Foley vs. Malloy 2014?
by Christine Stuart | Nov 30, 2012 1:57pm
(14) Comments | Commenting has expired
Posted to: Election 2014
(Updated 3:24 p.m.) It’s not an official announcement, but Republican Tom Foley has been sitting down with newspaper editorial boards this week to discuss his intention to run for governor in 2014.
“I’m planning to run for governor because I’m concerned about our state,” Foley said Friday in a phone interview.
The news comes on the heels of Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s announcement that the state faces a $365 million deficit this year and $2.13 billion over the next two years. Foley believes Malloy’s policies are to blame for the state’s current economic woes.
“There are 20,000 fewer Connecticut residents with jobs than when he took office,” Foley said.
When Malloy took office in 2011 he eliminated a $3.7 billion deficit with the second highest tax increase in the state’s history and $1.6 billion in state employee concessions.
On the campaign trail Malloy refused to rule out increasing taxes as a way to balance the state budget. On the other hand, Foley said he wouldn’t raise taxes and would balance the budget largely through spending cuts.
“I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so,” Foley said.
Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy’s senior adviser, said things would have been far worse off today if Foley had been elected.
Malloy defeated Foley 49.5 percent to 48.9 percent in 2010, making it one of the closest elections in the state’s history.
“The similarities between him and Mitt Romney are numerous,” Occhiogrosso said. “First of all, he would adhere to the failed, outdated, supply-side economic theory.”
Foley, who owns a private equity firm that leverages distressed companies, said he didn’t know Occhiogrosso had a degree in economics.
“If you don’t reduce spending it’s just going to continue to create a deficit,” Foley said.
Occhiogrosso shot back that he doesn’t have a degree in economics, but he has a “degree in common sense.”
He maintained that if Foley had his way with the state budget that it would be like “taking a U-turn to the failed policies of the past,” which created the current mess.
Foley said he would maintain the no-tax increase pledge he made back in 2010.
Occhiogrosso said Foley is a wealthy man who has a sense of entitlement and thinks he can buy an election. He said it will be interesting to see if the Republican Party learned any lessons from the last election where its self-funded U.S. Senate candidate, Linda McMahon, lost to U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy.
“The governor is focused 100 percent on the job he was elected to do,” Occhiogrosso said.
Will he be running for re-election?
“I think that’s a little ways off,” Occhiogrosso said.
Malloy is busy putting together a budget, which makes more than $1 billion in spending cuts. He’s also fond of reminding reporters as recently as this week that he refused to say he wouldn’t increase taxes and it almost cost him the election.
But Malloy may face an uphill battle in a bid for re-election.
In his first year as governor, the state employees concession package upset so many state employees that the first deal he negotiated didn’t pass . In his second year, his education reforms and the way he presented them to the teacher unions upset teachers who turned out in the hundreds to attend his town hall meetings and separate protests at the state Capitol.
It’s likely in his third year that the spending cuts will upset even more Democratic Party constituencies.
“Whether or not spending cuts should be on the table never has been part of our political calculations,” Occhiogrosso said. “The state needs to live within its means.”
Malloy later said he hadn’t given the prospect of a rematch with Foley any thought.
“I’ve got a pretty big job to do. I concentrate on doing that job. We’ll let the politics take care of themselves at an appropriate time and this is not the appropriate one,” he said.
As to Foley’s assertion his policies aren’t working, Malloy disagreed.
“We know we’re working. We know the state of Connecticut was in a terrible mess following 16 years of Republican governors. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to turn that around. We’re about 90 percent of the way there. We’ll get the other 10,” he said.
As for the prospect of a re-election campaign, the governor wasn’t ready to announce anything Friday, but said he likes his job.
“I enjoy this job a whole lot. I enjoy the challenge of the hard work and I’m pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished,” he said.
Hugh McQuaid contributed to this report.
Tags: Tom Foley, Dannel P. Malloy, Roy Occhiogrosso, economic policy, dh
(14) Comments
posted by: kenneth_krayeske | November 30, 2012 4:19pm
Foley’s activities in Iraq during the 2003 invasion should be scrutinized in the International Criminal Court in the Hague, not in an electoral arena.
But if the Republicans want to send another self-financed rich man with a Feadship (a yacht whose crew is likely paid offshore to avoid taxes) and a history of downsizing in this economy, I’ll be more than happy to watch him lose. The most unfortunate part of this charade is that because Foley can buy speech with his fortune, the Courant will force-feed it to us.
Foley, like McMahon, will suck the oxygen out of the room and try to focus the debate on issues that benefit the rich. Hopefully, the voters reject this. I do not want to sit through two years of this. Personally, I think Andy Roraback is a better candidate, and would rather hear his ideas than Foley’s discredited “rising tide lifts all yachts” trash.
posted by: Jesterr72 | November 30, 2012 6:39pm
The State is in a mess because “of 16 years of Republican governors”??? What a joke Malloy is! He conveniently leaves out 20 years of Democratic ham-fisted rule in the House and Senate. If it weren’t for R governors trying to slow down the non-stop free spending Democrats, the State would be even more of a basket case than it already is.
posted by: state_employee | November 30, 2012 7:23pm
The statements out of malloys mouth are disturbing.
1. We’re about 90% to turning things around.
-is he kidding?
2. I’m pretty proud of what we’ve accomplishes.
-again, is he kidding?
He is a walking talking disaster.
posted by: Christopher55 | November 30, 2012 10:52pm
Its about time the State of CT got some good news. Malloy has done nothing but raise my taxes since he took office. First thing Foley needs to do upon election is to get rid of the earned income tax credit. Nothing more than a redistribution of wealth.
posted by: Noteworthy | December 1, 2012 5:51am
As a taxpayer in this state, I really take exception to the incessantly nasty tone of Roy Occhiogrosso. I guess he is the alter ego of the governor but it bugs me that I’m paying for that incivility twice.
That said, the talking points of vote against him because he’s rich don’t wash. The feds have greater impacton taxation of the rich than the state does, and besides, Malloy indemnified and exempted the rich in his historic tax increase (which in my common sense mind, failed to balance the budget.) And then there is the problem that Malloy is also a millionaire - maybe not as much as Foley - but he’s still a lot more wealthy than the vast majority of CT’s citizens.
Foley’s focus on state spending is a very good place to focus. Malloy has increased spending by a billion dollars and hardly any of his “savings” have come true. The budget remains a mess with a deficit that will likely grow, and billion plus deficits going forward. There are no net new jobs to speak of and Malloy insists on paying tens of millions to companies who don’t need it paying for job creation at a rate of some $250K each. If I was Roy, I’d rethink the common sense thing before recommending Malloy use that line in his reelection effort. I look forward to considering any candidate who knows their math, can do projections, and be impeccably honest about the budget.
posted by: Linda12 | December 1, 2012 9:16am
Andrew Roraback for Governor. He could beat Malloy easily. I know 43,000-50,000 teachers who will NEVER EVER vote for Malloy again. He only won by 6,000 votes…he will be one and done. Let’s start the countdown clock now.
posted by: DrHunterSThompson | December 1, 2012 11:01am
I think Foley could probably win this time around, but it won’t do us much good. The republicans really need to give us a quality candidate - it they do, they will win easily. Roraback is a great candidate and i think would be a great Governor.
HST
posted by: Lawrence | December 1, 2012 8:44pm
“I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so,” Foley said.
It literally took me 16 hours to stop laughing to post this.
Tom Foley’s PRIME PLAN to reduce CT’s debt two years ago was… are you ready for this?? CT will grow 100,000 new jobs after the recession, and that will bring in $1.5 billion in new tax revenue, so—problem solved!
Uh, Tom—last time we checked, pre-recession employment was up 1,700 jobs, or 1.7% of your estimate.
And don’t try that “if you didn’t have a tax hike things would be much better” BS. Tax cuts DO NOT equal job growth, it has been proven over this century.
Anyway, about 90% of all the new income taxes collected under Malloy were on the top 10% or so of wage earners in the state, i.e. the GOP base.
So, who is angry?? The people who would never vote for Mallloy anyway. Time to try another tack.
What HAS been proven is that self-funded Republican millionaires with political aspirations do VERY VERY BADLY in Connecticut, and your GOP party chairman believes and has said as much, as has the House minority leader.
So… shall you primary?? Get all the GOP blood and guts out on the floor and spend down the limited GOP campaign finances in advance of the general election?
Then, what?? TV ad after TV ad, ad nauseum?? Mailer after mailer?? Hire minorities to wear union-looking t-shirts to stand on street corners for you at rush hour, then go home and vote for Malloy?
This all sounds so familiar….
Maybe bring in some of your Greenwich hedge fund buddies to do the Citizens United thing? That’s been tried and failed miserably.
Read a newspaper, Tom. Read Nate Silver’s new book. Check out CT’s Census data. Your game of public policy dodgeball from 2010 WILL NOT CUT IT IN 2014.
posted by: Lawrence | December 1, 2012 8:49pm
Ken and Linda 12,
Please rememeber this about Andrew Roraback: HE FLIPPED ON THE DEATH PENALTY when Lisa Wilson-Foley attacked him during the GOP Congressional primary.
THE DEATH PENALTY.
Now, what other long-held supremely important public policy positions is he willing to part with during a hard-fought gubernatorial election?
And do you want to be governed by that kind of candidate?
I do not.
posted by: Reasonable | December 1, 2012 9:29pm
Kenneth_Krayeske:
Don’t knock Foley because he has money to finance his own campaign. We financed Malloy’s campaign and look what we got with our money! You always get carried away and fight people for the wrong reasons. Foley has the background to tackle and resolve our out of control fiscal deficits.
posted by: Reasonable | December 2, 2012 11:45am
Jesterr72: You said the truth. Democratic fiscal travesty has buried this state, and if it wasn’t for the Republicans - the State of Connecticut would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.
posted by: DrHunterSThompson | December 3, 2012 8:39am
These comments are a microcosm of all that is wrong - devicive partisan politics. You all take the one grain of truth you know and attempt to embellish it and dress it up in an attorney to make an impressive and compelling argument.
Well, none of you have.
Think ill twist one up and head for Colorado.
HST
posted by: Reasonable | December 3, 2012 3:10pm
DrHunterSThompson: Why are all other comments wrong—except for yours HST?
posted by: ConnVoter | December 3, 2012 3:32pm
Ken, how has having a governor who is figuratively in bed with unions helping out the proverbial “little guy”? It is not. All of the things that made middle class families want to move to Connecticut and create better lives for themselves are gone now, thanks to the taxers-and-spenders of the Connecticut General Assembly. Tom Foley knows that you have to balance your checkbook and that’s precisely what we need right now. Dan Malloy has no ability to make any difficult, substantive decision and has thrown us back decades by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on his pet projects. How has life improved for you, personally, since he was elected? How about under the last 20 years of Democratic rule in the General Assembly? We’ve had precisely no job growth, and this is what you voted for.