Remembering Myra, Plus: A Message From Moore

City Politics, State Politics25 Comments

When I began researching my history book on Bridgeport that carries the same name as this blog I visited Myra Oliver whose organization The International Institute aided the city’s foreign born. Schooling, language translation, job training, clothing, citizenship, if an immigrant or political refugee needed help, Myra was on the job, focused relentlessly to support the transition. We lost Myra on Wednesday to cancer. Thank you for all you did and will continue to do through others.

Marilyn Moore Greets OIB

Candidates poised for the Aug. 12 primary are dialing for dollars and organizing fundraisers with the hope of qualifying for the loot via Connecticut’s public financing system. Democrat Marilyn Moore is challenging the endorsed candidate Anthony Musto, the elected Trumbull town treasurer, for the right to face Republican State Sen. Rob Russo in November. The 22nd State Senate District covers Trumbull and parts of Bridgeport and Monroe. Moore understands what she’s up against – the political establishment supporting Musto – but undeterred she’s not, with about a month to go. Qualifying for the public money is a must in her quest to put herself in play, and she’s burning up phone lines with money calls as the deadline to qualify for the free dough looms. Musto had a fundraiser Wednesday night at Testo’s. I’m inviting candidates to introduce themselves to OIB readers. Moore says hello below:

I want to thank Lennie for letting me introduce myself to Only in Bridgeport readers.

I’m a lifelong Bridgeporter–I’ve been involved in the community for my whole life, and I have three adult children and eight grandchildren that have been raised here and attended our public schools.

I worked for 19 years at SNET, rising through the ranks from an entry-level job to become a corporate executive at the phone company because of my leadership skills and ability to work with differing interests. I also learned how regulation improves the quality and affordability of utilities for consumers. With rising energy costs, it’s a shame that DPUC has given up so much of its watchdog role in recent years–that means we need hard-working advocates in Hartford to balance the scales for working people in Connecticut.

In 1996 I helped launch a breast and cervical cancer education program under the auspices of Planned Parenthood called the Witness Project. The program addressed a gap in breast cancer education, and was so successful that in 2002 it became a non profit organization serving all of Connecticut. I’ve spent many hours negotiating for services at hospitals and community health centers around the state, so I understand how different “access to healthcare” is from actual, quality services delivered to people who need them. My work in the healthcare community has included service on the Cancer Care board of managers, the Connecticut Cancer Care Partnership, and the President’s Cancer Panel.

I also had the opportunity to serve for two years as Senator (Ed) Gomes’ Legislative Aide, so I have experience delivering constituent services to local residents and building relationships to secure funding and votes for our priorities.

In a lot of ways, I feel like all of my experiences have led me to this place, where I can serve the community that has served me so well over the years. From my years at SNET to gathering the signatures and donations for my campaign, I’ve worked hard all my life to achieve my goals, and I look forward to working for you in the State Senate. Thank you.

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25 comments

  1. As a black man I feel good that Moore is working hard to get elected but like I said I don’t think she will deliver for our district. I’m voting for Musto. But I will not vote for him in November because Russo has my vote. Everybody knows how much I dislike Republicans but I really feel that Russo is doing a great job and he is fighting for education. Russo will be the only Republican I will ever vote for. Obama ’08 Jim Himes ’08 Russo ’08…and I don’t want my district looking like a dump like Ed Gomes’ district. I use to live in that district last year and I’m so glad I moved to Black Rock.

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  2. donj:

    I like your approach to the election. Voting for Russo, for a staunch democrat is a good thing. When you vote for your second republican (after careful thought) you will be on your way to becoming a true independent soul.

    For me, Chris Shays has proven himself. He has delivered for the district even with the dems in control. I don’t think Himes will have the clout as a freshman.

    Obama (for change) Shays (for stability) Russo (for change).

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  3. donj

    You are hereby insulated against Philistine of the Week designation through the end of August.

    The other loyalist democrats in this town should think like you do. Voting outside the party at this point in our dreadful history is mandatory if this town is going to emerge from the muck in which we have wallowed under the persistent goomba administrations.

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  4. Myra Oliver did great work for a huge number of folks from Bridgeport and beyond for decades. She fought tooth and nail to help anyone who needed it. The Bridgeport community has lost one of the great ones, she will be truly missed.

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  7. I’m sorry that I don’t know the Bruce who is constantly mentioned as an alternative to Finch. I’d like to be enlightened.

    If he is a viable alternative I’d suggest he get in touch with Chris Munger and the repub party of Stamford. Chris nearly beat Malloy last go round and was a nobody! Goliaths can fall when Davids get the right ammunition and learn how to aim!

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  8. yahooy – I agree with Marlys, I voted for a republican here and there, including Shays, who has now disappointed me big time. I won’t vote for Russo because I don’t think we need another republican yes-man in office to go along with the governor. As far as republicans giving Joel the endorsement for state rep – give me a break, that’s about as much as a misfit as you can get.

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  9. I’ve never been a slave to ideology, political, religious, or otherwise. Nor can I fathom the fascist behavior of hardcore sports fans. If I had to describe my political beliefs, the term “practical conservatism” would be appropriate. I’m a registered Democrat, but I live in Bridgeport. When in Rome, do Rome…

    All this chatter about party affiliation, the personal lives of the candidates, etc. It’s all just so much hot gas. I have a sense of humor as much as the next guy, a requisite for living in the Park City. I don’t really care about replacing the primary with a mud wrestling match between Keeley and Grogins, and I don’t care that Chris Caruso is a gluttinous chicken hawk. What matters is that the elected officials that Represent Bridgeport comport themselves in a professional, dignified manner. The FBI didn’t rid the city of all the pols that behave like gangsters. Sure, they got rid of Ganim, Newton, and a host of others, but there are still a few that practice blackmail in order to exact a “street tax” on those trying to do business in the city. (Stand up, Bob Keeley.)

    Or there are idealogues like Bob Walsh. Who is this clown, and why is he so compulsively obsessed with minutae?

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  10. bridgeport kid:

    Well said!!!

    Let me just add that I don’t think it’s just Walsh who is concerned with minutia … there is more of that in the gang of 20 than we think.

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  12. The Bridgeport Kid is 100% right. I’m a democrat 2 but I hate when people try to label all of us as liberals, because I consider myself a moderate I’m pro life if they had a amendment to ban gay marriage I would vote yes because I dont support it. So that’s why I just hate when people say all democrats are liberal because I’m a moderate and you have many moderate democrats and a example is Bob Casey the sen from Pa. The reason why I never support Republicans is they are bad on the economy, they support the most wealthy they don’t give a shit about the middle class, they love war and sending our kids into harm’s way. But Russo on the other hand is a moderate if you ask me because since he’s been in Hartford he has done more than Finch has ever done and he is for people like me the middle class Russo has fought for the kids Education of Bridgeport and to me that’s good enough for me to vote for so like I said Russo is the only Republican who will get my vote. and I hate when people say Shays is a moderate because he sure is not he is just like Bush. So Obama ’08 Jim Himes ’08 Russo ’08. At my house I will have a Obama yard sign a Himes yard sign and a Russo yard sign. That might seem weird to people but that’s what I’m going to do. And I Know a lot of democrats like me who will vote for Russo.

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  13. Good people of Bridgeport and bloggers in general. Something is very wrong. The postings today all make sense. There is a conspiracy afoot. If offered Koolaid…decline.

    Of course, we haven’t heard from Anna, Joel or MCAT.

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  14. The following article sums up the present state of Bridgeport politics:

    Housing plan in limbo despite board’s OK
    BILL CUMMINGS
    Article Last Updated: 07/09/2008 11:56:25 PM EDT

    BRIDGEPORT — A divided Planning and Zoning Commission has given a green light to a controversial North End subdivision that may be developed by Gus Curcio, a man linked by federal documents to organized crime.

    The P&Z earlier this week approved plans to build 19 single-family homes on 9 acres off Greenwood Street, Parkview Avenue and Hart Street. The P&Z voted 5-2 to approve the venture, despite opposition from neighborhood residents backed by state Reps. Christopher Caruso and John Hennessy, both Bridgeport Democrats.

    Still, the fate of the project remains up in the air. The developer is fighting an appeal of the earlier approval granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals. Plus, city officials are debating whether to seize, or purchase, a portion — or all of — the property for flood-control purposes.

    The 9 acres slated for development are now owned by Manuel Moutinho, of Mark VI Construction. City records show Moutinho has an option to sell the property for $2 million to Greenwood Estates. That option expires in December and is contingent on zoning approval.

    According to a copy of the sale agreement, submitted to a City Council committee considering the proposed flood-control project, Curcio is vice president of Greenwood Estates. He signed the sale agreement as the buyer’s representative.

    In the 1980s, Curcio was convicted of extortion and racketeering, and was named in federal court documents as a member of the Genovese crime family.

    The Secretary of the State’s Office lists Joseph Regensburger, of Fairfield, as president, secretary and director of Greenwood Estates, which lists its address as 921 Valley Road in Fairfield. Regensburger has long been associated with Curcio and is often a principal in companies owned or controlled by Curcio.

    Attempts to reach Curcio for comment were not successful. Moutinho did not return a phone call seeking comment.

    Daniel Silver, a lawyer representing Greenwood Estates, said sale of the property to Curcio is “imminent.”

    Curcio’s wife, Julie Kish, is the brother of P&Z member Carl Kish, who was appointed in 2005 to the land-use board. Julie Kish is listed as a principal in some enterprises believed to be owned by Curcio.

    Carl Kish did not attend Monday’s P&Z meeting when the Greenwood Estates project was approved. However, he attended other P&Z meetings at which the Greenwood application was discussed. Carl Kish could not be reached for comment Wednesday about a possible conflict of interest regarding the role of his sister and brother in-law in the subdivision.

    Pat Fardy, the P&Z chairwoman, said she was unaware that Curcio is vice president of Greenwood Estates. But she said that information would not be germane to the P&Z’s discussion, although she admitted it could have created a conflict of interest for Kish had he been present for Monday’s vote.

    “He would have had to recuse himself,” Fardy said when informed of Curcio’s involvement before the P&Z took action Monday night.

    Meanwhile, Hennessy and Caruso argued part of the 9-acre parcel should be used to build a retention pond to help alleviate flooding from Ox Brook onto neighborhood properties.

    The City Council is considering a resolution seeking $1.5 million from the state to purchase property along the Ox Brook tributary, including some of the 9-acre parcel to be sold to Greenwood Estates. Some city officials say the entire Greenwood parcel is needed, while others say a small slice of the land is sufficient for a retention pond.

    The P&Z questioned whether the acreage sought by the city would affect Moutinho’s subdivision plans. “I think that was addressed by the rebuttal that that it is not an integral part” of the project, said Commissioner Mel Riley.

    Silver said in a June 9 letter to the City Council’s Committee on Economic and Community Development that his client holds a contract to purchase the 9 acres for $2 million.

    Silver warned the committee that it is “premature” to consider an application to the state for open-space funds because state law prevents use of such money for condemnation or seizure of property.

    “This is to advise you that my client, as the holder of the contract to purchase this property, has no intention of selling this property to the city and intends to move forward with residential development plans,” Silver said in his letter.

    But Silver also said his client is willing to turn over a wetland portion of the property to the city for flood-control use.

    “We can have housing and take care of the flood control. It’s a win-win,” he said.

    P&Z Commissioner Anne Pappas-Philips, who voted against the Greenwood subdivision application, expressed concern about the lawsuit filed in March against the ZBA’s approval of the project.

    “I would like to see that resolved before I make up my mind,” she said, before voting against the proposal. Fardy, who cast the deciding vote — a majority of five P&Z members’ votes was needed for the application to be approved — said she would not consider the pending litigation in her decision.

    Newsroom@ctpost.com Keila Torres contributed to this report.

    The regional scum who actually control our city won’t rest until the last tree has been removed and every square inch of Bridgeport is paved over!

    How is it possible that after 50 years of largely undisguised corruption, and what would have seemed to have been the culmination and undoing of that continuous proccess with the conviction of the Ganim Gang in 2003, that we still have a situation where the scum of the city and the region are calling the shots for Bridgeport?!

    And it is the same parasitic scum and their political and genetic heirs that are still raping and sucking the remaining life from a partially necrotic victim (our city)! Curcio — a suspected assassin, DiNardo, Testa (or “Testo” — as his organized-crime relatives chose a couple of generations ago!)… Most of us could fill out the list…

    Scinto! Some people on this blog think that that scumbag is some sort of messiah! Know your history. He is not universally popular in the places that he has developed; he has destroyed a lot of homes and neighborhoods and created a lot of dangerous traffic and flooding situations. You should know that he has caused major traffic and flooding problems for Bridgeport with his ugly, overly dense commercial development in Trumbull on Bridgeport’s border. He had scumbag Trumbull confiscate an elderly war-hero’s land by eminent domain for that project. He threatened a Bridgeport woman who lived near the property, “gangland-style” in the presence of a Trumbull official (who is still alive and living in Trumbull) after she spoke against his development at a public meeting.

    Evil, greedy developers have mortally wounded Bridgeport and will soon finish us off if we let them. A stand must made and it should start with Greenwood Avenue. All people who love Bridgeport should rally behind that neighborhood to save that beautiful 9-acre woodland (adjacent to a beautiful wooded park). We must demand that the FBI investigate all development projects passed by the P and Z for the past 10 years — to the present… Take a good look at who is on the P and Z and who has been on it, and who is being nominated for it! It’s largely a very scary list!

    Millionaire developers not paying taxes, while poverty-stricken families have their old cars confiscated. Developers always having their way and ruining homes and neighborhoods not only with impunity, but with our “leaders’” blessings and public praise of their neighborhood-busting, tax-base wasting projects!

    (Where is the FBI? What is the Grand Jury waiting for?)

    (Could a Ganim actually be our next Mayor?!)

    If this isn’t Hell, then it must be Bridgeport!

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  16. Barbara Richards, a well known Connecticut activist for immigrants’ rights, has issued the following endorsements, with commentary, in Democratic primary races, and has urged volunteers to help her endorsed candidates:

    1. Andrés Ayala – House District 128 (Bridgeport)
    Incumbent: Democracy-Humanity Rating 100%
    To volunteer, contact Carmen Colon at carmenidaliacolon@Yahoo.com
    or Conzuelo Salas at conzuelo.salas@att.net.
    Andrés has been a great freshman legislator. He made one of his most important speeches on the floor in support of the bill on in-state tuition for children of immigrants. He has worked hard for his district.

    2. Chris Caruso – House District 126 (Bridgeport) Incumbent: Democracy-Humanity Rating 100%
    To volunteer, call Chris at 203.374.1655.
    Chris has always stood up for what he believed in, and worked for many years to bring us the system of public financing of campaigns which ought to remove much of the corruption from state politics.

    3. Charles Clemons House District 124 (Bridgeport) Incumbent: Democracy-Humanity Rating 100% To volunteer, please call 203.331.0958.

    Here is a biography of Barbara, to be found on the excellent new website for immigrant’s rights she has put together, www .electionvolunteers.org:

    Barbara Richards has been active for many years in community and labor organizing and electoral politics in Connecticut. In New Haven she was one of the founders of People Acting for Change, Executive Director of the Community-Labor Alliance (See her chapter in the book Building Bridges by Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello), Director of Research, Communication and Computer Programming for the Hotel and Restaurant Workers, Locals 34, 35 and 217, and a member of the Board of Alderman. Recently she has worked on some election campaigns in other cities and towns, especially in Bridgeport. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and is a full-time professor at a community college. All of her political work is on a volunteer basis.

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  18. Donj; You have great passion and it shows in your post but I do have to comment on one thing and that is when you say republicans love war and sending our kids in war. If I may World War 2 and Korea happened while Dems controlled the white house. Vietnam was started under Kennedy and followed up by Johnson. The 2 iraq wars were under Republicans.

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  22. Wondering

    The “think again” post was directed at City Kitty. There are 2 “p”s in supper.

    Sorry…you cannot be considered for Philistine of the Week because your Post #18 demonstrated tact and is insightful.

    You basically told donj to go to hell but you made him look forward to the trip.

    Thanks for your interest in my culinary embroglio. I had a roll of barbed wire and a glass of draino for breakfast. The most important meal of the day. Sharpens my blogging style. Tonight it’s dinner at R&R.

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  25. capitalistpropaganda, You hit it right on! It gets clearer everyday the city is run by “a” mob! Don’t worry, the feds are always watching. There is just so much wrong going on, I don’t know if they are looking in the right places. As for City pussy, she has to be on the payroll. Who else would stick up for the birdman so passionately?

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