Mark Greenberg Files for 3rd Run at 5th District

This article written and reported by Aaron Boyd.

A two-time Republican primary candidate for the 5th Congressional District, Litchfield businessman Mark Greenberg has thrown his name into contention again, filing initial paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to run in 2014.  

Greenberg garnered 28 percent of GOP primary votes in 2012, coming in second to Andrew Roraback (34 percent) in a four-way race.Roraback ultimately lost to Democratic candidate Elizabeth Esty in the general election.

Greenberg released the following note Wednesday afternoon:

I wanted to write a short note to you now that I have officially filed the paperwork to be your candidate for the 5th District Congressional seat in 2014. While many things have changed in our district, state, and country since our last election, I think we can all agree that few are for the better.

While politicians in DC continue to avoid tough issues and believe that kicking the can down the road will help keep them in power, they do this at the expense of our children's future with an unsustainable national debt. Politicians in DC continue to try to score political points and raise money for their next election while families struggle to put food on their tables and gas in their cars.

During my run for Congress in 2012 I was very proud of the positive and substantial campaign that we waged and in finishing a strong second place in the primary to a man I consider a friend, Andrew Roraback.

In the past five months so many of you have emailed, called, and told me at Republican events of your disappointment with the results and asked if I would run again. While many have said that they feel like giving up, so many more have committed to double your efforts and work to get this state and country back on the right track for our future generations.

I have said repeatedly that I am a product of the American dream and have entered the political arena to make sure that my children, their friends, and your kids have the same opportunity that so many of us have had in this great country. Like so many of you I would prefer to leave the governing to others and spend time with my incredible wife and wonderful children while continuing the work of rescuing animals through The Simon Foundation that we started years ago.

However, we continue to elect too many people who care little for you or about doing anything other than staying in office, enjoying the perks of Washington DC, and voting appropriately for that goal. You can see this in our current Representative, Elizabeth Esty, who in an eight day period last month sent out at least six emails asking for money. Incredibly, five yes five of them specifically mentioned me by name while the other was from our favorite Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi!

Over the next several months our team will be focused on laying the groundwork to take back the 5th district congressional seat and keeping Nancy Pelosi from once again becoming Speaker of the House. I will also be doing everything I can to help towns elect more Republicans to office at the municipal level as we did in 2011. By winning at the local level in 2013 we can help set the groundwork for successful congressional, gubernatorial, general assembly, and other races in 2014!

I look forward to working with each of you to make sure that Connecticut and the United States are the places of opportunity that you and I remember. As always, please feel free to contact me for any reason.

Mark