Greenwich multimillionaire Tom Foley is questioning the business accomplishments of his opponents in the governor's race - saying that none of them has operated enterprises as large as he has.
At his peak, Foley says he oversaw companies with a combined 6,000 employees. Two of those businesses have been sold, and today he owns one business - an aviation services company - that he says has about 500 employees.
In the governor's race, Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele of Stamford have been constantly touting their business credentials for months. Both started their own companies and built them up from scratch in lower Fairfield County. Foley, though, said in an interview earlier this week that both of them are "pretty small businesses.''
Foley also questioned the business accomplishments of R. Nelson "Oz'' Griebel of Simsbury, who was CEO of BankBoston Connecticut before moving on to other high-level positions. Foley, though, says the real CEO of the bank was based in Boston, and Griebel was only overseeing the Connecticut operations.
"That's not a CEO in my book. That's a division manager,'' Foley told Capitol Watch. "He would only be handling the local personnel. It's a local operating manager.''
Foley made his comments earlier this week - before The Hartford Courant's investigative reporter Jon Lender wrote that a textile company that had been owned by Foley ended up in a bankruptcy reorganization before later being sold.
Ashley Maagero, a spokeswoman for Griebel, said Griebel has a combination of business and public policy experience that makes him highly qualified to be governor.
"Every company that he's ever owned is out of state,'' Maagero said of Foley. "Oz is a Connecticut business guy. ... The next governor is going to have to be someone who is hands-on. Tom Foley is a chairman of the board type.''