Community Corner

Naugatuck Native Elected Chairman of State GOP Party

Jerry Labriola achieves the highest votes to replace retiring Chairman Chris Healy, according to reports.

Naugatuck attorney and one-time Congressional candidate Jerry Labriola Jr. was been elected chairman of the Republican party in Connecticut, according to several reports Tuesday evening.

Chris Healy, the outgoing chairman, sent a tweet out of the results of the Connecticut Republican State Central Committee meeting in Bristol, detailing Labriola’s victory over three other candidates. Labriola, a Naugatuck native who went to high school here and practices law in the borough, achieved 43 votes, according to Healy.

Labriola, who now lives in Wallingford, needed a majority vote of the state GOP’s 72-member committee to gain the party leadership role in Connecticut. With the chairman job in hand, Labriola will now succeed Healy, who announced after the 2010 midterm election he would not seek the party leadership in 2011.

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Labriola was the party’s state treasurer up until a week ago when he after the former frontrunner, William Aniskovic, withdrew his bid for the job.

As reported in The Hartford Courant, Labriola is quoted after the meeting as saying “we are going to bring the party together” and “we will go out of this room as a united party.”

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Republicans in Connecticut sent Tweets out celebrating Labriola’s victor. State Sen. Rob Kane, R-Watertown, wrote “Congrats to Jerry Labriola voted GOP state party chair and Themis Klarides vice.” The latter references Klarides, who gained the vice chairman nomination.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton also sent a Tweet congratulating Labriola.

Labriola there will be work to do “in terms of reorganizing the party.”

“My approach will be that of an honest broker and one that Republicans can count on to be fair, open and even-handed,” he said.

Labriola ran for Congress in 2010 in the 3rd Congressional District against 20-year incumbent Rosa DeLauro. DeLauro, a Democrat from New Have, defeated Labriola  

Labriola is the brother of state Rep. David Labriola, who represents the 131st District in the General Assembly, which includes the towns of Naugatuck, Oxford and Southbury. The Labriola brothers operate a law firm on New Haven Road.


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