Republican Tom Foley announces his plans to run for governor in 2014 at VFW Post 201 in Waterbury, Conn. on Wednesday, January 29, 2014.
For Tom Foley, crossing the Ts isn’t as simple as it sounds.
For the second week in a row, the GOP’s endorsed candidate for governor had his application for public campaign funding held up.
Foley accepted responsibility for the delay in an interview Wednesday with Hearst Connecticut Media, saying that his campaign was unable to furnish the state Elections Enforcement Commission with additional information it requested about some of his contributors in time to get on the panel’s agenda for this week.
Foley’s application for $1.4 million for the Republican primary first appeared on the commission’s June 18 agenda, the same day that a competing application from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was approved by the agency.
“I think it’s curious that theirs got through on the first pass,” Foley said. “I don’t think it’s curious that ours didn’t. It was our fault, not theirs.”
This is the first time Foley is participating in the program, having spent $11 million of his own money in a narrow defeat to Malloy in 2010.
Malloy received $8.5 million from the Citizens’ Election Fund four years ago, a familiarity that Foley said may have helped Malloy’s current application sail through the approvals process.
Foley’s application is expected to be on the commission’s agenda July 2 agenda.
Foley recast his net for additional contributors late last week to try to qualify for public funding funding for his campaign for governor, Hearst has learned.
Foley’s campaign did what is known in the fundraising world as a “money bomb” on Friday, calling by email on supporters who had not contributed to help grow Foley’s war chest within a 24-hour window.
The subject line of the email, which was obtained by Hearst from a person who received the solicitation, was “Tom Foley — Urgent.”
Major party candidates for governor must raise $250,000 in $100 increments to qualify for the Citizens’ Election Program.
Foley’s campaign treasurer, Larry Lawrence, said in the email that some supporters gave twice, voiding their contributions altogether.
Foley’s campaign also revealed that it had maxed out at the 10 percent cap on out-of-state donors.