While Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell was delivering her final state-of-the-state speech today, two of her potential replacements – Tom Foley of Greenwich and former U.S. Congressman Christopher Shays (R-Bridgeport) – stood practically side-by-side in the back of the legislative chamber.
Foley has been on the campaign trail for a few months now while his good friend Shays just last week acknowledged to reporters he is thinking about entering the gubernatorial race.
Foley and I talked about Shays after Rell’s speech.
“The reason he’s interested is there’s a good opportunity here. I think he sees an opportunity maybe he didn’t see six months ago or prior to Scott Brown’s victory (in the special Congressional election in Massachusetts),” Foley said. “But I’ve been traveling around the state since June … He’d have a lot of catching up to do if he just got in the race.”
To be fair, another potential GOP contender – Hartford businessman Oz Griebel – only announced his candidacy last week and Foley spent a few months running for U.S. Senate before deciding late last year to switch to the Governor’s race.
Foley also made a point of mentioning that Shays, after losing the 2008 race to another Greenwich resident – Democrat Jim Himes – moved last fall to Maryland and has to re-establish residency in Connecticut.
“I think he’s been down on the Maryland shore, eating crab cakes or something,” Foley joked. “If he’s going to do this he needs to get back up here.”
That Tom Foley is one class act. He bought a Bush ambassadorship to Ireland that had him out of state for what, 3 of the last 4 years, and never went east of Greenwich for decades before that, but we’re supposed to believe he knows Connecticut better than people who’ve actually served the state for decades? I guess we can look forward to 7 months of nasty attacks from this guy.
Comment by Pyrrho — February 3rd, 2010 @ 9:48 pm
Just another rich guy trying to stroke his ego. He won’t answer questions and hasn’t put forward any kind of plan.
Comment by David — February 5th, 2010 @ 9:26 am
Shays for Governor? You know that may not be such a crazy idea. I never liked Shays as a congressman because he is such a RINO but I have to admit he is a fiscal conservative.
Maybe in the role as governor, I may like him a bit better. I may even vote for him.
I will have to think about it. One thing is for sure. He can’t be any worse than Jodi Rell.
Comment by John R. McCommas — February 7th, 2010 @ 8:24 am