi campaign:

RUDY MARCONI ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY FOR GOVERNOR

“We still have time to turn Connecticut around,” he says.

HARTFORD, April 12–Rudy Marconi, first selectman of Ridgefield and, since October, exploratory candidate for Governor, has announced that he is a candidate for governor of Connecticut.

Marconi made his announcement outside the Hartford Convention Center in advance of the Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey Democratic fundraising dinner.

“I entered this campaign last October because it was clear to me as first selectman that the state had lost its grip on reality—and was putting our cities and towns at risk,” Marconi said. “Nothing I have seen since then has convinced me we have come to terms with our situation.”

Marconi underscored his campaign theme of standing up on behalf of cities and towns to a dysfunctional state government. “Connecticut must serve its cities and towns—not the other way around. This means end unfunded mandates, stop forcing us to increase property taxes, and permit us to regionalize as we see fit,” he said.

Since beginning his campaign, Marconi has met with Democratic Town Committees, local leaders, labor organizations, businesspeople and ordinary Connecticut citizens. “They’re fed up and they want us to do something,” he said. “Business as usual, and politics as usual, will only push Connecticut further along its path to financial ruin.”

Marconi is the only candidate to call for raising revenues as well as cutting expenditures. “Yes, we must make significant cuts, but we must raise revenue as well. I have proposed instituting tolls and making our income tax more progressive. I have heard no one else come forward with a proposal that would raise revenues,” he said.

Marconi acknowledged that he is a long shot but said he intends to continue pressing his message. “I am down but not out because Connecticut itself is down but not out. We still have the time to turn it around,” he said.