Hartford, CT — Ducking questions on important issues, Tom Foley is skipping tonight’s NBC Connecticut debate — the final prime-time policy discussion of the election. Foley has spent the better part of the past week lying about NBC’s debate plans and getting called out for it.

So what’s he doing instead? Rather than debate Governor Malloy, Tom Foley is welcoming extreme Tea Party Governor Mike Pence of Indiana to Connecticut today to support his campaign. It’d be bad enough for Foley to skip the NBC debate outright while lying about his reasons why — but it’s even worse that he’s instead campaigning with an anti-middle class, anti-women, anti-equality, right-wing Republican.

So this begs a larger question: While Dan Malloy discusses the issues that matter to Connecticut voters tonight on NBC, will Tom Foley be holding a fundraiser with the Tea Party darling?

It should be concerning to Connecticut voters — just take a look at the extreme stands Mike Pence has made on key issues:

• Pence called raising the minimum wage “anti-minority and anti-poor.”
• Pence voted against equal pay legislation not once,not twice, but three times.
• On repealing the harmful ban on gays serving openly in the military, Pence said “the American people don’t want the American military to be used to advance a liberal political agenda.”
• Pence cosponsored legislation to cut funding for abortion services in the case of rape or incest.
• Pence cosponsored personhood legislation that could ban many common forms of contraception.
• Pence cosponsored legislation to mandate ultrasounds, followed by an explanation of the ultrasound, for women prior to getting an abortion.
• And Pence even threatened to shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood.

“If anyone doubted how out-of-touch with Connecticut values that Tom Foley is, now you have your answer. He doesn’t just lay off workers, ship jobs to Mexico and shut down factories. He also ducks debates to meet with extreme tea partiers like Mike Pence,” said Connecticut Democratic Party spokesperson Ian Sams. “The closer we get to Election Day, the clearer it becomes that Tom Foley would roll back all the progress Connecticut has made under Dan Malloy and send this state backwards.”

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