Ned Lamont’s campaign manager called on Dan Malloy’s campaign to take its first television advertisement down in light of Monday’s Hartford Courant article detailing the number of jobs created in Stamford, while Malloy was mayor.

“Job creation is the single most pressing concern to the people of Connecticut in this economy, and I’m disappointed to see in today’s Hartford Courant that Dan Malloy is inflating his record on this issue,” Lamont campaign manager Joe Abbey said. “Unfortunately, it’s something that career politicians do all too often.”

Abbey said Malloy’s claim he created 5,000 jobs ignores the fact that Stamford lost 13,000 jobs and unemployment increased by 58.7 percent during his tenure as mayor.

“My record on jobs and economic development is crystal clear: during my time as Mayor, Stamford added nearly 5,000 new jobs.  That’s an indisputable fact,” Malloy shot back. He said the number is probably conservative.

RBS, UBS, Purdue Pharma, Bank of Ireland, Jeffries, Thomson Reuters, Fuji, NBC, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Carol Lee, Aon Insurance, Greenwich Associates, Lloyds of London, NBC, Rockefeller & Co., Unilever, Columbus Circle Investors, Burlington Coat Factory, Modells, Hampton Inn, Rochdale Securities, Gartner Group – all of these companies, and others, brought new jobs to Stamford, Malloy said.

“So why is Ned Lamont attacking my record on jobs? Malloy wondered. “Because he doesn’t want to talk about his own.  In his time as CEO Ned laid off most of his workforce, while paying himself hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those are the facts.”

“Dan and his chief strategist, Roy Occhiogrosso, have a long history of running negative, personal campaigns — in fact, Occhiogrosso tried to make this same false attack against Ned and his company in 2006 and it is just as false today,” Abbey said referencing this 2006 U.S. Joseph Lieberman campaign ad.

“We’d have more facts if Ned would release his business and personal tax returns for the last 10 years. I’m happy to do the same. For a guy who claims to have ‘hired hundreds of people’ I would think he would want to release these records,” Malloy said.

“Despite Dan’s attempt to change the subject, the question still stands: will you take down your misleading ad, and if not, why not?” Abbey said.

The spat is just the latest between the two campaigns and it certainly won’t be the last before the Aug. 10 primary.