In this riotous historic election, Republican State Chair J.R. Romano stepped foot in the state’s largest city Thursday to declare he’s fully behind GOP mayoral nominee Rick Torres after Romano was trapped behind the scenes urging Joe Ganim’s return as mayor solely to illustrate him as the Democratic poster boy for corruption in statewide races. Careful what you wish for. My oh my, 12 days before the general election the state GOP leader was forced to back his party’s mayoral candidate to save himself the embarrassing disclosure he was privately rooting Ganim’s return.
From the CT Post:
The event came a few days after Hearst Connecticut Media reported that, while Torres is campaigning to win, some GOP leaders may be hoping for Ganim’s return so he and his pay-to-play past can be used to bludgeon Democrats in “Corrupticut” and promote the Republican brand.
Full story here.
What an embarrassment to Rick Torres and Joe Ganim. The truth, the Republicans would like to make Ganim the poster boy for corrupt politics. I will say this, Foster is definitely the best choice for Mayor. But if Ganim were to win, I think Slater would still be part of a ridiculous party. Most Democrats would accept and move on. Sorry guys, as a Bridgeporter, we take care of our own. Hopefully, we will not have to subject Ganim to Republican bullshit. Mary-Jane Foster is the only choice to stop this black cloud that is forming over the city. Rick Torres need only react to the phone responses to realize he should step down, and although I appreciate his support and endorsement of John Marshall Lee, I resent his lack of support for Tyisha Toms, a strong black woman of substance. A mother, a woman who received her law degree while raising two daughters and working full time. Rick is looking for support in the black community? Seriously? Tyisha Toms could have been a start. Just sharing. Foster, row G!
Steve, you really suck at this. Your spin is just crap, plain and simple. I have a brother out on the streets of BeePORT and I wonder daily if he is dead. My father had an UZI put in his chest and he stood down people coming to our house. I had two teeth punched out and was so mad I sewed my own lip back on. I have been in every neighborhood in all hours and have smelled the death from drug deals, not my own, and have family associates from half the countries of the world through Bridgeport. This is just off the top of my head with no embellishment or care to go deeper. When you say we take care of our own, in what way do we do that? Because I have been looking for that answer for many many years.
Joe Ganim already has the dubious “honor” of being the poster boy for corruption and dirty politics. You forgot to put a fabric softener sheet in the spin cycle.
This headline is an embarrassment to you, Lennie. Unless you mean the web they were “snagged” in, is the deceitful lie the Republican party is behind Ganim. Journalism, whether it is a blog or a public paper such as the CT Post, should not manipulate its viewers with biases. Even if those biases are made plain through endorsements, it is a deceitful practice to write copy that sends a message meant to manipulate the thinking on a topic. Now I will take any egg on my face and admit I am seeing this incorrectly if you will prove this Romano was behind the story. Please do.
Yes Park City, I believe Romano was willing to tank Rick Torres, while privately rooting for Ganim, because it suited his political purposes. In my dealings with Romano, he lacks a history of truth-telling. If Romano is so behind Torres, challenge the Republican state chair to raise $200K for Rick’s mayoral effort.
I read the article above to see if I am missing something. It is a hatchet job for third-graders. I would like to see the screenplay, but probably could not read it through all the way. I can understand being a Democratically controlled paper, but this is just a coward’s move. I am the naive one in here, because I would like to see logic and ideas prevail. I dare anyone to read that article and show me one point of substance that matters to the lives of people in Bridgeport. Mr. Fardy, you asked me what the smokescreen was, it is in full view above. No substance. To me, it lets me know the people’s voice is suppressed through the only paper in town. I wish you would get your endorsement of Foster out soon Lennie, because you have been doing it all along as well.
Torres for Open Honest Government of the people like in the fairy tale. He has had his brake lines cut, lug nuts loosened, campaign bus burned, windows broken, thugs in his driveway wagging their fingers at him, in various election runnings, and he keeps going. He must believe it. This crazy town does deserve Enrique Torres, or whatever other name you would like to call him, to be the next Mayor.
Park City too, first, I am sorry for your frustration. I love the city of Bridgeport for way too many reasons than I could say on this blog. From the people, the diversity, the culture, the hole in the wall excellent restaurants, the beaches, parks etc etc etc. I think I am one of the few bloggers who sees the best and the worst in all candidates. I totally believe the Republican party sucks. I totally believe they were hoping Ganim would run and win so he could be the poster child for Corrupticut. My point about taking care of our own? Well let’s say if Ganim were to win, I would be hopeful for his success. I would not spend four years bitching and moaning. How absolutely asinine to hope Ganim wins at the expense of your party faithful Rick Torres, who every four years suffers the trials and tribulations of running for Mayor in a city that has the most pathetic Republican party in the State. You would think the party would have made an effort to repair the party since their last Republican loss in 1991. Getting back to your perception of the city. Omg–move the fuck out! How could you stand living here? I love it here and embrace the entire city. Listening to you I’d want to kill myself. I think Mary-Jane Foster is the best bet to keep the Republican party from using Ganim as a poster boy. The article is pretty clear. Mary-Jane Foster is a Democrat. She is running as an independent Democrat. Torres is a Republican. Mary-Jane Foster has Finch Democrats, Democrats, Women, independents and Republicans. Mary-Jane is wise to leave Jesus in the church. She has the support and respect from city and state senators, personal friends with the Governor, the respect of business leaders from across the state. If this were about anyone but Ganim, Foster is the best hope. I prefer to focus on Foster’s agenda and her support from Mayor Finch. I do not agree with the concept of anyone but Ganim. I do not loathe him that much. I just believe Mary-Jane Foster offers us the best chance to take the prize. I am not diminishing all of the supporters of Torres. I know many of them. I know Rick is loved by many. This is not his time and if he really thought about his chances in the next 12 days and truly cared about the city, he would support Mary-Jane Foster. Surely it could not be as difficult as Mayor Finch and his supporters to change gears. People are going to make their vote count. If Ganim were to win, the Republican dream of using Ganim and attempting to keep our reputation in the gutter is not going to fly. What the Republican leadership did was insult their candidate and what a huge insult to the city of Bridgeport. Vote Row G and we do not have to deal with all this negative energy!
Steve, Rick is in no position to endorse two Democrats for city council because a qualified Republican is also on the ticket. You may believe one-party rule is good government as long as it is your party in rule, many do not agree.
Jennifer, the problem here is Tyisha Toms and JML are running as a team. Tyisha is black–after 25 years I just opened my eyes and realized that! She is running strong in an area that is considered a tad racist, being predominately white. Rich has a very disturbing ideology regarding black people, so disturbing and yet it is absolutely absurd he would even make an endorsement considering Tyisha spends most Sundays having brunch at Harborview. She is an lawyer and a strong woman. Honestly, it would be interesting to see Danny Roach’s sister and Tyisha take Black Rock as Ganim loses Black Rock and Mary-Jane Foster takes her rightful place as an Independent Democrat married to a Republican who is very knowledgeable and is surrounded by strong business leaders and politicians all the way to the top. It is not relevant if you do not like Blumenthal, Murphy, Gomes, Moore or Malloy. The point is Bridgeport needs as much support in Hartford as possible and hands-down even the staunchest Ganim supporters know Bridgeport will suffer incredibly, putting the redemption of one man in front of the hopes of the entire city. Even Jeff Kohut and Carolanne Curry cannot argue the dependency of Bridgeport on the State. Wake up, Bridgeport. Jennifer honestly, you are a very smart woman. Torres is a very sweet man. Not a chance in Hell!
Mary-Jane Foster really ought to give it up. She is spoiling for Ganim. Maybe not deliberately but that is the effect her candidacy will have on November 3rd. We will be saddled with The Crook as Mayor, a dreadful scenario. Her handlers are so desperate they are sending spies to the Torres camp with false information.
Rick Torres is the endorsed party candidate. Finch lost the primary because of Foster. Ganim is your Democrat candidate. I have no idea what poll or phone banking you are promoting to say Foster is gaining support. Foster did a poll last week. Why are the results not published? A “Foster” former supporter was at McLevy yesterday, claimed they wanted to come work with us and reported the internal Foster poll showed Torres 45%, Ganim 35% and Foster 19%. Still trying to fact-check the leak from Foster’s campaign. Lennie will probably confirm campaigns are never completely forthcoming of their internal polling results. Of course I want to believe what the person said, but really think someone is blowing smoke and trying to pull a typical get in fast and hard, get intel and report back to Foster. Ganim people were on the phone with me as the Press Conference was taking place in a Panic, they heard Foster and Torres were having a joint conference and they were terrified one candidate was stepping down and endorsing the other. Look at the Torres Republican handbook, Rick as party chair a few years ago endorsed a Democrat for mayor, Rick as an incumbent city council candidate just supported a Democrat, a seat Rick would in all probability win. If Rick thought for one minute he could not win this race and defeat Ganim, his past history shows he would step down and endorse a Democrat he believed would win and was equally suited for the position. There are still a vast majority of voters who do not know who to vote for. They know who to vote against, and the CT Post got one thing right, Joe is very amused he has once again played this city into the worst-case election decision for any critical-thinking person. If Ganim wins, it is on Foster, Malloy, Murphy, Blumenthal, the unions, and every Democrat in this city who thought the anti-Finch vote was a good vote in the primary. Because now they sure do not want Joe, and they sure do not all seem to want Foster modified by the team who brought you Finch. For the Democrat or die voters, congratulations.
Jennifer, you looked like such a reasonable person when we met last week. But do you really believe those numbers? I may be the newbie around here, but I’m getting around town enough to doubt those numbers mightily. Alternatively, perhaps the NUMBERS are correct; you have the NAMES reversed. Go with F, G & T in that order and it makes more sense to me. (It’s an understandable mistake when someone reads stuff upside down backwards on someone else’s desk and an occupational hazard for cub reporters!)
Jennifer, those poll numbers literally don’t add up. If you total the support for all three candidates it adds up to 99% of the eligible voters, leaving only 1% undecided. The odds against that happening are astronomical.
The poll question was “Are you planning to vote in the mayoral election?”. If the answer was no, they were not included. The question was “If the election was today would you vote for Independent Democrat Mary-Jane Foster, Joe Ganim or Republican Rick Torres?”. There was no undecided question or option counted in the poll. And you are correct, the numbers do not add up, nor does the Foster worker who suddenly want to come to our team either.
Jennifer, do you get on the phones at all? A Foster supporter shared poll numbers with you. Clearly, they thought you were an idiot! The phone banks tell a different story. This could be Torres’ worse defeat yet, behind Charlie Coviello.
Jennifer,
I know of no internal polling going on in Foster’s campaign. Please provide me with the name of the company that conducted the poll and I can quickly tell if this is pure BS; which I am inclined to believe.
Connecticut Vote is the identified company.
Can’t find a listing for them on the net.