Former New Jersey governor, Christine Todd Whitman, returned to Westport Wednesday to help the re-election campaign of incumbent U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-4) with a dinner and fund-raiser.

Prior to her arrival, Diane Farrell, the Democratic Party challenger for Shays' seat, fired off a statement.

"Shays is showing his true deep Republican red colors by campaigning with President Bush's former Environmental Protection Agency Chief Christine Todd Whitman, who in that capacity oversaw the effort to systematically dismantle our best environmental laws."

Whitman said she was confident that Shays would win although she acknowledged that it would be a challenging contest.

Farrell claimed Superfund money for environmental cleanup was cut back and the effort to weaken pollution controls on power plants began under her administration of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003.

"That Chris Shays would be associated with her speaks volumes about where his allegiances lie with the Bush White House, the core of the Republican Party and its leadership," said Farrell, who identified the leadership as J. Dennis Hastert, John Boehner and Roy Blunt, "all of whom received '0' ratings from the League of Conservation Voters."

The Democratic challenger called for:

"Regulation of carbon dioxide emissions.

"Restoration and strengthening of the protections of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.

"Rolling back Bush administration regulations that allow dangerously high mercury emission levels.

"Restoration of Superfund funding to a level that will reinstitute aggressive cleanup of hazardous sites and restoring the concept of "polluter pays," not taxpayer pays, for Superfund cleanups.

Whitman was the first woman elected governor of New Jersey. She served in that capacity from 1994 to 2001 and visited the home of the Holton Harris family on Newtown Turnpike for a fund-raiser.

She served as the EPA leader from 2001 to 2003 and signed on for the job because of the Bush administration's desire for an East Coast presence and another woman cabinet member, according to Washington insiders.

Whitman's time at the EPA was rocky and not particularly successful and there were reports of feuds with more conservative members of the Bush crowd.