Republican candidate Oz Griebel says he would tackle the state’s budget crisis in the same way he did in the private sector – by cutting expenses and consolidating operations.
Griebel is running among a group of Republicans who are currently behind in the latest Quinnipiac University and Rasmussen polls to Republican front-runner Tom Foley of Greenwich. In the latest Q poll, Foley had 30 percent of the vote, compared to 4 percent each for Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele and Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.
Some insiders believe that Foley, Fedele, and Boughton could end up in a three-way GOP primary on August 10. But before the primary, they will battle for the necessary 15 percent of the 1,465 delegates at the party’s nominating convention on Saturday, May 22 in Hartford. They will clearly be debating the best way to resolve the state’s budget crisis, including a projected deficit of more than $3 billion in the 2012 fiscal year.
“Our current fiscal crisis looks eerily familiar,” Griebel said in a statement. “As the former CEO of BankBoston Connecticut and the Metro Hartford Alliance, I had to make tough budgetary decisions every day – even when they were unpopular. Specifically, I had to bring our expenses into balance with our revenues and consolidate operations and activities when necessary. The financial challenges that both organizations faced and decisions I had to make are not dissimilar to those confronting our state today.”
“I knew then, like now, that turning things around would not be easy; yet by demonstrating leadership and fiscal responsibility, I was able to grow our customer and investor bases,” Griebel said. “By leveraging relationships in the field and speaking candidly with our people and stakeholders, I built key coalitions and teams – region by region and sector by sector – methodically making things right. As governor, I will utilize my experience in turning around previous financial challenges and building teams of varying government and business leaders to re-establish Connecticut’s fiscal sanity, ultimately restoring confidence in and jobs to our state.”
On the Democratic side, Greenwich cable TV entrepreneur Ned Lamont, former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi, and former state Rep. Juan Figueroa of Meriden are battling for the Democratic nomination.