Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Money
  • Election 2020
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Money
    Election 2020
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Malloy and Foley try to knock each other’s block off

  • by Keith M. Phaneuf
  • October 7, 2010
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

It opened with a hug, but quickly turned into a flurry of attacks and ended with one candidate knocking the other’s block off — figuratively if not literally.

Gubernatorial contenders Dan Malloy and Tom Foley, who already have engaged in several fiery exchanges in debates this week, took their heated rivalry onto FM radio drive-time Thursday on the Chaz & AJ In the Morning show on WPLR in Milford.

And in between tackling jobs, taxes, the death penalty — and man boobs — the attacks flew fast and furious.

“When you went away to make a lot of money, I went to New York to be a prosecutor,” Malloy told his GOP rival, a Greenwich millionaire.

“We ought to retire him,” Foley responded. “Maybe he could go back to being a prosecutor.”

“Tom doesn’t really understand every day people.”

“Dan’s made commitments to the unions.”

At one point, during the exchanges, the hosts played Gonna Fly Now,” Bill Conti’s instrumental theme for the “Rocky” movies, in the background.

When asked for specific areas he would cut state spending to avert a $3.3 billion budget deficit, Foley said a 10 percent cut in health care expenditures would save $500 million to $600 million. But health care is one of the fastest growing segments of the state budget, and the next governor’s budget-balancing plan is due in early February, which would leave Foley a little over two months after the election to find that reduction.

“Tom, come clean,” Malloy interrupted. “You’re going to do that in 60 days?”

“Are there rules here?” Foley appealed to the hosts.

“No touching,” Chaz responded.

The two candidates also clashed over capital punishment. Though Malloy favors repeal, he said he wouldn’t sign any bill that could lead to any existing death row inmates being spared the death penalty.

Foley, who favors capital punishment, pointed to the recent conviction of Steven Hayes, one of the two suspects in the 2007 Cheshire home invasion and triple slaying, and said it was arrogant of Malloy to assume any repeal bill wouldn’t give a death row inmate the legal leverage to mount a new appeal.

Foley stumbled at one point when he tried to defend fellow Republican and current governor, M. Jodi Rell. Foley said that while he opposed the $18.64 billion budget for 2009-10 that Rell allowed to become law without her signature — a plan that featured over $900 million in new taxes and fees — the outgoing governor didn’t have much choice.

“The governor doesn’t approve the budget,” he said. “I mean, the budget is done by the legislature. The governor proposes the budget. … She has to live with what’s passed.”

When Malloy pointed out that Rell could have vetoed the budget, Foley predicted that Democrats, who hold two-thirds majorities in both legislative chambers, would have overridden any such veto.

“That’s not true,” Malloy said, noting that no vetoed budget has been overridden in Connecticut in more than two decades. “Tell the truth for one time in your life.”

“You’re running for governor, you ought to know a little bit about how state government works, Dan,” Foley replied.

In fact, the budget passed 22-13 in the Senate in August 2009, two votes shy of the 24 needed for a two-thirds margin in that 36-member chamber.

Foley, who criticized Malloy Wednesday for indicating on a state employee union questionnaire that he would not order layoffs, if elected, hammered Malloy on the air when the Democratic nominee said forced reductions were still an option.

“Dan, that’s not a commitment?” Foley said, adding that “I am not in the pocket of any special interests like the unions.”

Both candidates skillfully avoided Chaz’s question as to whether co-host AJ has “man boobs” and found common ground in a few other areas, including repeal of the current prohibition on Sunday liquor sales and the need for tougher a federal crackdown on illegal immigration.

The hosts, who got both candidates to hug at the beginning, asked each if, once the race is over, the winner might want to offer the loser a job.

Malloy, who has attacked Foley for his handling of a Georgia textile mill that folded two years after the Greenwich Republican sold it in the late 1990s, said his rival doesn’t have any unique qualifications.

“You can hire anybody who can run something into the ground,” Malloy said.

Foley, who has his own campaign ads chastising Malloy because Stamford lost 13,000 jobs over the past decade when Malloy was mayor, said that track record “isn’t going to be particularly valuable” in the Foley administration.

Malloy got the last word, or rather punch, when the two closed the 50-minute segment with a round of Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots, a popular game from the 1960s in which players control plastic robots that engage in a boxing match until one knocks the other’s head off.

Malloy, who controlled the blue robot, knocked the head of Foley’s red robot about 30 seconds into the bout.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keith M. Phaneuf

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Connecticut’s $90M lobbying industry has a new player: former Speaker Joe Aresimowicz
by Mark Pazniokas

Former House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz is becoming a lobbyist, but a revolving-door law limits him for a year.

Spiking tax revenue will wipe out state budget deficit, analysts say
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Projected state revenues skyrocketed by $1.7 billion Friday, positioning officials to balance the next state budget without tax hikes.

Judge approves shorter sentence for convicted murderer turned prison mentor
by Kelan Lyons

The DOC could start screening Clyde Meikle in July for discharge to a halfway house.

Without vocal dissent, Senate confirms Justice Andrew McDonald
by Mark Pazniokas

The state Senate acted quickly Friday to confirm Andrew J. McDonald to a second term on the Supreme Court.

Funding to fix CT’s roads and bridges is drying up, and officials don’t have a solution
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Kasturi Pananjady

Connecticut's transportation building program is on a financial diet after a five-year ramp-up after lawmakers rejected tolls.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Evidence not clear that Trump incited Capitol destruction
by Alan Calandro

Defending President Donald Trump is not popular and I have no interest in writing this other than adherence to truth. Recognizing the truth (if we can find it, which is not always possible of course) should make us be able to come together around that and move on with a common understanding.

Opinion Securing our nuclear legacy: An open letter to President-elect Joe Biden
by Erik Assadourian

Dear President-elect Biden: As you noted in a tweet shortly after protestors stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, “Today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile.” Indeed it is. And so are nation-states.

Opinion Last votes of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others
by Gary A. Franks

Finally, the election season is over. The historic elections we saw in this cycle were intriguing. The runoff elections for the U.S. Senate in Georgia put a cap on the campaign season. For many people this could be described as a COVID-19 election. I would argue that this was an election influenced by a pandemic but determined by the killing of unarmed Black people with no adequate justice for the Black community.

Opinion Not just environmental problem; Killingly plant is a great target
by Joel Gordes

In 1990, I was one of five legislators to introduce the first climate change legislation that became PA 90-219, An Act Considering Climate Change, the most popular bill of that session. Back then I considered climate change a national security issue… and I still do.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO