Hi all:
Welcome to the first post of our new site. I’m excited. Lots going on: Democratic party establishment getting its ass kicked by State Senator-elect Rob Russo, Mayor Bill Finch celebrating (can he really call it a celebration?) his clueless first 100 days in office, and the twisting and turning to select a new Democratic Party chair after the disastrous performance Tuesday night against Russo.
Lisa Honey Parziale, former president of the Bridgeport City Council, has earned her spot on the Democratic Town Committee by one vote. In a review of vote tabulations today by local elections officials, Honey was declared the winner. Unless, of course, party leader John Stafstrom pulls a Chris Caruso and takes it to court. Now a date can be set for selection of the next party chairman. Will it be the continuation of the Stafstrom/Cynthia King combo, Black Rock District Leader Danny Roach or former chair Mario Testa who appears to be lining up a number of commitments to regain his old power post.
Finch, whose forces took a beating Tuesday night in Russo’s landslide win over Tom Mulligan, does not want Testa, a student of power politics. Finch has been working the phones for Stafstrom. Stay tuned.
A little bit about the site. I’m still learning it.
To post a comment, you’ll need to log in to your handle. In consideration of give-and-take from posters with input from readers, we’ve incorporated a registration system to prevent random people from stomping on a poster’s handle. When you register your handle, you must provide a working email address to receive the initial password assigned to you. You may change this password at any time via the “Site Admin” link that appears after you’ve logged in. These links all appear in the top right corner of the site.
At your option, you may post under your given name; or you may post under a handle. Neither I nor the site will “out” you. Whatever you’ve provided for your given name and email address will not be revealed by me or the site for anyone to see, so your anonymity will always be preserved. However, you are of course free to identify yourself if that’s your wish. I will approve your very first entry. After that your posts will appear instantly.
Fire away!
Tom Kelly // Mar 12, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Lennie! Congrats on the new site. Looks great. Can’t wait to buy some Only In Bridgeport hats and t-shirts when they go on sale.
the Nose // Mar 12, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Free Lennie! Congrats on the new site.
Quick reflection on your introductory post … as excited as I am about declaring a victory against the Democratic machine, I’m not entirely certain we can declare a real victory–it was more of a forfeit, maybe? Mulligan didn’t seem to have a whole lot of support in his run … the Party’s inability to put a team on the field for this race is a huge retreat in a district they fought well to defend 16 months ago. But then (as you’ve pointed out in other forums) Finch has made it rather difficult for his party in the early going, certainly as far as holding onto his seat was concerned. They may well eventually regret giving Rob Russo a foothold and a platform; incumbents who work as hard as he does are very difficult to unseat … could we be getting misty-eyed nostalgia for John Fabrizi soon?
mediastew // Mar 12, 2008 at 2:18 pm
looks b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l:-)
Black Rocker // Mar 12, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Lennie
Congrats on the new site. The design looks great. I look forward reading some great insights from a class act.
donald bpt // Mar 12, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Go Russo!
Go Obama!
Go Lennie!
Bish // Mar 12, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I like your new home Lennie! Hey, have you had the good fortune to eat at Metric Bar & Grill on Canon Street? Really fantastic food. The only thing good about jury duty was finding that new restaurant. If you go, tell chef Pierre his jury-duty cousin sent you!
Dod Andrew // Mar 12, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Hey Lennie,
Nice new digs you got here … congratulations.
Mr. Barnum // Mar 12, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Congrats Lennie!
I have nothing to say other than I have now secured the name Mr. Barnum at this blog. Thank God no one can now claim my secret online identity.
Now, all is well in Bridgeport.
I suggest that you quickly put “Only in Bridgeport adult diapers” and “Only in Bridgeport enema kits” for sale on this blog. Plenty of crap in this town. May as well make a couple of bucks off it (without having to testify in court about it at a later date, anyway).
PT
Wondering // Mar 12, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Lennie thanks for the help good luck on the new site,
Tom Kelly // Mar 12, 2008 at 5:37 pm
This just in from the Grin Reaper.
PARZIALE WINS IN 2ND RECOUNT! Secretary of State steps in on contested ballot and makes ruling giving Parziale the one vote edge.
Special thanks to the grin reaper for the scoop.
Local Eyes // Mar 12, 2008 at 8:30 pm
THIS BLOG will rapidly become home to the cream of Bridgeport society–prepare for a parade to be thrown in our honor!
well, um, uh, er …
brown eyed girl // Mar 12, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Is there a real beach in Bridgeport?
Congrats Lennie, nice site
pollyanna2 // Mar 12, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Yahooy,
Life is turning out not to be as dreamt,
A shining knight on silver horse,
Is that the way it went?
A frog remains a frog and comes as no surprise,
Can we be content with what we have and thrive on compromise?
Fairy tale castles made of jewels are glass,
like youths ideals they are never made to last.
Clinging to a comfortable lie is woeful if you will.
But disappearing into fantasy is something sadder still.
What becomes of today? Is it lost chasing specters that we sought?
What become of our lives we live, the ones we own and bought?
Let go of useless dreams forever unfulfilled. Create the new reality;
Don’t sober the truth of now into wretched finality.
John from Black Rock // Mar 12, 2008 at 9:04 pm
The new site looks good.
With the Russo and Parziale wins things are not looking good for Stafstrom/King.
sun cat // Mar 12, 2008 at 10:00 pm
The site’s looking good Lennie! Hang in there in the court case.
Driving Miss Crazy // Mar 12, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I was driven around your site Lennie; I’d say it looks alright, I like to see a lot of people around though.
Lots of abandoned Mulligan lawn signs around. I noticed the next day many of the Mulligan supporters In Black Rock quickly took down the signs. I knew the votes would go the way it did, the news about the Conroy Trial did not help the democrats. It surely didn’t help to see the man holding the newspaper and the Russo sign on the way to and back to work for 2 days. I went to the Trumbull Mall on Sunday and there he is again with 3 more people. I watched him work the crowd and I thought to myself, “Damn I couldn’t get a man work that hard for Pussy.” He got my attention. I know what you men really want to know regarding the New York gov. case. Did she Spitzer or Swallow?
park city fan // Mar 13, 2008 at 9:03 am
Nice job on the new site. Wish you continued success and like Tom Kelly, looking forward to the “only in bridgeport” gear to become available.Perhaps you might consider blindfolds,earplugs and rose colored glasses in addition to the usual hats, tees and sweatshirts.
Tom Kelly // Mar 13, 2008 at 10:41 am
envoy5 is not gone, not forgotten and was never outed.
Many people on this blog know one another. envoy5’s real name has never been published on this blog. he is a good, smart guy and yes insightful.
Mario is the lesser of the 3 evils available. He is still a master politician who can now say to Stafstrom and Roach. “Check-Mate!”
Much of his former power will be mollified because of the campaign finance reform initiated by Chris Caruso. I hope he will try to unite a very fractionalized party.
highcard // Mar 13, 2008 at 9:53 am
LG-
Nice site. Hope you split some crustaceans, molest some mollusks and tilt at whatever windmills stand in your path.
aboost // Mar 13, 2008 at 10:12 am
There once was a clever wordsmith on this blog with the handle of envoy5. He was outed and posts very little because of it. That’s a shame because he was (or is) insightful, a gentleman and a lot of people pay attention to what he writes. And … he is a connoisseur of the Bombay neat, slightly dirty imbibation. I have been reviewing some of his pre- and post-primary postings and wish that he would consider reentering this blog with regular contributions especially when it comes to the Finch, Mario Testa and the Machine connection.
Most of the postings to which I refer warned that electing Mario Testa mayor in the form of Bill Finch would be a disaster of unheard magnitude for this city. Well, it certainly has happened. There must be a way for honest citizens that are interested in lower taxes, effective education and public safety to interfere with the business as usual mandate of the current administration. Any suggestions?
Wondering // Mar 13, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Mario has the votes to take out Stafstrom & King. Roach is what he always was … a minor role player with big ideas. Roach showed his true side by backing out on his deal with Testa. The deal was that the person with the lowest number of delegates will give the person with the higher count his backing. Roach had 2 meetings with Testa at Testo’s at which time this deal was made. Roach has since backed out saying it never happened.
Testa backed the challengers in the 137th and worked for them also and they took all 9 seats.
Lisa took 3 seats from Stafstrom.
By my count that’s 12 votes Stafstrom lost that he was counting on. Roach by my count has 13 votes as Diaz will go along with his mom and Scinto at best can come up with 5 votes. WHAT did Scinto pay (politically) for that part-time job?
The one thing amongst many that will happen under Testa there will be one party and not all these little self-centered groups that are out there now (Robles take note). Political payback is a bitch. One more thing Finch will be getting sound advice on political matters something that Stafstrom has not been able to give.
Town Couchman // Mar 13, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Parziale would have … Gov. Spitzer for free.
Cougar Cat // Mar 14, 2008 at 8:05 am
Lennie–
You are Bridgeport’s oyster.
Cougar Cat // Mar 14, 2008 at 10:14 am
Yahooy-
You are Bridgeport’s barnacle.
The Bridgeport Kid // Mar 14, 2008 at 11:55 am
Finally, a Bridgeport blog worth blogging. Hallelujah! And The Bridgeport Kid is baaaack, heh-heh-heh. I did miss my fellow bloggers.
yahooy // Mar 14, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Kid
Wish we could say the same.
sun cat // Mar 14, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Hi Bridgeport Kid! Nice to see you back … you too, yahooy.
The Bridgeport Kid // Mar 15, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Hey Yahooy,
Still haven’t gotten past your miserable childhood, eh? It’s okay, it’s okay. I just hope your inner child doesn’t go Harris and Kliebold and shoots up the inner high school attended by everyone else’s inner children.
Have you ever considered drinking heavily?
yahooy // Mar 15, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Kid
Go make a sandwich!