First Selectman Fred Camillo will officially launch his re-election campaign Monday, July 14, at 4:30 p.m. on the front lawn of the Board of Education Building on Greenwich Avenue, inviting supporters to hear the news in person.
Confirming the plan in an interview this morning, Camillo underscored his record of bipartisan work and his vision for Greenwich as a model for Connecticut.
“I not only love the job, but I love serving my hometown,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of the things we said we’d work on in December of 2019 either done or in the midst of getting done. That makes me very proud.”
Camillo emphasized his approach to collaboration locally and even on contentious state-level issues like housing mandates, where he works to mitigate the effect of potentially negative legislation on Greenwich. “I reached out to Bob Duff and Jason Rojas (both authors of parts of the 5002 Hartford omnibus housing bill). We had a great conversations,” Camillo said, describing his relationship with top legislative Democrats. “Even something as controversial as that, if you have open lines of communication, where a lot of people don’t, that helps. My opponents did not have those connections, especially across the aisle. I do, and I’m proud of that. That comes with time and effort and a lot of sweat equity.”
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He said both Duff and Rojas see that Greenwich’s housing strategy offers an example for other towns. “If you can come to Greenwich, see what we’ve done here, and promote that to other towns, see if that would help them get more affordable units—but in a local way and not through mandate from Hartford—then we’re happy to help. Because we’re a part of Connecticut, we want Connecticut to thrive,” he said.
Camillo noted Greenwich’s gains in affordable housing stock. “Since I took office, we’re up over 14% over what we were, which is a lot in a short period of time. We have plans on the table that will get us to 7% overall in the next few years, which again is a huge jump.”
Reflecting on his style, Camillo said, “When I was in the legislature, sometimes I would debate my friends across the aisle on budgetary measures and controversial items, but we did work together. Even if you disagree on a lot of things, to have a relationship and in many cases a friendship— that helped and even saved some of my legislation that got passed into law.”
He added: “Anybody who serves publicly, the main thing they try to do is always leave things in a better condition than they found it, and to hand it off to future generations and office holders so they can build upon what you’ve done.”
Camillo credited the late former First Selectman Griff Harris as a model for transformative leadership and said Harris’s son, Griff Harris Jr., will formally nominate him on July 23. “I always patterned myself after that—to try and be transformative, build upon what we love about Greenwich and marry that with a brighter and bolder future,” Camillo said.
Read our full article and in-depth interview with Camillo in this week’s Greenwich Sentinel , available by subscription (https://www.greenwichsentinel.com/subscribe/) and at news stands this coming Friday morning.
