Becker to Announce Run for First Selectman Saturday

David M. Becker, a District 1 member of the Representative Town Meeting, has scheduled a press conference Saturday to give an update on the status of his exploratory committee for first selectman.

Sources said Becker will announce he is running for first selectman.

The press conference is at 11 a.m. Saturday in front of Old Town Hall.

Becker, a Republican, on Saturday will join Robert B. Bellitto, Jr., a Republican and vice chairman of the town's Board of Finance, as a declared candidate for first selectman. Bellitto previously formed a campaign committee for the job but said he won't discuss his bid for first selectman until the Board of Finance finishes its review of First Selectman Ken Flatto's recommended $264 million town budget for 2011-12. The finance board is voting on that proposed budget on March 31.

Flatto, a Democrat, is leaving office at the end of April to take a job in Gov. Dannel Malloy's administration, and no Democrat has filed paperwork in the Town Clerk's Office to run for first selectman or publicly announced a candidacy.

Becker, 28, is an executive at Confirmed Freight, LLC in Stratford, a shipping logistics firm, and is a partner at Becker Properties, LLC in Fairfield, a family-owned real estate investment, management and development firm. He was elected to the RTM in November 2009 and lives on Catherine Street with his wife, Erica.

When Becker announced his exploratory committee for first selectman several months ago, he cited taxes, slowing the rate of town spending and "applying a longterm plan to fiscal management and governance that does not simply look for quick, short-term fixes" among his areas of interest, adding that the town lacked such a plan.