Tom Foley listens to a question from the media during a news conference to announce he is running for governor, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014, in Waterbury, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Republican Tom Foley recast his net for additional contributors late last week to try to qualify for $1.4 million in public funding funding for his campaign for governor, Hearst Connecticut Media 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.”
The money bomb came in response to the state Elections Enforcement Commission holding up Foley’s application for public campaign funding during its June 17 meeting in Hartford.
It is back on the commission’s agenda for Wednesday, when Foley’s campaign has said it expects its application will be approved.
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.
A person with knowledge of the commission’s audit process told Hearst that campaign operatives of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy tipped off state elections enforcement officials about repeat contributors.
The public funding application of Malloy, a Democrat in his first term who is considered by many pundits and pollsters to be vulnerable, sailed through the commission last Wednesday on the first try.
Malloy’s surrogates disputed accounts that they flagged Foley’s contributions.
The full text of Foley’s money bomb is below:
Thanks so much for your previous support of Tom Foley’s campaign for governor of Connecticut.
While your donation helped us reach our goal of raising $250,000, which would enable us to receive campaign funding from the State of Connecticut, several of the donations submitted to the State Elections Enforcement Commission have been rejected for a variety of technical reasons, so we urgently need to raise several more donations from Connecticut residents who have not given before. One of the key reasons for SEEC rejection was that a donor had given twice, which resulted in both the original contribution and the duplicate being disqualified, so It is critically important that no new duplicate donations be made. We have also reached the 10% limit for donations from non-Connecticut donors, so any new donor must be a Connecticut resident. If you have any friends, family members or colleagues who fit these criteria, their donations at this time would be very helpful and greatly appreciated.
In order to meet the state deadline for donations, we really need any additional contributions to be made by midnight tonight. While the same credit card can be used for more than one donation, a donation form must be separately filled out for each donor, which can be done by clicking on the link below.
https://contribute.tomfoleyct.com/donations/cochair/
Thanks again for your own contribution and for considering this request.
Larry