Foley balks at Fairfield and New Haven county gubernatorial debates

Clint Eastwood speaks to an empty chair representing President Barack Obama during the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 30, 2012.

Clint Eastwood speaks to an empty chair representing President Barack Obama during the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 30, 2012.

There will be no “Dirty Harry” moment for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Nope, the Democratic incumbent will not get to debate an empty chair Tuesday night à la Clint Eastwood at Hamden Middle School, site of a planned debate by the Connecticut Mirror, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and AARP.

Organizers say they had to pull the plug on the debate after Tom Foley, the second-time Republican nominee for governor, declined their invitation.

Kevin Maloney, a spokesman for CCM, a lobbying organization that represents 155 of the state’s 169 municipalities, expressed his disappointment.

“We very much would have liked to have hosted a debate,” Maloney told Hearst Connecticut Media Monday. “It would have brought focus to the state and local government issues that we think are important. Ultimately, every voter lives in some town.”

Foley’s campaign, which is said by those with knowledge of the Republican’s strategy to be favoring debates that will be carried on television, insisted that the challenger isn’t ducking Malloy.

“Originally, they said we bailed out,” said Chris Cooper, a spokesman for Foley. “We received many many requests, far more than we agreed to. We got to a point where we’re looking at a debate a week for basically the last six weeks of the campaign and a number of forums.”

Foley spurned a similar invitation from Hearst Connecticut Media, which owns the Connecticut Post, Danbury News-Times, The (Stamford) Advocate, Greenwich Time and five weekly newspapers.

What that means is if you live in Fairfield and New Haven counties, two of the three most populous counties in the state, your opportunities to witness Foley and Malloy tangle in person will be nil. On Nov. 2, the Sunday before the election, Malloy and Foley will be on a closed set at WTNH in New Haven.

Foley’s campaign pointed out that all seven debates that the Republican has committed to are being televised, including a Norwich Bulletin debate last month that was carried on the government-access channel CT-N.

“We feel that there’s an ample opportunity for folks to tune into the debates if they so choose,” Cooper said.

Here is the schedule of remaining debates:

WFSB Channel 3 – Tuesday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m., The University of Saint Joseph, West Hartford

Hartford Courant/FOX CT – Thursday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m., UConn, Storrs

Connecticut Broadcasters Association – Thursday, Oct. 9, 4 p.m., Hartford Hilton, Hartford

CPTV/The Day newspaper/WNPR – Thursday Oct. 16, 7 p.m., Garde Arts Center, New London

NBC Connecticut – Thursday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m., network studios, West Hartford

WTNH 8 — Sunday, Nov. 2, 8 a.m., network studios, New Haven

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this blog post gave the wrong start time for The Day/CPTV/WNPR debate in New London, which will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 16.

Neil Vigdor