Mark Greenberg, a Republican businessman who was the GOP nominee for Congress in the 5th District in 2014, announced his candidacy Wednesday for state comptroller.
Greenberg could be seeking an open seat: Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo, a two-term Democrat, is expected to run for governor unless his friend, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, seeks the nomination.
“Too many years of one-party rule by the Democrats in Hartford has left our state’s economy in tatters. Our state government has failed our families and businesses. Connecticut has historically been one of the nation’s most prosperous states – now we lag behind even our New England neighbors,” Greenberg said in a statement. “It will take bold ideas and innovative approaches to undo the damage our economy has suffered during two terms of Gov. Malloy and the Democratic leadership at the Capitol.”
Greenberg was the opening prosecution witness against John G. Rowland in 2014, when the former governor was tried on charges of conspiring with a congressional candidate to violate campaign finance laws.
In the final weeks of his 2014 campaign, Greenberg presented himself in testimony as a political novice who did the right thing in 2009 and 2010, when he says Rowland pressed him to break campaign finance laws during Greenberg’s first run for Congress
Rowland was convicted of secretly advising Lisa Wilson-Foley during her campaign for Congress in 2012 by accepting payment as a consultant to her husband’s nursing home chain. Greenberg rejected Rowland’s overture to secretly consult for him in 2010.
Greenberg is the founder of MGRE, one of the largest real estate management firms in the New York metropolitan area.
He and his wife, Linda, also are the founders of The Simon Foundation, Inc., a no-kill animal shelter in Bloomfield that has helped place more than 4,000 dogs and cats in new homes.