By Neil Vigdor
Connecticut Post, Bridgeport
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) SBA Chief Linda McMahon sat side-by-side with the first daughter and presidential adviser for a panel discussion to mark National Small Business Week. The pair discussed the work and motherhood balance, women’s entrepreneurship and the people that mentored them.
Connecticut Post, Bridgeport
Donald Trump isn’t the only CEO to be vexed by Washington’s learning curve.
During a joint appearance Monday with Ivanka Trump in the nation’s capital, Linda McMahon acknowledged it’s been an adjustment since taking over as the head of the Small Business Administration.
It’s not the WWE. That’s for sure.
“But then we’ve got this thing called the government,” McMahon said. “Those rules and regulations are the ones that I’m really trying to absorb.”
McMahon sat side-by-side with the first daughter and presidential adviser for a panel discussion to mark National Small Business Week. The pair discussed the work and motherhood balance, women’s entrepreneurship and the people that mentored them.
“I have walked the walk and talked the talk, as has Ivanka,” said McMahon, the Greenwich wrestling mogul-turned-Cabinet member.
In contrast to her boss in the Oval Office, McMahon has avoided controversy and even curried favor among one-time critics during the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency.
“I think government does move at a difference pace,” Ivanka Trump said. “That tension is good.”
Boucher gauges support for statewide run
Women outnumber men in Connecticut, but you’d never know that from looking at the crowded field of statewide office hopefuls for 2018.
It’s dominated by men.
The latest entrant into the fray is about to buck that trend: Toni Boucher.
The Republican state senator from Wilton is expected to file exploratory papers this week with state elections enforcement that will allow Boucher to start raising money for a slate of top offices, including governor.
“I certainly would like to be on the positive side of the changes that I think are starting to happen,” Boucher told Hearst Connecticut Media on Monday.
Boucher, 67, foreshadowed her trial balloon for higher office over the weekend at the College Republicans’ statewide convention. She underscored Monday that she is keeping her options open.
“I, certainly, am interested in running for the state Senate seat at a minimum,” she said. “It depends on how the fundraising goes.”
Born in Italy and raised in Naugatuck, Boucher has gained clout this legislative session because of a tie in the Senate. She is co-chairwoman of the Education and Transportation committees, as well as deputy Senate Republican majority leader.
Elected to the state Senate in 2008 after serving in the state House for a dozen years, Boucher raised $85,000 for a potential 2014 bid for governor. But trailing a crowded GOP field in the polls, she suspended the effort after six months.
“I think there’s a lot of talent there, especially on the Republican side, that could really help the state make a turnaround,” Boucher said.
