U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays' campaign received a boost last night from one of the leaders of the moderate wing of the Republican Party, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

At a Shays fundraiser in Westport, Whitman said she is confident in the incumbent's campaign against Democratic challenger Diane Farrell for the fourth congressional district seat and praised him for being "an elected representative who serves the people first."

Whitman, who published a book last year, "It's My Party, Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America," which is critical of the Bush administration, said she was concerned by the "narrow litmus test" parties provide for many politicians.

The parties "need to be more inclusive," she said. "The Republican Party is big enough to include many different ideas."

Whitman has formed a political action committee called It's My Party Too, which she is using to help elect moderate and liberal Republicans this year and in 2008 at all levels of government.

New Jersey governor from 1993 to 2001, Whitman was appointed by the Bush administration as chief of the federal Environmental Protection Agency until her resignation in 2003.

In a statement released before the fundraiser last night, Farrell blamed Whitman for the rollback of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts and the Endangered Species Act.

Farrell said the former governor was part of the "core of the Republican Party" where Shays' "allegiances lie."

The EPA boasts on its Web site that, under Whitman's leadership, the agency took aggressive efforts to clean up the Hudson River and require cleaner-burning diesel engines and lower-sulfur diesel fuel to reduce emissions from the country's dirtiest mobile sources.

Shays, R-Bridgeport, defended Whitman and called Farrell's statements a "silly attack."

"You learn a lot about a candidate by how they campaign," Shays said. "Some candidates choose to attack instead of sharing their vision."

Political attacks by both parties have alienated moderate voters, who make up the majority of the population, Shays and Whitman said.

"A majority of voters were not red, they were not blue, they were purple," Shays said.

"We need to start competing for that big center, where the majority of Americans are," Whitman added.