Lt. Governor Michael Fedele, today announced he’s raised the $250,000 in contributions of $100 or less and has filed for the Citizens’ Elections Fund. He also formed a joint committee with Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, candidate for Lt. Governor today, who formed his committee just one month ago. It means that Fedele may have about $2 million to compete with Tom Foley of Greenwich, who is not participating in the voluntary public-financing program.
Here’s the rest of his news release:
“Fedele is the first statewide Republican candidate to reach the goal since the program was enacted. The CEP has strict donation and expenditure limits excluding lobbyists, state contractors and donations exceeding $100. The CEP requires gubernatorial candidates to raise $250,000 in small dollar contributions, in order to demonstrate widespread individual support and to eliminate the influence of wealthy special interests.
“The people of Connecticut have stated repeatedly they want special interest influence out of politics,” said Fedele. “This tremendous outpouring of support in such a short period of time shows our campaign has a real grassroots, not just a personal checkbook or a few friends in high places.”
“Qualifying for the clean elections program means our campaign will have the resources to compete with our wealthy self-funding opponents in the primary and against whoever emerges as the Democrat standard-bearer in August,” Fedele said. “We look forward to taking our message of fiscal conservatism and accountable and transparent government to the electorate,” Fedele Added.
“I am excited and honored to be part of the first statewide Republican team to qualify for clean elections funding,” said Boughton. With our fundraising behind us, Mike and I will now focus our efforts entirely on connecting with the voters we seek to serve, and sharing our vision for moving our state forward.”
The Fedele-Boughton team received qualifying small dollar contributions from nearly 3,000 individuals, averaging just over $80 per contribution. Under the CEP a candidate who qualifies is eligible for up to $8.5 million in funding. The campaign reached this landmark in just over 6 months, compared to more than 16 months of fund-raising for Democrat Dan Malloy.”