Primaries, Fall Elections, Will Test Faith in Public Financing

The Blogster is amused that two of the supposed supporters of public financing for political campaigns, Speaker of the House Chris Donovan and Senate President Pro Tempore Don Williams, are backing Ned Lamont for governor over Dan Malloy, who won the Democratic nomination during the recent convention. Indeed, you may ask what was the point of the convention? The Blogster says it was to show how really awful the Connecticut Expo Center has become, complete with its mostly unfunctioning WiFi.

Be that as it may, the two more-experienced public servants in the gubernatorial race – Malloy and Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele – are soldiering on. Malloy has received his state grant for the primary and Fedele said he’ll reach the $250,000 threshold in contributions of $100 or less, any day now. Fedele said yesterday he was encouraged because while Greenwich millionaire Tom Foley, the party-endorsed candidate, has had TV commercial up for months, his lead 26, 27- point lead has essentially remained the same.

 “I’ve moved up two points, there’s a largely undecided vote and I’ve spend $65,000 to get there,” Fedele said, reacting to the latest Q Poll after a candidate’s forum Thursday afternoon in Hartford. “This election is going to be based on the substance and the character and the issues and what people are going to see from the candidate more than somebody’s wallet.”

 Lamont, Foley and Republican R. Nelson Griebel are not participating in the voluntary public-financing program, which is funded by unclaimed property, such as the bank accounts of deceased state residents, in the state treasury.

  Lamont, who remains 17 points aheada of Malloy, said voters seem to be responding to his “fresh vision” for Connecticut.

 “Of course, the poll that matters is the one on Election Day, which is why Ned is out there talking directly with people around the state, sharing his ideas for how to move Connecticut forward as our next governor,” said Justine Session’s, Lamont’s communications director.

 Malloy, speaking to reporters after the gubernatorial forum in the Connecticut Convention Center sponsored by a coalition called Jobs for Connecticut Now, said he was “happy” with the Q Poll results. Now that he may have as much as $2.5 million for the primary, he’s readying his own TV commercials.

 “Ned is exactly where he was in January and he’s spent I think approaching a million and a quarter (dollars) on TV, so when we get up and we will get up, we’re looking forward to that gap closing very significantly,” Malloy said. “Obviously I’d be happier if I were in the lead, but I think poll results not moving, and they haven’t for him, is indicative of a failure to connect.”