Lamont: ‘Malloy’s at it again’

Press release issued by Lamont campaign on Friday:

Dan Goes Negative Again

New Haven, CT – The campaign of businessman and Democratic candidate for governor Ned Lamont responded today to the first negative attack ad of the Democratic primary campaign. Lamont’s opponent Dan Malloy launched the ad after stating just last week that he has no intentions of running a negative campaign.
“Sadly, Dan’s at it again, trying to shake a losing campaign up with the same cheap, false attacks that his strategists tried in 2006 when they were with the Lieberman campaign,” said Lamont campaign manager Joe Abbey. “We knew this day was coming, but that doesn’t lessen our disappointment. Connecticut families deserve better than false negative attacks that were debunked four years ago. Just like his misleading claims about job creation, this is another example of Dan Malloy saying anything to win an election, no matter how untrue.

“What got Connecticut into this mess in the first place is career politicians behaving like Dan does in this commercial, launching negative attacks instead of addressing the challenges our families are facing”

Below is a line-by-line response to the first negative ad of the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial campaign:

Claim: “This year’s race for governor is a critical choice but my opponent refuses to debate.”

Fact: Ned and Dan have appeared together at more than 30 debates and forums, including two statewide televised debates, and they will be appearing together next week in Windham. If Dan felt it was so important to launch these attacks face to face rather than resort to false negative ads, he has had more than ample opportunity.

Claim: “So here are the facts: I have a proven record of creating jobs, lowering crime, cleaning up government.”

Fact:
Stamford lost thousands of jobs during Malloy’s tenure as Mayor and the unemployment rate went up (SOURCE:http://www.courant.com/community/stamford/hc-malloy-jobs-0628-20100628,0,480540.story)
As reported this evening by the Hartford Courant, three of Malloy’s city employees were charged with stealing nearly $400,000 from the city of Stamford. Malloy named two of the employees “Employee of the Month,” joining one of them in a celebratory photo. (SOURCE: http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-stamford-arrests-fedele-malloy-07220100723,0,1677355.story PHOTO: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Stamford-city-worker-owed-nearly-250-000-in-taxes-445432.php)

Claim: “I Have A Real Plan to Put People Back to Work”

Fact: Tell that to than thousands of people in Stamford who lost their jobs during Malloy’s reign as Mayor!

Claim: My opponent doesn’t have that experience, in fact he reduced his employees by more than 70% while paying himself a huge salary. Don’t you think CEO’s behaving that way is what messed up our economy in the first place? I’m Dan Malloy and I approve this message.

Fact: The decline in Lamont Digital’s work force resulted mostly from the company’s decision to sell off some pieces of the company in the early 2000’s. Lamont personally worked to ensure that every employee affected was taken care of.  Many employees kept their jobs, joining the new owners of the cable system they worked for, some took compensation packages, and others started their own businesses with Lamont’s help.

Joe Lieberman made exactly the same false claim in 2006, and the Hartford Courant debunked his attack, saying Lieberman played “loose with the facts in a commercial attacking Lamont’s business ethics.”

(SOURCE: http://articles.courant.com/2006-10-13/news/0610130098_1_ned-lamont-lieberman-s-social-security-lamont-campaign)

“It’s astounding that anyone would attack Ned’s record as a business owner, when the fact is that he is the only candidate in this race with proven experience creating jobs and building successful small business from the ground up. Ned understands what it takes to help small businesses and get Connecticut moving forward again, and that is why we will win this primary in August,” said Abbey.