Foley Fails This Time

Tom Foley

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy is now the incumbent in a possible rematch with Greenwich businessman and GOP challenger Tom Foley.   Polls have indicated a virtual dead heat between the two.   Governor Malloy now has a record that many state residents see as fair game for criticism.   Tom Foley should be able to use his outsider status and Malloy's less than stellar approval ratings to his advantage.     It didn't work that way for him this week in eastern Connecticut.    

Foley saw the impending closure and 140 job losses at Fusion Paperboard in Sprague as a perfect media photo opportunity, but his attempt to point the finger of blame at Malloy administration policies was met with loud opposition by State Senator and Sprague first selectman Cathy Osten and several Fusion Paperboard employees.   Foley, clearly taken aback by the reaction, went on to blame local politicians as well.   Osten had her facts ready, and it was clear that state and local government had been on top of the situation and market forces had been the main reason for the announced plant closure.   Workers there backed her up.   The paper board business is changing and company owners have a right to make this regrettable decision, but charges of corporate greed may also be fair since the plant was still profitable.    When I discussed his impromptu twenty minute debate as I filled in for Stu Bryer on WICH AM 1310, I couldn't find one caller who felt Tom Foley prevailed with his talking points.   He'll have to do better if he wants to be the next governor.   Any more days like this may even cost him his party's primary, not to mention the gubernatorial race.