The 30-second “Angry Dan” ad has prompted a vociferous response from Roy Occhiogrosso, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s campaign advisor, who wants to remind voters that Foley has a couple of arrests on his record plus a night behind bars.
“Tom Foley has brought the issue of character and temperament front and center in this campaign, which is ironic for a man whose temper landed him in jail. He once rammed another vehicle at 50 miles per hour and on another occasion tried to run a car off the road that his wife was driving with their child. That’s not the kind of person you’d like to entrust with the governor’s job for the entire state. There are times Dan Malloy can be aggressive and impatient, but those are traits that if channeled properly can be good things. He works hard. He’s impatient because there’s a lot of things he wants to do.”
Back in a 1993 incident, a year before their divorce, Foley drove a car that allegedly attempted to run off the road a vehicle operated by his wife, Lisa Foley, who was with their 12-year-old son, Thomas C. Foley Jr., at the time. They were both arrested on breach-of-peace charges by Greenwich Police. The charges were later dropped.
In an earlier incident, back in June, 1981, Foley, then 29, was arrested after allegedly ramming another vehicle in Southampton, New York and spent a night in jail. Four years ago, during the gubernatorial campaign that he ended up losing to Malloy by 6,404 votes, Foley said “These were unfortunate incidents and ones that I wish hadn’t happened” adding that the Southampton event occurred at a low speed after a party. But last year, the Hartford Courant found police reports that Foley used his Toyota Land Cruiser as a dangerous bumper car. Foley was arrested on a charge of first-degree attempted assault, spent a night in jail and the charge was later dropped. But the Courant said a report on the offense indicated that Foley’s vehicle hit the other car, carrying four passengers and a driver, twice on the left front fender and three times on the left rear fender in several bumps over a mile of road at a speed of 50 miles per hour.
Chris Cooper, spokesman for Foley, said Monday that the challenger stands by the advertisement. “Governor Malloy’s abrasive personality is well-known to voters and they have suffered the effects of his ‘my way or the highway’ approach to government, from his record breaking tax increases to his put down of teachers regarding tenure,” Cooper said.
