In their third televised debate, Democrat Dannel Malloy and Republican Tom Foley clashed Tuesday in their race for governor over the state budget, binding arbitration and who is telling the truth about Foley's health care plan.
With only two weeks left in the race, Malloy and Foley have been battling bitterly in negative television commercials against each other in multi-million-dollar campaigns.
Unlike other debates, Tuesday's contest did not touch on the death penalty or Foley's 11-year tenure as the chief executive officer of The Bibb Company and its historic textile mill in Georgia. Each candidate said he feared that his opponent would raise taxes, but neither admitted that he would raise taxes to close the state's projected $3.4 billion deficit in the next fiscal year.
Malloy and Foley clashed sharply over Foley's health plan, which has become a focus of the campaign and the negative commercials. Malloy continued to say that he would never push for the removal of any mandates regarding health care, such as prostate screening or mammograms.
"Dan, as you know, I have not proposed anything that would remove health care coverage from anybody who has it in Connecticut,'' Foley responded. "You need to stick to the truth here.''
"You may have forgotten your healthcare plan, but I haven't,'' Malloy responded regarding statements in Foley's plan that would provide exemptions from various mandates.
When a debate moderator brought up another issue, Foley then switched gears and asked Malloy a direct question about the health plan.
"I've complained in the past about Dan's truthfulness, and I'd like to ask Dan, if I could prove to you, Dan, that you said something that was untruthful on television or in one of these debates, would you apologize to the people of Connecticut for your untruthfulness?'' Foley asked.
"Tom, you know, it's an interesting question you ask at a time when I just read to you language that actually you discounting and refusing to acknowledge today,'' Malloy said. "For instance, in your own medical plan you, in fact, said that people should be allowed to issue policies free of mandates.''
Foley interrupted and said, "Dan, I asked you a simple question.''
"And I'm answering a simple question, Tom,'' Malloy responded.
"Will you apologize if I can prove that you said something untruthful?'' Foley asked.
"Tom, will you acknowledge that's what your health plan says?'' Malloy asked.
"Will you apologize or not?'' Foley responded.
The exchange eventually ended without a resolution, and the co-moderators moved on to another issue.
Despite the current state mandates, Foley says that more than 50 percent of workers are not covered by the mandates, including those in large companies that are not required to abide by the mandates because they are self-insured.
Foley's plan is designed as a bare-bones, catastrophic plan for citizens who currently do not have insurance and companies that do not offer coverage.
At the end of the debate, the candidates were asked about the famed Notre Dame football team's refusal to play in the 40,000-seat Rentschler Field in East Hartford against the UConn Huskies. UConn agreed to play in larger venues, such as the new Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey and the New England Patriots stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
"I actually wasn't familiar with that decision,'' Foley said. "I think Connecticut is a great state. I don't know why they'd rather be in New Jersey than in Connecticut.''
Malloy said he would have pulled the plug on the Notre Dame - UConn football series if Notre Dame continued to refuse to play at UConn's relatively small stadium. Notre Dame has sold out its home field in South Bend, Indiana with 80,000 fans for many years and has played in front of a national television audience for every game for years.
"If I had been governor at the time, I would have pulled the UConn folks aside and said, 'Let's find somebody else to play,' '' Malloy said. "We diminish ourselves when we agree to play somebody not on our home field. ... Let's be very clear. If we spent more money promoting Rentschler Field and the convention facility in Hartford and the other great attractions in our state, we would start to get a return on investment. Let me assure you. We need that money coming into our state.''
With the state budget deficit looming, Channel 3 television anchor Dennis House asked how the candidates would close the projected deficit of $3.4 billion in the 2012 fiscal year, which will be facing the new governor as soon as he takes over on January 5 at the state Capitol.
"We're going to change direction by, first of all, changing the rules,'' Malloy said. "We're going to play it straight on the budget. ... We're going to have a plan to get out of and overcome the difficult times we're in.''
Foley, a longtime business executive, said he will solve the budget deficit by reducing spending, not increasing state taxes. He said he constantly hears "tales of woe'' from employers who complain about how long it takes the state Department of Environmental Protection to grant approval for various projects, which he said slows down economic development.
"We're considered one of the most business-unfriendly states in the nation,'' Foley said. "We need to solve our looming budget deficit.''
Foley responded that the state-employee unions "have had too much influence over policy'' in Hartford, and he pledged that that would change that influence if he wins on November 2.
Malloy, the Stamford mayor for 14 years, countered by saying that Republican governors have overseen Connecticut's policies for the past 16 years. Foley, though, placed the blame on the Democratic-controlled legislature for the state's policies over the same period.
Regarding the debate's second question on health care, Foley said the new federal healthcare plan that was passed this year by the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama "will put tremendous burdens on states, including Connecticut.''
Healthcare spending in Connecticut is about $30 billion annually, including about $7 billion of the state budget for everything from prescriptions for prison inmates to nursing home costs, according to Foley.
Malloy countered that premiums for health care have gone up consistently over the past four years, adding that profits should be limited for the private-sector companies that handle various contracts for the state government. "This is a big difference between my opponent and myself. I think you need to root out excess profits,'' Malloy said.
On another question, Malloy offered a spirited defense of the state's binding arbitration system, saying that it has avoided strikes by police and firefighters.
"Dan's starting to sound like a union representative,'' Foley said, adding that he has not met any union leaders this year who want changes in the current arbitration system. "The people who are suffering from mandatory binding arbitration are the citizens of Connecticut.''
"Tom doesn't like mandates in health care and he doesn't like mandates to make sure that people don't go on strike,'' Malloy said. "As a guy who eats out in restaurants from time to time, I'm sure glad that local communities are mandated to inspect the preparation of food.''