Wilson-Foley Contributions: Not Just Murphy–Gave to Bysiewicz in ’02, Larson in ’98 and ’04.

Republicans in the 5th Congressional District have been muttering about Lisa Wilson-Foley’s contributions to Democratic Congressman Christopher Murphy’s 2006 and 2008 campaigns. The Simsbury Republican faces Justin Bernier, Mike Clark, and Mark Greenberg in the contest for the party nomination in the open seat.

The nursing home executive told the CT Mirror that in 2006, “I did not understand or know the intricacies of the policies back then, like many people. I was not a politician. Until ’08, I was busy growing my company and my family.”

Wilson-Foley, however, was not new to political giving when she provided the maximum contribution to Murphy.  In 2002, she gave $500 to Democrat Susan Bysiewicz’s re-election committee in her race for a second term as secretary of the state.  Four years later, Wilson-Foley found Murphy “fresh” and “excited.” Those aren’t descriptions anyone would have applied to Bysiewicz as she concluded a decade in state politics.  It has more of the look of someone in a business that depends on government funding placing a bet on a candidate, no matter the party or philosophy.

Bysiewicz is competing with Murphy for the 2012 Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.

Wilson-Foley also gave $1,000 contributions to Democratic Congressman John Larson in 1998 against Republican Kevin O’Connor and again in 2004.

Those contributions probably seemed harmless when she made them.  The ground has shifted in Republican primaries and among a significant tranche of the party faithful.  Wilson-Foley will have to come up with a better explanation for town committee members, for example, than she was too busy to pay attention to politics while larding dough on Democrats.

Wilson-Foley ran a close race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 2010 in the midst of fierce primaries for governor and the Senate.  The campaign for a seat in a competitive congressional district, however, engages the attention of local, state and national party activists.