GOP primary for governor: Three-way race for Republicans

Written by Rachel Kirkpatrick

Republicans will have the opportunity during the Aug. 10 primary to vote for one of three candidates to run for election this November.

Business owner and former ambassador Tom Foley, endorsed by the Republican convention, faces current Lt. Gov. Mike Fedele and business leader Nelson “Oz” Griebel for the party’s nomination. Candidates must receive 15% of the delegation vote to get on the primary ballot.

The only candidate to have a running mate is Mr. Fedele, who is running with Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, a candidate for lieutenant governor. Mr. Boughton will face longtime Connecticut business owner Lisa Wilson-Foley for that seat.

The endorsement of the lieutenant governor candidate is independent of the governor’s race, so while one candidate for governor might win the party’s endorsement, his running mate must independently receive enough votes to join him on the ticket in November.

Hersam Acorn Newspapers sent out requests for short biographies from each of the candidates, and posed one question to each: Why are you the better candidate for office? The following are excerpts from their responses.

Governor

Tom Foley is not a career politician. His colorful career and unique experience in government, Mr. Foley said, sets him apart from the other candidates.

As governor, Mr. Foley said he will work to “bring back jobs, and the economy, reduce the size and cost of state government, reduce the tax burden on Connecticut working families and change the way business is done in Hartford.”

He has a plan to not only keep businesses and young people from leaving the state, but he also “is the only candidate with a viable plan to fix the mess in Hartford,” he said.

A business leader for more than 25 years, Mr. Foley received his master’s of business administration degree from Harvard Business School. After college, he worked for an international business consulting company in New York. In 1985, Mr. Foley formed the NTC Group, specializing in turning around failing businesses.

He was later appointed director of Private Sector Development in Iraq, overseeing most of the country’s state-owned businesses and developing a plan to re-establish a strong private sector economy. He later served as United States ambassador to Ireland.

Aside from his business and world experience, Foley touts the learning skills he received growing up in a big family, and the lessons learned in his earlier travels across the country, holding construction jobs and working in a can factory, where he was a member of a union.

Those experiences taught him “a lot about people and how to work together toward common goals,” he said. As a long-term investor, Mr. Foley said he has the problem-solving and planning capabilities Connecticut needs. It is this combination of experience, he said, that will be most useful in Hartford.

“We all need to play a role in restoring Connecticut’s place as the economic engine of the Northeast,” Mr. Foley said. “I believe we can accomplish that goal by making a major attitude adjustment in state government.

“Connecticut doesn’t belong to the politicians, it belongs to its people.”

And Connecticut, as far as Mr. Fedele sees it, “is facing a defining moment.”

As the state’s lieutenant governor since 2007, Mr. Fedele said the next governor will face the challenge of alleviating the state budget deficit amid a troubled economy, and putting tens of thousands of residents “back to work.”

While he has served at the local and state levels for 27 years, including 10 years as state representative for the 147th District, Mr. Fedele said it is his character, aside from experience, that makes him best fit to take on the role.

Having immigrated to the United States from Italy with his family when he was only three years old, Mr. Fedele, a 50-year resident of Stamford, said he will bring to the job “the time-tested values of family, hard work and respect.”

In 1983, Mr. Fedele, a Fairfield University graduate, founded the Stamford-based Pinnacle Group, which has grown into a national information technology firm that has created “hundreds” of jobs in more than 30 states.

Mr. Fedele said he has a “detailed plan” to fix the state economy, rebuild businesses and create jobs. He is proposing spending cuts, agency mergers and changes to state employee salaries and benefits.

Mr. Fedele said he is the only candidate from either party who has pledged to veto “any” bill or budget that raises taxes.

“Connecticut rates last in being business-friendly,” Mr. Fedele said. “That will change when I am governor.”

In the end, voters should consider his “proven track record of results,” Mr. Fedele said.

As a former legislator, Mr. Fedele touts his role in legislation to expand the role of Connecticut’s community-technical colleges in job training, and the phasing-out of the succession tax. As a leader on the Insurance Committee, Mr. Fedele said he played “key roles” in passing laws banning drive-through deliveries and requiring insurance coverage for mastectomies and prostate cancer.

“This is not a time for on-the-job training,” he said.

Candidate Griebel is calling for voters to understand the differences between his opponents.

“Tom Foley has spent much of his business career outside the state of Connecticut, not to mention has a very clouded past that reveals his judgment,” Mr. Griebel said. “Mike Fedele as lieutenant governor did not accomplish what this state needed during the tough times of economic troubles and does not understand the effect of using taxpayer dollars for his campaign.”

Mr. Griebel is calling for stringency in the passing of “the right” legislation to address the state’s $3-billion deficit and “unfriendly” business attitude.

After graduating from Dartmouth College, Mr. Griebel said he repaired the “dwindling” finances of BankBoston, restoring the company’s “fiscal integrity.” He then served as chief executive officer and president of the MetroHartford Alliance. His experience shows he is a successful and “strict budgeter,” Mr. Griebel said.

Aside from his business experience, Mr. Griebel cites his experience as an “accomplished” member of many boards, committees and organizations, having “stood clear” of politics and stood closer to public policy. All of this demonstrates intimate knowledge of the business, budget and education aspects of the state, Mr. Griebel said.

“This is how I grasp the needs of the community — by collaborating with numerous people to find better solutions,” Mr. Griebel said. “By listening, being straightforward and implementing action, I have created the positive change each of these organizations needed, just as I am prepared to do as governor.”