Tom Foley Snags Post-Primary Contributions from George and Laura Bush. Lends Campaign Another $1 Million After Winning Republican Nomination.
Republican candidate for governor Tom Foley raised $88,324.00 between August 5th and September 2nd. That included $1,000.00 contributions from former President George W. Bush (occupation: Self-employed) and former First Lady Laura Bush (occupation: Volunteer), received on August 16th. Mr. Foley served in the Bush administration in Iraq and as ambassador to Ireland.
The Greenwich businessman lent his campaign $500,000 on August 20th and the same amount again on September 2nd, bringing his total loans to the campaign to $4,001,000.00. As of September 2nd, the Foley campaign had $300,992.57 on hand. The former ambassador needs a hefty cash infusion if he’s going to take advantage of a better political environment for Republicans than indigo Connecticut has seen in several election cycles. Democrat Dannel Malloy is sitting on $6 million in public funds, which is still a lot of money in Connecticut politics. Without that last day of the reporting period infusion from the candidate, the Foley campaign would not have been able to pay its bills, which would have been especially bad for a candidate running on his promise to balance the gaping state budget deficit without increasing taxes.
5 comments
Why do you hate Tom Foley rennie?
What does “hate” have to do with it? A contribution from the former President is news.
Maybe that last sentence reveals that Rennie doesn’t respect Foley, but so what? Respect has to be earned.
Wasn’t Foley going to self fund the race? Wasn’t that much of his appeal to GOP voters in the primary?
“This week I will be making an initial commitment to my campaign of $2 million. These funds, along with future financial commitments I plan to make and our robust fundraising program, will ensure that we have the resources we need to win in November.” Tom Foley 12/18/09
http://www.tomfoley2010.com/?p=521
That was the statement when he made the first loan to his Gubernatorial campaign last year. There have been several more loans since then, but not much of a “robust fundraising program” to speak of.
I get the impression he wanted to get the ball rolling and perhaps even pay himself back down the road if he was able to raise enough money. In a Republican year I can see where that might have seemed like a sound investment. However, Linda McMahon has apparently raised expectations among Republicans with regard to self financing candidates.
Probably doesn’t help that his yacht is bigger than hers. Leaves the impression that he’s holding back; so why bother donating to his campaign in a tough economy when he can just write another check for $2 million?
For folks like George and Laura, a thousand dollar donation is just helping out a friend, but for your average influence seeking state citizen or business, donating a ton of money to Tom now would be kind of stupid. Since he’s “loaning” money to his campaign, you can wait to see if he wins, and then donate afterward to help him make his “investment” back. Should he win the governor’s race, there will be no shortage of people looking to help him get repaid.
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