Christie fires up Republicans in Groton campaign stop
Republican headliners appeared in the region Tuesday, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stumping in Groton for gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley, whose running mate, Heather Somers, took to the Seaside Regional Center lawn earlier in the day to denounce Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to convert the Waterford property into a state park.
Christie, who traveled to Connecticut for the fourth time in six weeks, moved through an admiring crowd shortly before 6:30 p.m. at The Spot Café on Buddington Road, having flown into Groton-New London Airport after campaigning for Gov. Rick Scott in Florida.
“It’s good to be back in Connecticut,” Christie said to raucous applause. “Eight days to go before Tom Foley is the governor-elect of the state of Connecticut.”
Christie, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said Malloy had lied to the people of Connecticut, promising not to raise taxes during his 2010 campaign and, once elected, imposing the largest tax increase in state history.
“If you lie to the people of the state of Connecticut, they should throw you out,” Christie said.
While poll results indicate the Connecticut governor’s race has been exceedingly close for weeks, Christie said, “I’m seeing different things, and I like what I’m seeing.” He offered no specifics.
Malloy defeated Foley by a mere 6,000 votes in 2010.
Facing reporters, Christie defended his move last week to require a 21-day quarantine for travelers arriving at New Jersey airports after having had contact with Ebola victims in West Africa.
“What the people of New Jersey and the people of this country want is for us to protect our citizens,” Christie said. “It’s just common sense. I don’t see any backlash from it.”
He said won’t decide until next year whether he will run for president in 2016, adding, “I’m obviously thinking about it.”
Somers, the former Groton town mayor running for lieutenant governor, called Malloy’s month-old announcement regarding the Seaside property a heavy-handed “political gambit” that will cost the town of Waterford jobs and tax revenue. She faulted the governor for offering no plan for maintaining the Shore Road site’s historic buildings.
Seaside, which originally opened in the 1930s as a treatment facility for children with tuberculosis, has been closed since the 1990s.
“Since the state cannot afford to maintain the buildings down the road at Harkness State Park, it is certainly ill-equipped to protect these buildings,” Somers said, standing in front of Seaside’s main building at a late-morning press conference. “Connecticut needs a new administration and new leaders who are committed to working with local leaders to promote job growth and reduce taxes.”
Dan Steward, the Waterford first selectman; Paul Formica, the East Lyme first selectman and state Senate candidate; and Len Fasano of North Haven, the state Senate minority leader pro tempore, also spoke.
Steward said that his town has been working to promote private development of the Seaside property for 15 years and that the state’s preferred developer, Mark Steiner, has a viable plan to develop a 40-room inn with a banquet facility and 80 high-end housing units. Malloy’s move to terminate the state’s contract with Steiner will lead to costly litigation for both sides, Steward said.
The state stands to lose the $8 million purchase price the developer agreed to pay for the property and will have to assume responsibility for cleaning up the contaminated site at an estimated cost of $30 million to $40 million, the first selectman said.
Malloy’s decision came after Steiner’s appeal of a local panel’s rejection of a proposed zoning amendment designed to accommodate the development plans.
Fasano said the governor’s “change in course” was inconsistent with his stated desire to engage local officials in redevelopment projects.
Several environmental groups have hailed Malloy’s plan for a state park.
“It’s something the state should have done 20 years ago,” said Eric Hammerling, executive director of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, a private nonprofit. “In terms of economic benefit, parks are extremely beneficial. A lot more should be invested in them.”
b.hallenbeck@theday.com
Twitter: @bjhallenbeck
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