Big test for Republican governors? Tom Foley awaits his $6.5 million. GOP files complaint against Malloy.

Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy has his $6.5 million campaign war chest and has hit the state’s TV sets with emotion-inducing testimonials, including support from families devastated by the Newtown tragedy. Since he has volunteered for the state’s public-financing program, however, Tom Foley may be a distance away from launching his general election campaign. Before he can receive the $6.5 million from the State Elections Enforcement Commission’s Citizens’ Election Fund, Foley’s Tuesday Republican primary victory over Senate Minority Leader John McKinney has to be certified by Democratic Secretary of the State Denise Merrill. That should occur tomorrow. The SEEC staff will make a pro forma signoff on the award, but first, they have to accept Foley’s current financial statement as well as a report from Heather Somers of Groton, who won the three-way lieutenant governor primary. Both candidates will share an election line. Items to be reviewed include the value of remaining assets, such as lawn signs and piles of bumper stickers, as well as financial records and how much money they may have in their primary funds.

Meanwhile, Malloy’s TV ads are running nonstop.

It’s a case of the shoe being on the other foot, since back in 2010, Malloy had to wait for days before he could respond to Foley, a Greenwich millionaire who self-funded that campaign to the tune of $11 million from his personal fortune. This year, in rejection of his earlier opposition to “using the taxpayers’ money” to run for office, Foley, who blew through his $1.5 million for the primary, is waiting and waiting for public financing.

So if the Republican Governors Association were interested in giving Foley a little something for the effort, now would be the time to float a TV ad or two. That’s if they really thought that Foley has a good chance to dislodge Malloy. The effort would have to be “independent” and “uncoordinated,” though. So Foley’s staff would be prohibited from calling the RGA up and asking for a lifeline.

Meanwhile, the state GOP has filed a complaint with the SEEC alleged that a PAC controlled by Democratic governor’s were improperly coordinated with Malloy’s re-election team: “The complaint alleges that $91,255 of expenditures made by Connecticut Forward, a committee established by the Democratic Governors Association, were made in coordination with Governor Malloy’s campaign for governor, violating state election law. ‘When the law gets in the way of Governor Malloy’s plans for re-election, he either finds a way around it or blatantly ignores it,’ said CT GOP Chairman Jerry Labriola, Jr. ‘We saw this first with his pay-to-play shakedown of state contractors for campaign cash, and we’re seeing it again now through his apparent illegal coordination with the Democratic Governors Association and Connecticut Forward… If Governor Malloy isn’t able to run his campaign within the limits of the law, he should not be allowed to supplement his special interest money with a taxpayer-funded CEP grant.'”

This horrible PhotoShop job is from Malloy’s campaign website:

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