If Republican-endorsed candidate for governor Tom Foley isn’t elected the state’s chief executive, can he make it as a street reporter? Foley took to the streets of New Haven to make good on his pledge to spend more time in Connecticut’s cities. Foley, the 2010 Republican candidate for governor who lost a squeaker to Democrat Dan Malloy, announced an exploratory committee for governor in Bridgeport last year declaring Malloy’s policies as governor hurt cities such as Bridgeport.
“The failure of the governor’s agenda falls hardest on the residents of cities such as Bridgeport who already were suffering from high crime rates, too few jobs, the impact of corruption, and underperforming schools,” Foley told a gathering of reporters at the Burroughs Community Center last September.
Acknowledging Republicans need to perform better in Democratic strongholds, Foley said he chose Bridgeport for his announcement to help craft solutions for what ails Bridgeport. “The fate of our cities will be the fate of our state. Governor Malloy and the legislature are not doing nearly enough. So I will be spending a lot of time in Connecticut’s cities listening to residents’ problems and helping craft solutions.”
OIB friend Paul Bass, editor of the New Haven Independent, shares his take on Foley’s man-in-the-street.
Yep, that was Tom Foley, Gov. Dannel Malloy’s biggest Republican headache, on the streets of downtown New Haven Wednesday with a microphone in hand and video camera in tow.
Foley was asking the questions, not answering them.
But he was campaigning, too.
In what may be a first for a local political campaign, the candidate decided to play the role of reporter as he pressed flesh and sought voters’ support.
Foley–a Republican gubernatorial candidate who ran against Malloy in 2010 and is neck-and-neck with him in the polls as he seeks a rematch this year–stopped voter Joan Mazurek outside the state courthouse at Church and Elm streets across from the Green.
Full story here.
This clown has a reputation as a business man for destroying jobs. I would love to see if he starts with the usual GOP yapping points about “job creators.”
I give him credit for creativity here.