Alma mater Nichols College Predecessor Abe Morelli Website [rudymarconi.com] Education Nichols College | Occupation Elected official Political party Democratic Name Rudy Marconi | |
 | ||
Born June 7, 1948 (age 75) ( 1948-06-07 ) Title First Selectman, Town of Ridgefield, Connecticut | ||
Rudy Marconi from Ridgefield Ct
Rudy Marconi (born June 7, 1948) is the first selectman of Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA, and exploratory candidate for governor of Connecticut. First elected as first selectman in 1999, he is serving his fifth term.
Contents
Early life and education
Born and raised in Ridgefield, Connecticut, Marconi is the grandson of first-generation Italian immigrants who settled in Ridgefield. In high school, Marconi was a three-letter athlete, leading his high school’s football, basketball, and baseball teams. Marconi attended the Nichols College of Business Administration, where he earned his BBA in 1971.
Personal life
Marconi is married to the former Peggy Loomis and has four children and one grandchild. He was previously married which ended in divorce.
Professional career
After graduation, Marconi worked for 15 years in the paper and printing industry in both Boston and Long Island. In 1986, Marconi returned to Ridgefield and joined Nano Marconi, Inc., the family contracting company, where he worked until 1999.
Political career
In 1989, Marconi was elected to Ridgefield’s Planning and Zoning Commission, on which he served until 1993. Ridgefield subsequently elected Marconi to its Board of Selectmen in 1993, where he served for two two-year terms. In 1997, Marconi ran for the office of first selectman, but was narrowly defeated by Republican Abe Morelli. Between 1997 and 1999, Marconi served as the chairman of Ridgefield’s Democratic Town Committee. In 1999, Marconi again campaigned for the office of First Selectman against Morelli, and won, the first Democrat to beat a Republican incumbent in the majority Republican town in half a century. Marconi is currently serving his fifth term as Ridgefield’s first selectman. Due to a 2007 change in the town charter, it is a four-year term.
Gubernatorial exploratory campaign
On October 5, 2009, Marconi announced he would form an exploratory committee to consider a run for the Connecticut governorship in 2010. He pledged that, if he were to run, it would be under Connecticut's public campaign finance program, the Connecticut Citizen's Election Program, in support of clean elections.
Marconi has outlined that his campaign priorities are centered on education, transportation, and economic development.
In January 2010, Marconi called for the re-institution of tolls in Connecticut using electronic toll collection, which does not require stopping or slowing. He cited a study by the state Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board which claimed tolls could generate a billion dollars a year in revenue for transportation.
Marconi's campaign has made use of the website YouTube in order to discuss his campaign and address political issues as well as to text.
Ridgefield
During Marconi's first term, he convened the first-ever Town Summit, which brought town officials and citizens together to solve a sanitation dilemma for a new middle school. Marconi also put together a 10-year financial plan, which secured financial security for the town of Ridgefield, resulting with a AAA bond rating for the 10 consecutive years he has been in office.
Marconi has led the acquisition of more than 600 acres (2.4 km2) for the preservation of open space, including Bennett's Pond, which has since been converted to a state park.
Beyond Ridgefield
Marconi has worked on issues of regional, state and interstate concern. Marconi led the successful effort to oppose casino expansion in the southwest corridor of Connecticut as a member of the CT Alliance Against Casino Expansion.
Marconi continues his efforts to oppose the FAA's plan to move the current LaGuardia Airport-bound traffic from Westchester to Fairfield County and has testified in Washington on the state's behalf. Marconi is Chairman of Alliance for Sensible Airspace Planning, representing 13 communities in Fairfield County and New York; he is secretary of the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority; and is a member of the Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership.
He is active in the fight against Lyme disease. He is past chair and currently vice-chair of the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials, the regional planning agency. He serves on the boards of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Council of Small Towns.