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A quintet of suitors courted area residents for their votes Tuesday during a gubernatorial debate that focused on topics ranging from the closing of Stamford's J.M. Wright Technical School to high crime rates in the state's major cities. Republicans Michael Fedele, Tom Foley and Oz Griebel, and Democrats Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy each assured audience members gathered for a luncheon at Stamford Plaza Hotel that he would be the best person to tackle Connecticut's tough issues as its chief elected official.
"When I'm governor, I will focus on our schools, our inner-city schools, closing the achievement gap" as a way to decrease crime, said Foley, who also promised to close the state's budget deficit without new taxes.
Connecticut's lagging economy was an overriding theme. While Griebel said that as governor he would "serve as the chief economic development officer of this state" and focus on job creation as a way to retain young workers, he also said reopening Wright School is an option "we can't afford." Others disagreed.
"We need those kinds of technical schools," said Malloy. The former Stamford mayor said he would stop borrowing to pay state operating expenses and cut the size of government as cost-saving measures.
Addressing the recent rash of business closings, Lamont said he'd "fundamentally change the nature of economic development" in Connecticut. His solutions included help for small businesses seeking first-tier financing and acceleration of the approval process.
The need to fund transportation projects also was discussed. Like their solution for improving education, the candidates linked transit improvements to the state's job growth, business attraction and worker retention.
"[F]or too long we have been raiding the fund," said Fedele. "Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been siphoned to balance the general fund."
About 240 people paid between $50 and $60 each to attend the 90-minute debate, which was presented by the Stamford and Greenwich chambers of commerce and Keep CT Moving, an organization dedicated to improving the state's transportation system. Malkin Properties sponsored the event.
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