Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) makes an impromptu stop at a Hartford luncheon where Texas counterpart Rick Perry (R) courts Connecticut businesses to move to his state, including firearms companies. Photo courtesy of Andrew Doba’s Twitter feed.
Cue the “Spaghetti Western” soundtrack.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) conveniently found a block of free time in his daily schedule Monday and used it to make an impromptu stop at a luncheon in downtown Hartford hosted by his Texas counterpart, Rick Perry, who is trying to entice businesses here to relocate to the Lone Star State.
“So he swung by. It was very collegial,” said Andrew Doba, a spokesman for Malloy. “The governor just welcomed him to the state and said that he knows we’re in competition with one another.”
Malloy spent about five minutes with the former GOP presidential candidate at the Max Downtown, mere blocks from the Capitol, where lawmakers overwhelmingly passed what is widely regarded as the toughest gun law in the nation earlier this year in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Perry, who gave a keynote speech at the annual convention of the National Rifle Association in May in Houston, was scheduled to meet with several firearms companies as part of a recruitment tour of the state that will wrap up in Fairfield County this evening and Malloy’s home city of Stamford.
“He wanted to show some good old-fashioned Yankee hospitality,” Doba said.