Stamford's Director of Administration Michael Handler Running For Governor

NEW CANAAN, CT — Michael Handler, a retired investment banker and current Director of Administration for Stamford, announced his candidacy for governor this week, seeking the Republican nomination to succeed the deeply unpopular Gov. Dannel Malloy, a former Democratic Mayor of Stamford.

A New Canaan resident, husband and father, Handler already has a bare-bones campaign website, and if elected, he says he intends to put his extensive finance and government backgrounds to work fixing the vast problems facing Connecticut.

"I am excited to listen to the concerns of our neighbors and to share my experience and solutions to the many significant challenges we face as a state," he told the New Canaan Advertiser in a statement. (To sign up for free, local breaking news alerts from more than 100 Connecticut communities click here.)

Handler joins a crowded field of Republicans seeking the party's nomination to run for governor, including Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti and Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst, among others.

As Director of Administration for Stamford, Handler runs an office that, according to the city's website, "is responsible for developing, maintaining, and improving the City's financial systems, policies/practices and internal controls; to execute financial and administrative decisions in an effective and accountable manner; to advise the Mayor and the City's fiscal boards with respect to financial and administrative matters in accordance with the Charter, local ordinances, and state law; and to provide executive leadership to all the operating divisions within the Office of Administration."

Photo: Michael Handler. Photo credit: City of Stamford