Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Make Pre-Primary Case

Republican gubernatorial candidates Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley and longtime business executive Oz Griebel debated Wednesday afternoon that will be rebroadcast at 8 p.m. on WFSB Channel 3 and on WNPR.

The candidates face off in the Aug. 10 primary as do Democratic gubernatorial candidates Dan Malloy and Ned Lamont, who debated Tuesday.

While issues such as the state's budget deficit, business friendliness and attracting new jobs to Connecticut were discussed, the Republicans' debate was not without contention.

Foley jabbed at Fedele for accepting public financing only to use it for negative campaigning while Fedele fought back by accusing Foley of profiting off a business' bankruptcy in Georgia, a claim Foley refutes.

When it comes to public financing, Foley and Griebel are raising money privately for their campaigns, while Fedele has accepted $2.5 million in public money through the state's campaign finance system.

"The lieutenant governor is a wealthy man and I think it's inappropriate someone who is putting himself up for governor would take taxpayer dollars," Foley said adding that Fedele is using the money to fund "nasty personal attack ads," and not using it for a clean campaign as the program's name implies.

Fedele fought back saying "if we did not have the clean elections program in place, the only one standing here today would be Tom Foley and Ned Lamont.  The program is for people who want to compete. This is not about the kind of cars people drive or how big their yacht is, but about the qualifications people have.  Without the clean elections program, the only ones who can compete are those with self-financing and that's not what our system is about."

The personal attack ads Foley mentions are those paid for by Fedele's campaign and broadcast on commercial television about layoffs at The Bibb Company in Georgia, which Foley owned. The company later went through a bankruptcy reorganization. Fedele's commercial criticizes Foley over the closure of The Bibb Company factory and says that he took $20 million out of the company for himself.

After a question was posed about how the candidates would create attractive jobs in Connecticut for talented college graduates, Fedele and Foley used some of their time to talk about the negative campaigning.

"Negative information is not always pleasant to see but Tom has made job creation his central focal point and when you present his record — the Bibb Story — it's not a good record," Fedele said. "This was a vibrant company Tom purchased that went bankrupt while he created $20 million in personal wealth."

Foley countered by saying the ads "are absolutely false."

"We've rebutted every charge the lieutenant governor has made," Foley said. "Leadership requires truthfulness and the lieutenant governor has not been true."

Foley said Bibb went bankrupt several years after he sold the company. While he owned it, Foley said he restored the company, that was losing millions, to profitability. He also said the people in the ads were not employees of the factory and were given a nice lunch and scripts from Fedele.

In response to the question about creating new and attractive jobs for college graduates, Griebel said the top priorities should be "jobs, jobs and jobs."  He stressed the need of making higher education affordable while also recruiting and retaining businesses on a local, national and international level.

Foley said the state needs to become more business friendly by shortening the permitting process, making employers feel welcome and willing to invest in Connecticut. He also stressed the need to close the $3.5 billion budget deficit because otherwise new businesses will not relocate to Connecticut for fear of higher taxes.

Fedele said the governor needs to engage the business community to determine the jobs of today and tomorrow. He said the state needs to bring those industries to Connecticut while also paralleling the jobs with training in higher education facilities.

Here's the other major questions and where candidates stand on the issues.

What has been Gov. Rell's biggest failure and what would you do differently?

Griebel said the biggest difference between he and Rell is executive experience, citing his work with BankBoston Corporation, where he served for 22 years, ultimately as CEO of its Connecticut franchise. He also said the governor made a mistake in not vetoing the budget.

"The biggest sylistic difference is we have to engage the electorate, talk to businesses so they understand why you are submitting the budget and keeping people fully engaged," Griebel said. "We won't get out of this mess in two years. We need a strong, visible, active leadership.

Fedele said Rell assumed her post at a difficult time in a legislature ruled by a Democratic majority. 

"On fiscal matters, Gov. Rell and I have not agreed," he said. "My style is different but because we are different people. I am more engaging, more collaborative, I talk to people more. I work with chambers in putting packages together to create jobs. I work with government officials. I will work with these groups and be very open and transparent."

Foley said the requirements of the next governor will be someone who has executive experience who can turn a large organization around, which he said he could bring to the table after 25 years of experience as a business owner and executive. Foley countered Fedele's notion that serving as a lieutenant governor is a good training ground for the state's chief executive officer.

"It's much more important to have executive experience where you learn how to negotiate , diagnose and fix problems," Foley said. "I agree with Oz, I would have vetoed the budget last September. I would not have agreed to the "no layoffs agreement" the governor made a year ago. In order to be able to negotiate with our representatives of state workers, which is needed in the time ahead here, you can't give up the right to reduce the size of the state work force. We simply can't afford what we are doing."

Should Connecticut create a tax haven for certain businesses?

"Tax credits and tax havens should be looked at as government expenditures, so you need to make sure the jobs actually come and the revenue comes back to the state," Foley said. "I do believe that's a useful tool for getting our economy going but we need to be very careful about where we use it and which industries to target it."

Griebel said he's skeptical of target tax credits.

"The best thing we can do for business is to lower the overall cost of doing business in state taxes and fees, energy costs and property taxes so private capital will do what it does best, find the haven and create more jobs."

Fedele said he's not a proponent for tax havens for certain industries and would look at the existing tax credits to see if they are working. 

With the $3.5 billion budget hole, what are three cuts you would make to close the gap?

Griebel said he would not spend one more dollar in next year's budget and he would cut $1.4 billion from state pensions.

"The ticking time bomb is unfunded pensions for federal, state and municipal employees," he said. "We have to get our unions to the table to renegotiate."

Fedele said he would freeze bonding and spending and conduct a line-by-line review of the budget. He also said the state has to look at its unfunded pension liabilities.

Foley said he would implement cost-saving strategies identified by two commissions in the 1990s, he would look for 15-20 percent savings in health care costs and would propose alternative forms of punishment for non-violent criminals to avoid incarcerating too many people. He also said he'd look at the budget given to the attorney general because much of it has been used to sue companies, he said, which has driven many businesses out of the state.