Shelton tests the erratic power of endorsements in another Lauretti vs. Perillo struggle.

The April 22nd special election has become something other than a contest between Republican Amy Romano and Democrat Mike Duncan. It is another round in the long struggle between Mayor Mark Lauretti and state Senator Jason Perillo for supremacy in the hothouse of Shelton politics.

Amy Romano holds significant advantages as the Republican candidate in the April 22nd special election for state representative in the 113th House District. The district, which includes most of Shelton, has not elected a Democrat in more than 50 years. The late beloved Dick Belden represented Shelton in the House for more than 30 years, from 1975 until his death in 2007. Perillo won a special election to succeed Belden and served in the seat until February’s special election for the Senate seat Republican Kevin Kelly gave up to become a judge.

Lauretti is serving his 17th two-year term. Shelton may like an incumbent, but no mayor lasts more than 30 uninterrupted years in power without a honed sense of potential rivals. Romano, chair of the local Board of Education, is a Perillo person. She defeated Lauretti’s choice for Perillo’s seat. Lauretti seems to like Duncan.

A successful local real estate agent married to a developer, Romano can probably speak for herself. She chose (or maybe her lines were written out) to remain silent in a strange 30-second ad with Perillo. He won his special election in February, but seems not to want to cede the center ring to Romano for even a short time. Overbearing man, silent woman candidate does not seem in sync with our times.

Romano has won an election in Shelton and would have to be a terrible candidate to lose this one. She may be hoping that no one will notice that her pledge to do something about electricity costs in Connecticut does not square with her endorsement by Perillo–who provided a crucial 2017 vote for the Millstone electricity deal that cost ratepayers so much last summer. Or it could be that issues that matter to Shelton voters must cede their place to the consuming Lauretti-Perillo rivalry.