Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley on Monday afternoon signed a deal with WTNH, the ABC affiliate in New Haven to get Foley For Governor TV commercials on the air as soon as Tuesday. In the News Channel 8 public filings, the new contracts total $45,000 minus discounts. He’s up for about $62,000 in ads on Cablevision in Fairfield County, though; and more than $172,000 in Hartford. Foley is paying for them out of pocket, he tells my colleague Neil Vigdor. Foley will then get reimbursed for them at some point after his final financial information, along with that of his lieutenant governor running mate, Heather Somers of Groton, is approved by the staff of the State Elections Enforcement Commission and $6.5 million is released to the Foley-Somers campaign from the Citizens’ Election Fund.
Josh Foley, an attorney who is the spokesman for the SEEC and no relation to the Greenwich millionaire, said that since Foley won the primary, he is allowed to incur expenses, then get reimbursed when SEEC staff okays the financial reports.
So is Foley gaming the system until his Citizens’ Election Fund ship comes in? Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause in Connecticut, the elections watchdog, said the tactic skirts the spirit of the Citizens’ Election Fund. “It raises the question of timing, in terms of reporting and disclosure,” Quickmire said. “Not everybody has the ability to write a personal check. Participation in the voluntary program is an opportunity for candidates who are not independently wealthy to run credible campaigns.” She said issues such as bridge funding between a primary and the release of CEF money; and how long the campaign can wait before reimbursing Foley, should be subject of scrutiny when the next General Assembly revisits the issue of public financing.