11 of Connecticut's would-be governors crowd stage at UConn to make their cases

Hartford - When one of them is governor, he or she will face the logistical challenge of closing a $4 billion budget deficit. For now, though, their hosts struggle to fit them all on one stage.

The Democratic and Republican candidates aiming to succeed Gov. M. Jodi Rell - some of them, anyway - squared off Wednesday in ornate Starr Hall at the University of Connecticut School of Law, striving to lay out their plans to lead Connecticut out of several years of increasing fiscal hardship and many more years of bad news about business and job growth.

The debates, co-sponsored by UConn and the Connecticut Daily Newspapers Association, showcased 11 candidates trying mightily to differentiate themselves from fellow office-seekers in a year when the messages seem universal: growing jobs, encouraging business growth and solving the budget problems of Hartford, without identifying many concrete or potentially unpopular spending cuts or taxes.

The state government needs the guiding influence of a small-town leader, declared Republican Tom Marsh, who is, perhaps not surprisingly, the leader of one such small town. Back in Chester, where Marsh is first selectman, he will propose a town budget next week, he told his fellow panelists, and face direct accountability that governors usually don't.

"I'm going to be standing in front of folks like you holding me accountable for their tax dollars," Marsh said.

"Tolls," boomed Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi, a Democrat, in answer to more than one question about the state's plunging revenues. The state must consider reinstating user fees on its highways, he said, estimating that tolls could bring in $1 billion annually from motorists.

Both Republican and Democratic gubernatorial fields remain crowded.

Seven Republicans packed the stage during the first debate, including former U.S. ambassador Tom Foley, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton and Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, and some lesser known, including R. Nelson "Oz" Griebel, the chairman of the Metro-Hartford Alliance, and Larry DeNardis, a former state senator and president of the University of New Haven.

One of the leading Democrats in recent public polls was there, former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, but not the other, former U.S. Senate nominee Ned Lamont, who UConn representatives said did not specify his reasons for withdrawing from the event earlier this week.

Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, a Democrat and UConn graduate, made much of her home-turf advantage. Glassman said she approves of forgiving student loans to encourage Connecticut college graduates who enter critical professional fields and agree to remain in the state after graduation.

Others played with fire. Asked about recent tuition hikes at UConn, Boughton said he thought higher-education systems should consider limits on benefit packages for newly hired staff and faculty, noting that this was likely to prove unpopular with some in the crowded hall.

"I'll be lucky to get off campus alive," Boughton said.

t.mann@theday.com