Hartford, CT — After skipping NBC Connecticut’s debate last night to instead tape Face the State, Tom Foley took to the airwaves this morning on WDRC 1360AM to tell listeners his side of the story.

The only problem? He went all-in on his excuses, blaming NBC executives even after they were debunked several times throughout the day yesterday by veteran anchor Gerry Brooks.

This morning Talk of Connecticut host Brad Davis expressed concerns about Foley’s non-appearance, while Tom Foley repeatedly contradicted NBC. You can listen to the full audio here.

TOM FOLEY THIS MORNING

Davis: “Where were you last night?”

Foley: “I was actually taping ‘Face the State.’ You know, we had told NBC30 about a month ago we weren’t going to do that debate. So, uh, um, I don’t know.”

GERRY BROOKS YESTERDAY

7:00 PM— “That brings us to the elephant who is not in the room, Republican Tom Foley has elected not to take part in tonight’s discussion of the issues. We have been in constant touch with Mr. Foley’s camp in the weeks leading up to this event, they have never articulated a particular objection to tonight’s format. Foley Communication’s Director Mark McNulty did offer this statement: ‘We were unable to come to terms with NBC 30 in a timely manner, so we will not be participating in their forum.’ For the record, we were prepared to welcome Mr. Foley right up until air time.”

TOM FOLEY THIS MORNING

Davis: “And you didn’t think that was important? He could have taped ‘Face the State’ another time. I mean, I’m in the-”

Foley: “Well Brad, here’s how it works. You know, we wanted to give an opportunity for every network to carry a debate. But we said we have to agree on terms, and every one of the other channels, we agreed on terms. It was no problem. But NBC 30, we couldn’t, we never even got to a discussion of terms, they wouldn’t return our phone calls for a couple weeks. So we told them ‘Hey, we’re just not going to do this.’”

GERRY BROOKS YESTERDAY

7:13 PM — “I’d like to take a moment here just to remind our viewers because people come and go during the course of the debate on television, our forum, Republican Tom Foley has elected not to take part in tonight’s discussion of the issues. We did stay in contact with Mr. Foley’s campaign right up until this evening, they declined our open invitation to participate in this forum and we will be reminding you of that from time to time as new viewers come in.”

TOM FOLEY THIS MORNING

Davis: NBC30 wouldn’t return your phone calls?

Foley: Right.

Davis: Wow. I’m surprised. Gerry Brooks, good reporter.

GERRY BROOKS YESTERDAY

7:28 PM — “If you’re just joining us, Republican Tom Foley once again is not with us tonight, we had ongoing discussions with his campaign, he declined our invitation to participate in this forum.”

TOM FOLEY THIS MORNING

Davis: “So that is the reason, but 30 did not return your phone calls?”

Foley: “Yeah yeah, they wouldn’t sit down and work out terms…And we wanted to have those conversations too with all of the people carrying the debates. But we just couldn’t work it out with NBC.”

GERRY BROOKS YESTERDAY

7:42 PM — “Again if you’re just joining us, Republican Tom Foley has elected not to take part in tonight’s discussion of the issues, we appreciate that it is a discussion, we stayed in contact with Mr. Foley’s campaign right up until this evening, they still declined our open invitation.”

TOM FOLEY THIS MORNING

Davis: “And Dennis this morning mentioned that you were going to be on his program on Sunday. So that was the main reason, one of the main reasons, the other reasons I understand is because NBC didn’t call you back, and but, anyway, that you had committed to Dennis to tape that program.”

Foley: “Well actually, the commitment to Dennis was after we told NBC about a month ago that we weren’t going to do their debate. So, and part of the reason was at this point in a campaign, the schedule’s very tight. Every minute you’re booked, and so when we couldn’t work things out with NBC, and they weren’t returning our phone calls, we just told them ‘Listen, we’re not going to hold this spot open,’ so we filled it.”

GERRY BROOKS YESTERDAY

7:56 PM— “And once again, a final reminder, we did invite Republican Tom Foley, he and his campaign elected not to take part.”

BRAD DAVIS AFTER TOM FOLEY HUNG UP

Davis: “I got to check with Gerry Brooks though on this NBC thing. And uh, evidently, from what Tom Foley says, this Channel 3 came in, but it’s confusing, a little bit confusing…

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