HARTFORD -- A big question on many people's minds is, "would Tom Foley ever run for the state's top seat again?" With the 2018 election coming up, candidates are making their intentions heard. In part II of the interview, Foley talks about the upcoming race and weighs his thoughts on President Donald Trump.
“Let’s talk about 2018,” Bernstein asked, “people already throwing their hat in the ring for Governor, is there anyone that you're seeing right now that you feel like you could support?"
"There's some good candidates, I'm staying neutral at this point. And I hope the party ends up with the candidate who is viable, but it's very steep," said Foley.
"Would you ever consider running for public office again?" Bernstein asked.
“I was very anxious to serve and I'd still like to help the state, I still have an impulse to serve the public interest, but realistically when you've won twice and not won and when the challenges for republicans running a statewide office of Connecticut are as high as they are? I think the answers no,” Foley said, “and if you ask my wife she'd say the answer is definitely no."
Any republican deciding to run will no doubt be asked about another polarizing figure in politics.
"The era of President Donald Trump,” said Bernstein, “are you a supporter?"
“On many of the policies that he's pushing for the country I think are good ones,” said Foley, “primarily economic policy. I certainly don't like the tone of the political dialogue. It's not as measured and tempered and thoughtful as I'd like it to be and I think it should be."Fbro
Closing out the interview, Bernstein asked Foley what he thinks the future holds for the state of Connecticut.
"I'll be very candid with you, here's what I thinks going to happen,” said Foley, “I think we're going to see in the next two to three years something similar to what happened in Michigan where the state government could no longer support Detroit, and Detroit had to declare bankruptcy. And I think the two cities, that as the state recognizes it can't afford to continue to support the deficits in the cities, you will see Hartford declare bankruptcy and probably Bridgeport. That would be very unfortunate for these cities, but I think the state government has run out of options."
“Then the state's probably going to have to go through some kind of a restructuring,” Foley continued, “state's don't have the bankruptcy option, but I think people are watching closely what's going on in Puerto Rico, with what might be a model with what's going to happy probably in Illinois and probably in Connecticut.”
"You've said that you're going to stay in Connecticut, you obviously like living here,” said Bernstein, “is there a positive note?"
“All of the things that brought me to Connecticut are still here, it's a beautiful state. Great people, good schools, nice place to raise a family, centrally located in the Northeast, access to interesting metropolitan areas, so those things are all still there,” said Foley, “if we can solve the political problem and the fiscal problems, I think those things will come back. But right now those things are looming so large on people's minds that I think people have lost confidence in Connecticut."
On the issue of bankruptcy, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin recently said the city would file for bankruptcy if it didn’t receive state aid within sixty days. As for Bridgeport, it is not in the financial crisis Hartford is facing, but it’s not sitting in a budget surplus either. The city’s budget also relies on a substantial amount of state aid.