Squirming: Foleys Gave Maximum Contribution to Boughton Exploratory Committee in Fall.
Republican gubernatorial Mark Boughton hopeful is caught in his own web. The popular Danbury mayor’s tight alliance with disgraced Republican Lisa Wilson-Foley (formerly Wilson Foley) is undermining his bid for governor a month before the party nominating convention. He’s having trouble explaining the $375 maximum contribution he received last fall from Wilson-Foley and her nursing home magnate husband Brian Foley.
Boughton was Wilson-Foley’s most prominent supporter in her 2012 bid for Congress. He delivered a hefty chunk of delegates to Wilson-Foley in May of that year, though she fell short of winning the party endorsement. The Simsbury Republican’s primary bid collapsed after the federal criminal investigation of her secret scheme with felonious former governor John Rowland became public.
Two weeks ago, the Foleys appeared in a Hartford courtroom to plead guilty to federal charges arising out of their grimy conspiracy to make secret payments to Rowland through their nursing home operation for services to Wilson-Foley’s 2012 campaign. Rowland was indicted last week.
Boughton’s close relationship to Wilson-Foley has become a handicap as delegates for May’s nominating convention begin making up their minds in the race for governor. He said in a text Monday evening that when the Foleys contributed to his committee “no charges had been filed. They hosted a fundraiser for the Simsbury First Selectman (sic) candidate at their home and they were donating to Town Committees (sic), the State Party (sic), etc.”
The ongoing investigation, however, was widely known, last fall, particularly among Wilson-Foley’s coterie of hangers-on in the Farmington Valley. Boughton took a high hard one from the New Haven Register over his curious relationship with the Foleys. Boughton split a hair when he claimed in a reply that the discredited Foleys did not contribute “qualifying” funds to his campaign for governor.
The $750 from the Foleys may prove expensive for Boughton.