The Republicans in Wilton have announced that Susan Bruschi plans to run for the open state rep  seat in the 143rd. Norwalk apparently an afterthought, especially reading this:

Blocking the controversial Super 7 highway that would extend the Route 7 connector to Danbury and improving service on Metro-North Railroad’s Danbury Branch are among Bruschi’s top priorities, she sad, as are keeping taxes and government spending to a minimum.

Major irony alret considering Governor Rell was in the area talking about the tough economy.  Rell was pushing no new spending. Which on the surface is not such a bad idea, but the economic s of doing business in lower Fairfield County demand infrastructure focus. As gas continues its march to $10/gallon, as the latest round of experts are predicting, workers who fill those sub $100k/yr jobs in the area are going to be looking for cheaper ways to get to housing and work. Our present, live 15 miles but commute an hour way to life is failing.

But back to the state rep race. The rest of the details:

Bruschi, Wilton’s second selectwoman, will oppose Wilton Democratic Town Registrar Peggy Reeves for the House seat.

Freedman has endorsed Boucher for the 26th District, which includes Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton.

Boucher will compete against Democratic challenger John Hartwell, who was treasurer for Ned Lamont’s 2006 effort to unseat U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.

Boucher endorsed Bruschi at Wilton Town Hall yesterday before the two women left for Hartford to file campaign papers.

“When I was asked to consider running for the Senate seat, the very first thing I said was that I would do it only if an excellent candidate, whom I would feel 100 percent comfortable endorsing, was prepared to run for my seat in the House,” Boucher said.

Bruschi, with seven years of experience in Wilton’s government, is qualified and will bring “continuity” to the office, Boucher said.

A Wilton resident for 14 years, Bruschi is a pharmacist who got her start in local politics on the Wilton Board of Education. A former Wilton Parent Teacher Association president, Bruschi served on the school board for four years, including two as the chairman, before being elected to the Board of Selectmen in November 2007.
A League of Women Voters member, Bruschi currently heads the Wilton Women’s Group and the Republican Women of Westport, which she co-founded about three years ago. Her work as a volunteer earned her the Voluntary Action Council’s Volunteer of the Year award in 2003.

“My first priority, since I am so familiar with Wilton, is to talk to constituents who live in the 143rd District in Norwalk,” Bruschi said. “I’m going to hopefully meet as many of those households, knocking on doors in the coming months, as is humanly and physically possible.”

source: Advocate, Wilton selectwoman to seek Rep. Boucher’s seat, By Alexandra Fenwick, 04/29/2008