Malloy, Foley Clash Over Budget, Taxes, Education and Healthcare

Gubernatorial candidates Dan Malloy and Tom Foley covered a lot of ground in an hour-long debate at Fairfield University Tuesday afternoon, challenging each other on a host of issues ranging from the state budget and economy to healthcare, education and traffic on Interstate 95 and the Merritt Parkway.

Malloy, a Democratic mayor of Stamford for 14 years, and Foley, a Republican businessman, had a few pointed exchanges over whether Foley would allow insurance companies to provide coverage without mandates and whether Malloy had allowed a Stamford fire chief to retire with a $264,000 pension after working excessive hours in his final year on the job.

"I'm dumbfounded," Malloy said after Foley made the accusation about the former Stamford fire chief, whom he did not name. "I don't know what fire chief my opponent is talking about. The fire chief I appointed is still on the job."

Foley didn't revisit the issue after Malloy's rebuttal, though a new question hadn't been asked before Foley was allowed 30 seconds to respond.

Earlier in the debate, Malloy charged that Foley would allow insurance companies to provide coverage to the uninsured without mandates, which Foley took exception to in another spirited exchange.

"I've complained in the past about Dan's truthfulness. If I can prove you've been untruthful, would you apologize to the people of Connecticut?" Foley asked.

Malloy, who had read from a document that he identified as Foley's healthcare plan, replied that his comment was based on Foley's healthcare plan.

"Will you apologize or not?" Foley countered, but Malloy didn't answer either way.

But the candidates clashed in broader ways as well, debating how to reduce state expenses to close a projected $3.5 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year, whether they would raise taxes, how they would close the achievement gap in Connecticut and who was to blame for the mess that the state is in - Republican governors or a state legislature dominated by Democrats.

Foley said Malloy would raise the state income tax, or double the sales tax, to close the budget gap and he said Malloy had failed to identify significant cuts in state government. He also said Malloy would be beholden to unions if he were elected and would have a difficult time getting concessions from state employees.

Malloy countered that Foley's pledge not to raise the state income tax simply meant that people's local property taxes would escalate, and he said he had identified how state spending could be reined in, which he said included consolidating state agencies. Malloy said three state agencies work on economic development, but Connecticut ranked "dead last" in job creation.

Malloy said Connecticut hadn't grown jobs in 22 years because Republican governors "took their eyes off the ball" and "didn't do things necessary to lower energy costs." He added that the state charged small businesses the same amount to register as big businesses and that he would get state government "off the backs" of small business.

Foley said the state was "toxic" to employers and was "one of the most business unfriendly states in the nation" due to legislative mandates. He said no potential employer would come to Connecticut until the state reduced spending and was more responsive to business. Foley said a plant that wanted to expand in Connecticut faced 19 months to get a permit for that expansion and that unions had too much influence over policy.

Malloy countered, "For 16 years, we've had a Republican governor supported by my opponent who got us nowhere. Isn't it time we actually go in a different direction, that we try a new course?"

Foley said laws in Connecticut were made in the state legislature, which is controlled by a Democratic "supermajority," and that the legislature had passed mandates onto employers "that have killed jobs."

"We need a better balance in the legislature," Foley said.

Malloy and Foley also disagreed over state-mandated binding arbitration when municipalities can't reach an acceptable contract with unions representing city and town workers.

Malloy said he didn't want to be "a governor of a state where police officers, firefighters and nurses go on strike because they can't reach a reasonable compromise with their employers." He said 278 teachers in Bridgeport were jailed after they stayed on strike.

"I don't support allowing all those folks to go on strike. The system is designed to bring about settlements. Settlements come in less than those that have not gone to binding arbitration," Malloy said. "The few that go to arbitration, those tend to be less."

But Foley said state mandates drive up costs on towns and cities, though he added that binding arbitration that avoided strikes was "a good thing."

"I don't think the state should be able to tell cities and towns they have to go to binding arbitration...Mandatory binding arbitration drives up the cost of budgets in your cities and towns," Foley said.

Foley and Malloy also disagreed over whether the state should privatize some of its services, which has been suggested by legislative candidates as a way to lower spending.

"I'm not a guy who runs to privatization," Malloy said, adding that he de-privatized some services as mayor of Stamford. He said, though, that privatizing services made sense under certain circumstances to "get you over the hump."

Foley said privatizing services was "a significant opportunity to help close a very serious deficit" and that he would represent taxpayers as governor. He said the state-run Riverview Hospital in Middletown, which cares for 80 children with severe mental disabilities, costs taxpayers $922,000 a year per patient, while outside contractors have said they could provide the same, or better, coverage for less than half that cost. Privatizing Riverview Hospital could save taxpayers about $25 million, Foley said.

"If the state is providing a service, they have to provide it at the same cost or less. I'll make sure taxpayers are well represented, and private contractors are an important part of how I will reduce government spending," Foley said. "Dan has no significant proposal to cut spending. He's going to raise your taxes."

Malloy countered that Foley would cause local property taxes to rise because that was the only way Foley's "fuzzy math" worked.

Foley said Malloy would either cause the marginal state income tax rate to rise above 9 percent or cause a doubling of the sales tax. "Dan, I think you owe it to tell listeners which taxes you're going to raise and by how much," he said.

Foley's challenge went unanswered because it was onto the next question - about how the state could ensure it had the best possible teachers.

Foley said he supported "choice" in education and allowing "money to follow a child," which seemed to suggest he was in favor of vouchers, though he didn't use the term. He said he supported assessments of teachers, principals and schools, and if they weren't up to standard, the state should find a way to remove them. He added that the state didn't require a final exam for students before they could graduate from high school.

Malloy, in his response, emphasized early childhood learning, individualized curriculums, more time spent in the classroom and early reading skills and math skills. He said he sponsored two charter schools as mayor of Stamford and that candidates "shouldn't pit interests of one group against another."

Foley, in his response, said Malloy didn't support school choice, allowing money to follow a child or amending tenure for teachers.

Next up was the traffic-clogged I-95 and Merritt Parkway, which Foley said costs commuters time and discourages employers from coming to Connecticut. Foley suggested higher-speed rail access to Hartford and New London, diverting truck traffic from I-95 and the need for "an overall strategy."

Malloy said the state needs to rework entrances and exits on I-95 and the Merritt Parkway, clear accidents more quickly from the highways, invest in rail transportation and view it as a subway system, create more parking spaces for rail commuters and create transportation from train stations to people's places of employment. He said the state also needed to invest in rail service from New Haven to Hartford to Vermont.

Foley said the General Assembly had diverted funds meant to improve transportation into the state's general fund "to continue the spending spree," which Malloy said a Republican governor had approved.

One of the final questions of the debate asked the candidates to identify three specific cuts they would make as governor to close the budget gap.

Malloy said Medicaid should give generic drugs, which he said would save $21 million and that he would change how the state purchases electricity, which he said would save $60 million. He said he would "look at how we approve building projects in the state and streamline that and make sure schools are built in the most cost effective way," which he said would save "hundreds of millions of dollars." He said he also would combine state agencies and examine how the state procured services from outside contractors.

Foley said he would keep the level of spending in next fiscal year's budget at the current level, which he said would save $600 million; insitutute a hiring freeze, which he said would save $100 million; and eliminate waste and duplication in state agencies. He said a study already existed that showed how the state could streamline its government and that he would take it off the shelf and implement some of the recommendations. He said he would use outside contractors, referring again to savings that could be achieved by privatizing Riverview Hospital, and that he would move elderly citizens on Medicaid from nursing homes to community-based care, which he said was less expensive and preferred by the elderly. "It's $7 billion of our budget," Foley said of healthcare. "If we lower it 10 percent, we save $700,000."

Malloy said most of the $600 million increase envisioned in next fiscal year's budget was due to Medicaid and he asked Foley to identify "what people you are going to put on the street."

Foley said he would find savings in other areas and that he'd never said that the $600 million in unspent money would affect residents on Medicaid.

In his closing statement, Foley said he was "an outsider," "problem solver" and a businessman who had a plan to create jobs.

"I will not raise your taxes. My opponent will. He has no plan to cut spending and he has said he will raise your taxes. It will hurt working families, it's bad for the economy and it will further kill jobs," Foley said. "My opponent has made commitments with unions. I will go with no commitments."

Malloy, in his closing statement, said, "I do fear Tom wants to raise your property taxes," which he earlier said was the most regressive of taxes.

Malloy cited the obstacles he had overcome to obtain a law degree and to work as a prosecutor and his service as mayor of Stamford and on local boards of education and finance. "I'm asking you for your vote. I'm asking you for your confidence. I believe, together, we'll create a better Connecticut," Malloy said.