Lauretti Takes Petitions for Republican Primary for Governor.

That did not take long. Mark Lauretti, longtime mayor of Shelton, has taken out petitions from the Office of the Secretary of the State to begin collecting signatures to join the Republican primary ballot for governor. Lauretti will need to submit 8,190 signatures of registered Republicans by June 10th to qualify for the August primary.

Lauretti fell far short of winning the support of 15% of the delegates to last weekend’s Republican state convention that would have given him a spot in the primary race without having to gather signatures. The task of collecting 10,000 signatures (to have a buffer) from registered Republicans in three weeks is a formidable one.

In other post-covention news, Jerry Farrell, a Wallingford ally of the Labriola brothers, will not proceed to a primary for attorney general. Farrell endorsed convention winner Kie Westby.