Money battle heats up in CT gubernatorial race

Hartford, Conn. (WTNH) - The campaign finance battle between political candidates goes before a judge.

At issue are public funds that were approved for a Republican candidate for Governor and his running mate. Another Republican -- also running for Governor -- is trying to block the money saying the rules were broken.

It's now in the hands of Judge Julia Aurigemma, who must decide if the rules were broken. If she grants an injunction, the campaign of Republican Michael Fedele could suffer a fatal blow, and with it the public financing system signed into law following the Rowland scandal.

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley is asking the judge to halt the awarding of a grant of approximately $2.25 million from the state’s Citizen's Election Fund to primary challenger Michael Fedele on the grounds that Fedele only qualified for the grant by combining the small contributions he got with his running mate, Mark Boughton.

Foley contends this violates the rules that say a candidate for Governor must raise $250,000 in small donations to qualify.

Attorney Dan Kirsch, Foley campaign, stated, "Allowing them, those two campaigns, to combine and allowing the Fedele campaign to include contributions made to the Boughton campaign, in our opinion violates 9-74-A1A."

That's the section of the clean elections law that covers the amount and nature of qualifying contributions.

Candidate Oz Greibel has joined the case, essentially taking the same side as the Foley Campaign.

But the state contends that's the way the legislature intended it to work and that if the judge grants the injunction with just four weeks to go until the primary, it could scare away candidates from participating in the future.

"That will be very chilling,” said Associate Attorney General Perry Zinn Rowthorn. “That will be a serious detriment to the successful operation of this program and that will violate the public interest in the success of this program."

If an injunction is granted, the Fedele campaign would be stopped dead in the water because under the new law he is now forbidden solicit political contributions because he has opted into the public financing system.

Attorney Bart Halloran, Fedele campaign, said, "The people of the state of Connecticut, if this happens, are the ones that are going to be the losers because Fedele will effectively be silenced."

Realizing the importance of her decision, Judge Aurigemma said she will rule by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Foley opposes the public financing system.

Fedele has become the first Republican for statewide office to qualify for the public financing.