CT Governor Ned Lamont appointed Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton to CT Tax Commissioner late last week. Boughton will leave City Hall in the middle of his tenth term and be replaced by Joe Cavo (President of the City Council) on an interim basis.

There is a massive power vacuum set to open in Danbury next fall and I need to be out in front of the tectonic shift. I've been running around forming new relationships in the wake of the announcement and one of my first calls was to Democratic City-Councilman, Roberto Alves. On the Monday morning (12/14/20) Ethan and Lou show, we had Roberto on the show. (Audio of the entire interview below)

I presented him with a plan, we would form an alliance, I'd run for Mayor as a Republican, he'd run as a Democrat and we would battle it out "may the best man win" style. No matter the outcome, we could secretly share power. As all good radio guests do, he agreed with the host. He was of course joking, but did angle for a regular guest spot on the radio show.

Roberto did mention that he's been asked if he would run or would want to, saying:

"People like me, I was just joking around, right place, wrong time. People like me are sitting here getting tons of calls from people who either get the political game or don't get the game asking me to run or asking folks to run. You know folks like Chris (Setaro) or others are getting those same calls. They have to do some serious soul searching and decide what's best for them, what's best for the community and also what's best for the party."

He continued:

"We have some time from here on out, the election is a long time away but this just spiced things up for a lot of people, huh?" 

Why not Alves? He's a well respected member of the community. Roberto is also of Brazilian/Portuguese descent. His mother is Brazilian, his father is Portuguese. His father spent many years in Portugal and Roberto was born in Portugal. Roberto became a citizen in 2017 and ran for city council the same year, he lost, but ran again in 2019 and was elected.

My in-laws are both U.S. citizens but immigrated here from the Dominican Republic. I know from talking to them that they, and many of their friends, feel underrepresented. Alves running could strike a chord with minority voters in the Hat City.

Plus, with our newfound alliance, I can wield power from behind the scenes.

You can hear the entire interview below. In it, you will hear me propose my ridiculous alliance/power sharing plan. You can hear what Alves thinks about whether Joe Cavo will run for the Republicans after he finishes out Boughton's term and whether he believes former Democratic candidate, Chris Setaro, will run.

Alves and I met on Election Day and I wasted no time and requested an interview on the spot.

In case you missed it, this is how I reacted the day after learning Mayor Boughton was leaving City Hall.

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