Conn. candidate acknowledges barrier to winning over voters: his inability to fully smile

Conn. candidate: Voters ask about my lack of smile

STAMFORD, Conn. — Like any candidate running for governor, Tom Foley gets asked about his positions on taxes, the budget and the economy. But few politicians have to face questions about their smile — or lack of one.

It’s not that Foley is glum guy. Rather, in 1994, at the age of 42, he was suddenly afflicted with Bell’s Palsy, a paralysis or weakness of the face that can occur when the facial nerve is damaged.

The condition partly paralyzed the right side of his face. He can only smile with the left side of his mouth, his right eye is partially closed and he occasionally has to rub the lid because his eye doesn’t lubricate properly.

While Foley’s condition is not immediately noticeable, the Republican said he knows it can give people a misperception about his personality — a potential problem for someone trying to connect with voters.

“It affects a little bit of how you look. But probably more so, it affects your ability to communicate, because so much of communication is through facial expression,” Foley said during a recent interview with The Associated Press.

For a politician, a smile can be key to winning over voters. In this visual age, any perceived flaw in a person’s expression is likely be interpreted by some people as being part of their personalities, said Richard Hanley, an assistant professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University in Hamden.

Hanley said it’s important for Foley to tell voters about his Bell’s Palsy, lest they think he’s wooden.

“He has a condition that people may misinterpret,” said Hanley. “Any sort of condition that impacts the visuals may very well impact the candidacy. That’s unfortunate and not right, but the image trumps everything. That’s the world we live in.”

Other politicians have had to deal with visible conditions.

Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman confirmed in 2009 that he had contracted Bell’s Palsy, which paralyzed the left side of his face. His doctors told him he should not be left with any permanent nerve damage.

Former Sen. Robert Dole was known for clasping a pen in his right hand, which was injured during World War II. New York Gov. David Paterson was the nation’s first blind governor, and former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland is a triple amputee wounded in the Vietnam War.

A candidate’s smile can be important tool. President Barack Obama is known for his friendly grin. President Ronald Reagan was famous for using his smile to win over people; his statue in the U.S. Capitol rotunda shows “The Great Communicator” with a twinkle.

Foley requests that TV cameras shoot him from his left side and he tries to be aware of someone sitting by his right side, to make sure they don’t think he’s disinterested in them.

“I think a lot of times people can’t pick up the emotion if they’re looking at this side of my face,” he said, pointing to his right side. “Sometimes it’s conflicting, even if there is emotion shown on one side of the face and the other is flat. Most of the times, people just read the flatness.”

Foley’s condition came on with no warning in 1994. After getting over a cold and earache, he woke up one morning unable to blink his right eye or speak using the right side of his mouth. His lips, he said, would not form words or letters.

Foley’s maternal grandmother had Bell’s Palsy, so he knew what had happened. That morning, he saw a neurologist who prescribed cortisone for several days to reduce swelling. For the first year, Foley said, he couldn’t blink and had to sleep with an eye patch and use a special ointment to keep his eye from drying.

“That first year was pretty rough,” he said. “I couldn’t keep food in my mouth easily. It was hard to articulate in some cases.”

Even today, Foley still has difficulty pronouncing words with the letters “m” and “p” in them. He said a reporter recently referred to him as “mumbles” during a TV interview. Foley also can no longer whistle, which he jokes about being “a real hardship.”

Foley, a Greenwich businessman who has two degrees from Harvard, has been chairman of a business investment firm since 1985. The U.S. ambassador to Ireland from 2006 to 2009, Foley is making his first political run. In the past, he has been known as a behind-the-scenes Republican activist, raising money for the GOP.

Dr. A.J. Smalley, director of emergency medicine at Hartford Hospital, said Bell’s Palsy is relatively common. It’s unclear why many contract the partial paralysis, although the cold sore virus or Lyme disease are believed sometimes to be at fault. For most people, the paralysis is temporary.

Approximately 40,000 Americans contract Bell’s Palsy each year, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. It affects men and women equally and can occur at any age. It is less common before age 15 or after age 60.

Foley said he had never planned to talk about his condition on the campaign trail, saying it never occurred to him.

“I realize now, people are meeting me for the first time and are seeing me on television,” he said. “I guess some people are like, what’s wrong?”