Despite the nasty personal jabs, there was some discussion of issues, including the economy, taxes, and education policy.
The gloves came off during Thursday night’s debate between Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley and incumbent Democratic governor Dannel Malloy. The event took place at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
Malloy brought up Foley's arrest in 1981, when he was accused of driving into some parked vehicles on Long Island. Foley has been arrested twice, but not convicted.
Foley brought up the subject of an investigation by the Chief State's Attorney's office of Malloy, during the time Malloy was mayor of Stamford. The probe looked at whether city contractors received preferential treatment for work done on the mayor’s house. Malloy was cleared in 2005.
Despite the nasty personal jabs, there was some discussion of issues, including the economy, taxes, and education policy.
Foley talked about an A through F grading plan for school systems, and his plan for “Money Follows the Child.”
“Money Follows the Child, both in Florida and Massachusetts, worked,” Foley said. “The marketplace works. We don’t want to be spending taxpayer money supporting schools that aren’t doing a good job educating our young people. There’s no point in rewarding failure.”
Though Foley was short on details, the general idea of “Money Follows the Child” is to allow urban parents to select where their child goes to school, and take funding from low-performing schools with them.
Malloy warned that would mean poor schools would lose money and get worse as a result. “Tom’s plan would be a disaster if you live in an urban environment,” he said. “Tom’s plan would be a disaster if you lived here in the Second District with some of the poorer districts that aren’t urban. What I’ve done is send more money to your towns.”
Foley charged that under Malloy, the state’s achievement gap has worsened. Malloy replied that graduation rates in urban areas like Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven are up ten percent, and pointed out that he’s received the endorsement of both state teacher unions.
WNPR’s Colin McEnroe moderates a gubernatorial debate hosted by the Connecticut Broadcasters Association on October 9. WNPR, CPTV, and The Day co-host a gubernatorial debate on October 16 at New London’s Garde Arts Center, moderated by WNPR’s John Dankosky.
