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Ex-NY Mets manager Bobby Valentine to run for Stamford mayor: ‘Why not make it the greatest city in America?'
https://www.ctinsider.com/local/stamfordadvocate/article/Ex-NY-Mets-manager-Bobby-Valentine-to-run-for-16159909.php
[BLOCKQUOTE]“Many people … see things and ask why did they happen, and others see things that didn't happen and ask why not — I'm one of those guys,” Valentine said earlier this week during an interview at his sports academy in Springdale. “I just want to know why not make it the greatest city in America, why not spend your time so that the people that you grew up with and the people that live with you are happy and content as they're living, and I think that I've done a lot and I've learned a lot, and maybe my experience could make things better.”
That experience, he noted, includes opening a restaurant in downtown Stamford in 1980, becoming an MLB manager in 1985 at the age of 35 and, decades later, earning an award from the emperor of Japan after twice managing the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Why is he running for mayor now?
“Because now is a time of my life that I can, and if I don't, I can't,” Valentine said. “My plate is rather clear.”
Valentine has been the executive director of athletics at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield since 2013. He said a succession plan is already in place for that position.
Valentine, 70, is seeking the mayorship as an unaffiliated candidate, though he used to be a registered Republican.
“I don't want to have any letter on my forehead,” he said. “I don't like the division that those letters have created in the country and in our community, and I don't want to be judged by a name, by a party because this election and all, I would think, hometown and local elections are not about policy. It's about people and it's about needs of people, and to confuse what you're trying to do with what (the) policy is of a party … I don't have the time for that.”
Among his priorities as mayor would be upgrading school buildings, ensuring that teachers can afford to live in the city where they work and continuing to fix Stamford's roads, he said.
The current mayor, David Martin, a Democrat, is running for reelection for the last time this year. He is facing a challenge from Democratic state Rep. Caroline Simmons. No Republican candidate has emerged yet.[/BLOCKQUOTE]
[BLOCKQUOTE]Earlier this week, he teased his mayoral campaign announcement on his social media accounts. Twitter users guessed that perhaps he was going to be the New York Mets' manager again. He led the team to the World Series in 2000.
Asked if he had a message for the Mets fans who had hoped he was coming back, Valentine said: “You only have so much time in your life, and I've given them a lot of my life.”
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