NORWALK, Conn. – Longtime Republican Norwalk politician Larry Cafero has heard the rumors about a potential run for mayor next time around, after he has left the state House of Representatives, but said recently he’s not heading in that direction.
“I’m not even out of this job yet,” said Cafero, who is retiring after 22 years as a state legislator. “I don’t get out ’til January. Can I just take it easy for a while? But I have no intentions of that,” he said of a mayoral run.
Cafero, who has been House minority leader since 2007, said he wants to go out on top.
“You can stay there forever, but when you’re leader of a caucus, for the good of the caucus or for the good of yourself, for the energy or whatever, a leader in my opinion – I think that’s why they have four-year terms for president or whatever. Six years is perfect. Eight years, you’re pushing it,” he said. “When you’re an actual leader, whether it’s a city, whether it’s a political organization, in my opinion, or a corporate organization, you get beyond that eight-year mark, you don’t feel it in the belly. I didn’t want to get to that point. I wanted to leave on top.”
Baseball great Willie Mays stayed in the game too long, dropping a fly ball in the World Series, he said. “I don’t want to be that guy,” he said.
Cafero was on the Board of Education for six years and left his post as chairman when he was elected to represent the 142nd House District in 1992. That makes him the longest-serving Norwalker to be in the legislature, he said.
He is an attorney and partner of Brown, Rudnick, Berlack, Israels, LLP.
Being a legislator is a part-time job, and he never stopped being an attorney, he said.
“I’m going to do that for a while, see what life brings,” he said. “It’s been a long time; 28 years is a long time.”
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