Three Republicans Clash Over Public Financing Of Political Campaigns In One Hour Televised Debate
http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2010/07/three-republicans-square-off-i.html
By Christopher Keating
on July 14, 2010 7:19 PM
In an increasingly nasty race for governor, the three Republicans battled Wednesday night over the public financing of political campaigns – a key issue for many Republican primary voters who question it on principle.
Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele this week became the first Republican statewide candidate in state history to receive money from public financing.
“I’m very proud to be participating in that program,” Fedele said.
But both Greenwich multimillionaire Tom Foley and longtime business executive Oz Griebel of Simsbury had a sharply different perspective, saying that public funds should never be used for campaign bumper stickers and political commercials.
“For the taxpayers to be paying for Michael Fedele’s campaign, I think, is ridiculous,” said Foley, who is largely self-financing his campaign. “I don’t know why he’s asking for the taxpayers of Connecticut to pay for his election. We can’t afford it.”
Griebel, who like Foley is not accepting any public money, said, “This whole concept of public financing is an inappropriate use of taxpayers’ dollars.”
The televised debate Wednesday came on the day that the State Supreme Court rejected Foley’s request for an immediate injunction that would have prevented Fedele from receiving more than $2 million in public funds for his campaign. Both Foley and Griebel have charged that the State Elections Enforcement Commission has misinterpreted the state’s landmark campaign finance law and improperly awarded public funds to Fedele. A Superior Court judge, however, rejected those arguments, and Foley has appealed the case to the State Supreme Court.
Foley’s appeal will proceed on the merits, and oral arguments will be held in Hartford at the state’s highest court next Tuesday.
The financing issue and the debate are important issues as Republican voters make their decisions in the final weeks before the August 10 primary. The most recent Quinnipiac University poll showed the front-running Foley leading Fedele by 27 points and Griebel by 37 points. A new poll is scheduled to be released Thursday morning.
Standing at three separate lecterns in the West Hartford studio of NBC 30, the candidates covered a wide variety of questions that were asked by two television reporters and from average citizens. Regarding education, the three candidates all favor improvements in the system.
“We also have some schools that don’t perform so well, and many of them are concentrated in our cities,” said Foley, who favors school reform. “Yes, I would certainly support making some reforms in the education system that would benefit Hartford.”
Griebel, a graduate of Dartmouth College, said that improving education in the inner cities is crucial to guarantee a well-qualified work force.
Fedele said that charter schools and magnet schools “are doing an excellent job” when compared to some neighborhood schools.
Regarding the public financing of scholarships to be used at private schools, all three Republicans said they are interested in supporting school vouchers.
“I would certainly look very seriously at a voucher system,” Griebel said, adding that education costs need to be controlled and teachers’ unions need to be part of the solution.
“It is so important that we give choice,” Fedele said, adding that he is open to vouchers. “We tend, in our educational funding system, to reward failure.”
“Vouchers are a form of choice, and I totally support choice,” Foley said.
Concerning the outflow of young people to other states, Fedele said that the first step is growing the economy and increasing jobs. “Number one is finding jobs,” Fedele said.
The next governor, he said, needs to push forward for “green jobs” and aerospace, among others, in a collaborative spirit with businesses to increase employment.
Foley noted that Connecticut and Michigan rank at the bottom of the 50 states for a lack of job growth since 1989.
“Michigan actually has an excuse, and we don’t,” Foley said. He noted that his economic plan lists seven industries, including bio-medical, financial services, alternative energy, and health care services as some of the state’s strengths that need to be built upon and expanded.
Griebel, who is on a leave of absence as the CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance, noted that the alliance created a group called HYPE for Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs. That group encourages young people to stay in Connecticut.
In order to create jobs, the state must invest in its transportation infrastructure and also nurture the insurance industry, Griebel said.
Griebel said it was a “mistake” in the electric deregulation bill to remove the ownership of the state’s generating plants away from the electric utilities. Now, the utilities must buy electricity from other power producers, rather than producing it themselves.
The three candidates also tackled the controversial issue of Sunday sales of alcohol that are currently prohibited in Connecticut.
“I believe in letting the market” decide whether the stores should be open on Sunday, Griebel said.
For years, the lobbyists for the Connecticut Package Store Owners Association have won the battle to block Sunday sales. The battle has been a highly controversial, long-running battle that has been studied by both Republicans and Democrats. The package store lobbyists say that Sunday sales is a bad idea because it would simply spread out the sales over seven days, rather than six. The costs for the storeowners would increase, the lobbyists say, because they would need to pay overtime rates for their workers on Sundays, plus increased heating and cooling costs at various times of the year.
“I would be for Sunday liquor sales – I would make it optional,” Fedele said. “For too long, Connecticut has been unfriendly to the business community. … I think that’s a business decision.”
Foley, as he has in the past, said that businesses – not the legislature – should decide whether package stores should open on Sundays.
“This has got to stop,” Foley said of the legislature telling businesses what to do.
During a break in the program at about 7:30 p.m., both Foley and Fedele broadcast political campaign commercials. Fedele talked about his family in the commercial, while Foley talked about his business plan for the state. The two candidates are now spending millions of dollars in the final month before the August 10 primary. After the one-hour debate, the first commercial was by Democrat Dannel Malloy, who is running in the primary against Greenwich cable TV entrepreneur Ned Lamont.
Regarding the re-installation of tolls on Connecticut highways, both Foley and Fedele said strongly that it is a bad idea.
“Absolutely not,” Foley said. “We should not be thinking of additional ways of taxing people.”
But Griebel, the chairman of the state’s Transportation Strategy Board for five years, said the state needs to look seriously at how it funds the transportation infrastructure.
“We are going to have to consider alternative funding sources,” Griebel said. “Clearly, tolls have to be looked at.”
Fedele, though, said tolls should be ruled out.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “The citizens of this state should not be paying for all the infrastructure costs” of out-of-state truckers and drivers who speed through on Interstate 95 on their way to other states.
Concerning state-employee pensions, Fedele said the state system could “be broke” by 2017 if reforms are not made by the next governor.
“Connecticut has to act and have a governor who has the courage to address those employment issues,” Fedele said.
In questions back and forth between the candidates, Fedele told Griebel that he has pledged to veto any budget that increases taxes. As such, Fedele asked Griebel why taxes and tolls should be on the table.
“I’ve said from the outset, Mike, that this is about spending,” Griebel said.
Fedele turned to Foley and said, “You drove the biggest textile mill in America, the Bibb Company, straight into bankruptcy.” As such, Fedele asked Foley not to do to Connecticut what he did to Bibb.
“First, Mike, you know that’s not true,” Foley said, adding that the question was “misleading.”
“The challenge of fixing broken businesses is very demanding,” Foley said. “In the case of the Bibb Company, I learned a lot about crisis management.”
Foley turned to Fedele and called him “a Hartford insider, supporting higher taxes and bigger government” through the years.
Fedele responded that Foley was clearly spending several years in Ireland as the U.S. ambassador and was unaware what was going on in Connecticut.
“What you’re hearing is not correct,” Fedele said. “As governor, I will veto any tax increase.”
Foley turned to Griebel, calling him “part of the Hartford establishment” and asked how he would deal with people from around the state.
“I didn’t see myself as a member of the establishment in Hartford,” Griebel said, adding that he has worked with business leaders, mayors, state senators, and civic leaders all over the state.
Griebel turned to Fedele and said that the Rell administration had recently mishandled the dismissal of Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Marie.
“I will have the power as governor that I didn’t have as lieutenant governor,” Fedele said.
In asking Foley about transparency, Griebel mentioned the two times that Foley was arrested in 1981 and 1993.
“Oz, thank you for letting me address these matters, which have been overblown,” Foley responded. “I really didn’t expect unfortunate and highly personal matters, such as a divorce, to become cannon fodder to be used against me, particularly by opponents from my own party. I have been very transparent and forthcoming. … I was very candid, and I was credited by the Hartford Courant in an editorial. … None of these things … in any way calls into question my ability to serve.”
In closing remarks, Foley said that Connecticut voters want new leadership “and they want the game-playing stopped in Hartford. … I have the skill and the will to get it done.”
Griebel said the governor’s race is about leadership and getting the state’s costs under control. “I am that person to not only lead” the party in August, but also in November, he said.
Fedele noted that he arrived in Connecticut 52 years ago as an immigrant, adding that he is concerned that others won’t have the chances that he had to reach the American Dream.
“I’m the only candidate to bring legislative experience,” said Fedele, who served 10 years in the state legislature.
Copyright © 2010, The Hartford Courant
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