HARTFORD, Conn. -- The director of Hartford Public Access Television has been fired one month after running for mayor in the capital city.

J. Stan McCauley recently lost the city's mayoral race to incumbent Mayor Eddie Perez. While the station's board, which fired McCauley, insists his termination was not a political decision, McCauley said he isn't so sure.

"I'm totally caught by surprise," McCauley said of his firing.

Thursday morning the station's board, which is not appointed by anyone from City Hall, told McCauley that he could either resign or be terminated.

"At this point, it's in the best interests of the organization to go in a different direction," said the board's president, Victor Moye. "Periodically we need to make changes in order to continue growth.

McCauley claims that the board began trying to get him to leave earlier in the year. He said he didn't tell the board that he was marrying a co-worker and that he didn't get a better deal with the station's landlord.

He said that he has worked for the station for 20 years, heading it for the past eight.

"I can't help but believe it's politically motivated," he said. "It's a chilling thought when you consider that the executive director of a free speech organization is canned four weeks after running for office."

Moye said that there was no good time to fire McCauley and that Public Access receives a majority of its money from Comcast Cable, and not the city.

We do have to do the mission of the organization," he said.

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