In the latest direct mail piece, Mary-Jane Foster’s campaign undercuts what Joe Ganim feels is a great strength, assailing the veracity of his tax record as mayor as well as his testimony under oath at his 2003 corruption trial in which his sentencing judge announced “I find by clear and convincing evidence Mr. Ganim’s testimony was so fundamentally and materially in dispute with that given by others, whose testimony was corroborated.”
The mail piece proclaims, “If Joe Ganim lied under oath can we trust anything he says?” U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton enhanced Ganim’s 9-year sentence announcing he had provided false testimony under oath. The mailer includes passages from a New York Times article about Ganim’s testimony.
Ganim tactfully contrasted his tax record as mayor against incumbent Bill Finch in winning the Democratic primary, including 10 straight years without raising taxes. The Foster mail piece highlights the 5.7 percent tax increase under Ganim’s first full budget as mayor covering 1992-93.
Ganim argues the tax hike was forced by the deficit left by his predecessor Republican Mary Moran, whom he defeated November of 1991, as well as to finance the hiring of 100 police officers as the city experienced historic highs in violent crime during low police staffing levels. Ganim is once again highlighting public safety and taxes as key issues.
When Ganim became mayor the city was already under the thumb of a state oversight panel put in place after Mayor Tom Bucci’s declaration in 1988 that the city was broke and required a state bailout. The city was backed by a state bond loan, and not direct cash. The Bridgeport Financial Review Board’s role was to ensure city budgets were in balance. Frustrated by what she termed interference of the review board and generous union contracts, Moran placed the city into federal bankruptcy court in June 0f 1991, her reelection year, a move opposed by Governor Lowell Weicker. A federal judge ruled against Moran. Ganim defeated her in the general election.
In the next two years to follow, Ganim received unprecedented gubernatorial help from Weicker who used the force of his will and executive powers to flood the city with revenues including $10 million for the purchase of the Beardsley Park and zoo, and tens of million more from a gaming compact with two tribal nations. The moved provided Ganim a much-need cushion in future budgets as he secured major union concessions to ease the budget load. In the summer of 1995, the review board finished its work, satisfied Ganim and financial officers had city finances under control.
Foster’s two-sided mailer contrasts Ganim with a positive tax message from Foster including “zero tolerance for corrupt behavior. Every dollar spent on corrupt deals is a dollar taken away from our schools, our police, and our pockets.”
The Foster campaign has kicked out three mail pieces in the last 10 days backed by six-figure fundraising the past two weeks to reach a citywide electorate in the general election.
Cracking the Ganim code>: He’s proven it to me: if you operate under ideal conditions, you can have an ideal term. Ganim didn’t raise taxes because he didn’t have to. Irrational exuberance soon followed and Bridgeport’s future was delayed. Personal gain replaced public safety.
If Joe Ganim couldn’t handle the spoon-fed prosperity of yesterday, he won’t be able to navigate the complexities of Bridgeport’s future.
Vote for a lawyer with a license. Elect Mary-Jane Foster.
Bonus: www .FosterforBridgeport.com
Enrique Torres pledges to LOWER taxes, not hold them at already unbearable levels. If the spending of the city has been out of control, it cannot be blamed on the citizens who need tax relief. The books of the city need to be opened. Torres is the only candidate committed to lowering taxes. I do not understand why other candidates speak of holding the line on taxes, as if they are acceptable at current levels. Torres. You can fight city hall. You own it.
Please take a good listen to Torres for Mayor. You will like what you hear. He is committed to promoting Open and Honest government that puts Bridgeport residents first.
That’s what Republicans are doing with Donald Trump, they are listening and it looks like he will be their party’s candidate to run for President of the United States. What say you, Rick Torres?
Last gasp from Mary-Jane and company. Campaign bickering within her campaign has taken its toll. She couldn’t even muster the effort to comment on the SHU-Bridgeport homeowner dilemma that affects much of the North End and upper East Side. Out of touch. Out of gas.
(People know all about Joe Ganim, Mary-Jane. Such a pathetic, non-information, non-tax-solution, USELESS (!) message. MARY-JANE FOSTER–OUT OF TOUCH. OUT OF IDEAS. OUT OF GAS!)
Joe Ganim and Jeff Kohut are both full of it. Why comment on something that at the present time is not in her power? If Ganim said anything, he is full of it. Kohut, you are like your idol, full of shit and clueless.
If MJF lied about Kooris and other city employees being kept on the payroll, can we trust anything she says?
… or her “co-pirate” Stafstrom?
Gee Jeff, I guess you have totally severed any possible respectful relationship with Mary-Jane Foster. Feeling threatened? You should. Her support is growing stronger and stronger in all the communities. She starts with all Mayor Bill Finch’s votes. She is having a swell of minority support. Women, businessmen and politicians. Your comments about Foster are so severe you sound like a crack addict. What in hell is the matter with you?
Oh BTW I thought this current mailer was excellent and apparently I am not the only one.
Who are you and what have you done with Jeff Kohut?
Some people never learn! When the negative pieces from Finch got out of control, I knew they would backfire, and they did. Now the clone is doing the same thing. Some people never learn, that’s why they keep losing.
How did you do in the last election?
Is Maryli Secrest back?
This was Foster’s best piece. This wasn’t a KKK piece, this identified facts. People need to be reminded. This was excellent. Finally!
city hall,
I don’t think so. I don’t think you’ll see her anymore. Her walk-on part is done. It was done when Finch got done, I mean got dumped.
Ron, apparently there is another group supporting Trump.
“Last week, Survey USA Today released an eye-catching poll showing how Donald Trump would fare in head-to-head matchups against potential Democrat nominees Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Al Gore. The most shocking result was not he beat all four of the candidates. What made everyone’s jaw hit the floor is that he received more than 20% support among African American voters in every matchup.”
QD, I know you are a pretty sharp gentleman, so please tell me of any election that was won with 20% of the black vote. Hasn’t happened and won’t happen here.
Who’s running her campaign? Bill Finch? Lol.
More of the same is like a broken record. Did not work for Finch, is not going to work for Foster.
Vale la Pena,
Have you made calls for Joe? Getting good responses? Wake up, this is the general election. Ganim got his strongest support in the primary. He ran a tremendous campaign.
New findings from the Auerbach research foundation. Democratic primaries in Bridgeport have no bearing on general elections to follow. In the same city.
Auerbach research foundation says this will not happen.
Medications served to Auerbach at 5:00 pm while he is counting city-owned cars leaving Bridgeport for homes in other towns.
DD, it’s a sharp contrast from the last election and can only grow as candidates begin to drop out. I am not a Trump supporter, it’s not that I dislike him, but I have a couple other candidates ahead of him. But you’ll find if you read deeper into these articles is what is really resonating with the black community is Trump’s stance on illegal immigration. These policies of putting illegals from other countries ahead of black Americans have hurt them the worst. Just look at black young men, unemployment is almost 50%, that’s evil and immoral. Unfortunately, the black community has been lied to.
Not sure if you’ve seen these two women before. Check them out on YouTube, they’re hot shit!
“Scher cautions against stereotyping Trump’s supporters since they come from more diverse groups than one might expect. Indeed, his enthusiasts include blue-collar workers, white-collar workers and homemakers of all ages, races and education levels, including the “Stump for Trump Girls” (Rochelle “Silk” Richardson and her sister Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway)–two Black women from North Carolina who are vocal supporters.”
Lennie. Your support for MJF becomes clear when you intentionally minimize Rick Torres by leaving him out of your message when you talk about the contenders in this mayoral race. What makes you lose credibility though is you not disclosing what you have disclosed in the past.
“Mary-Jane Foster and her husband Jack McGregor (full disclosure: I am his biographer) created an excitement in Bridgeport”–Lennie Grimaldi OIB January 25, 2011.
Torres is an honest, hard-working man and is the only candidate who will bring Real Change to city hall. His hard work is paying off with many defectors from all camps joining him, some vocal, others quietly.
I have gone back and forth with several on the MJF campaign and if you want to make them stop responding ask them to have MJF state she will not hire Bill Finch. Without this promise we should not believe no backroom deal was made. She has now become more of the same of what is wrong with Bridgeport. I am sure that is okay with you and other connected individuals but for those who are broken from high taxes, failing schools, crime and mismanagement it is not OK.
With this onslaught of new support I am waiting for the CHANGE HATERS to ramp up their lies about this man for ALL people.
This election will be between only two voters, those who enjoy the status quo and those who despise it.
Willis, it’s not a secret I am Jack McGregor’s biographer. I have stated so several times on OIB. It is not a secret I was a public relations consultant in the late 1990s for McGregor and Foster. It is not a secret I was Joe Ganim’s campaign manager in the 1990s. It is not a secret I was Bill Finch’s campaign manager for state senate in 2000. It is also not a secret Rick Torres asked me to serve as his campaign manager for mayor in this campaign cycle. I am flattered he asked but taking on that role would have conflicted with my OIB work. In fact, I was accused of being a shill for Rick in his State House loss to Steve Stafstrom. If the Torres campaign sends me a release, a statement, a position on an issue, I will run it. Sometimes I hear more from the Ganim and Foster campaigns. I like Rick Torres. He’s a good man. When The New York Times interviewed me for my take on this mayoral race I suggested we meet for the interview at Rick’s Harborview Market. I introduced Rick to the reporter. Send me material I’ll run it. In fact, when I have not heard from the Torres campaign I have searched out videos and information on his site.
Thank you for the reply, Lennie. I am satisfied and I believe your every word.
Lennie, seeing that this come to Jesus moment is here, would you tell me about some of Rick Torres’ conversations, discussions or views about blacks?
Well Ron,
Why you get off your butt, drive down to Harborview Market this Sunday for breakfast and ask Mr. Torres yourself? You keep asking what his positions are in a number of issues but it’s obvious you don’t want to hear the answers from the man himself. Are you lazy or just spiteful?
DB, Lennie and many others on OIB who have heard some of Rick Torres’ conversations, discussions or views about blacks; they feel uncomfortable hearing what Rick is saying.
I think that mailer is the final nail that ensures I won’t vote for MJF. Everyone in Bridgeport knows the Joe Ganim story. We’ve been looking for MJF to talk about her credentials and experiences. Instead it’s a page out of the Finch playbook with negative attack ads.
Maybe she should have gotten a few OIB people on her staff who apparently know more about her than her advertising people. If she wins I wonder how long it will be before these “supporters” wind up with jobs in city hall!
By the way, I heard MJF met with the housing authority unions the other day. She didn’t even know the mayor appoints the board of commissioners.
The majority of all the murders and violent crime emanates from or happens in the city’s public housing. That fact she has a plan to address crime and violence but didn’t know the mayor actually has authority over the authority is borderline inexcusable!
Brick,
The Mayor appoints persons to all Boards and Commissions. I am certain Coviello, Daniels, Foster and Torres as well as Ganim know this. (Do not have first-hand knowledge of the grasp of other candidates on governance issues.) But what have the elected resident boards been doing or saying? Any word from George Lee Byers, Director of Park City Communities (formerly BHA) recently on multiple issues? Does anyone have an update on the $1.7 Million losses or deficits suffered by previous management, and how that affects current residents in getting repairs, safety issues, and attention to quality of life issues attended to? Talking with leadership of organized workers might be a most intelligent action to listen to and understand what they encounter in their workplace. Stop, look and listen before engaging in “campaign word slinging” may be a reasonable rule. What suggestions do you have for better functioning of all Boards and Commissions? Time will tell.
I hear Byers is halfway out the door already. He’s completely out of his element and should be back to Indiana before the end of the year. He doesn’t have a plan and if you’ve ever been to a BHA commissioners meeting you’d know they don’t even read the packets before the meeting and will approve anything. They have no oversight and are an embarrassment to the city.
The $1.7m finding was mostly just providing documentation that was missing, the authority doesn’t have to pay back any of it.
MJF told the workers there she did not know she appointed the housing commissioners and didn’t even have a plan to offer.
My plan would be the appointment of qualified commissioners, not people getting political handouts and favors. They should also have regular meetings with the mayor to understand he/her goals and priorities and how best to set agency policies to achieve those objectives. A very simple concept that can have a great and immediate impact.
MJF and Stafstrom should redux the Finch Klan mailer. Not the allegations Stafstrom made against her husband Jack McGregor, just the ones against Ganim.
Claude, Stafstrom wasn’t behind the inflammatory KKK mailer. That came from other members of Finch’s campaign team.
Which members?
Drum roll …
Adam Wood, Brett Broesder and Campaign Manager Maryli Secrest.
Let me restate: MJF and Stafstrom should redux the Finch Klan mailer. Not the allegations Stafstrom made against her husband Jack McGregor, just the ones against Ganim.
I’m suggesting MJF/Stafstrom redux the Finch Klan mailer. I am alleging Stafstrom was in part behind the allegations against Jack McGregor. I’m not stating Stafstrom was behind the KKK mailer, just that he and MJF should re-hash it.
If this is true then he’s going to have to answer for it at the debate. He can blame whomever he wants, Bucci or Moran, but he signed off on the tax hikes. From what I read, the state and thanks to Foxwoods casino, Bridgeport was given an obscene amount of money. That’s not going to happen this time around. Trillions were lost in the 2008 crash. This country’s national debt is 18 trillion dollars.
I hear a lot of working-class people say they hate paying for welfare programs out of their hard-earned money because people don’t want to get up and get a job. They say why should we pay for their failures? Hard-working Connecticut residents are going to say the same thing about Bridgeport. Why should we send money to them (Bridgeport) when theycontinue to elect known corrupt officials who already stole from us. What Ganim called “mistakes.”
Now people can say Joe did a lot for the city and he did. However the help came from all of the Connecticut state residents and the Federal Government. So you can say all of the United State taxpayers helped Bridgeport to improve itself. Rowland pumped billions into Bridgeport, and some of those in Ganim’s inner circle made millions from the generosity of the State and Federal Government taxpayers. How much more could’ve Gamin done for Bridgeport and himself if he didn’t participate in the scheme to steal as much money as they could?
We all love a comeback story but not all comebacks are winners. Look at Mickey Rourke. He was a top actor and retired to become a boxer. After his failed boxing career he went back to his acting career. He came back as a shell of himself. While there are many successful comeback stories, Joe is not one.
While there are people who would benefit from Joe winning the election as well as every other candidates running for mayor in Bridgeport, Bridgeport will lose and the Democratic Party too, because at the end of the day some things you can’t wash off.
Joe has no one to blame for his actions but himself. Sure he surrounded himself with people who helped him but he has to take responsibility for those actions. I believe even the Democratic Party will conspire to get Joe out of politics. If it takes four years of tax hikes and no new development in Bridgeport to show Bridgeport residents Joe is a bad brand for Bridgeport and the Party, they will. In the same way the Bar did with his license. But what do I know, I’m only one vote. God Bless, people.
Bridgeport taxpayers and voters, what we all need as background knowledge is local taxpayers contribute about $290 Million of the approved $525 Million operating budget that includes BOE expenses. However, the external audit will show that actual expenses in an average year are closer to $700 Million, with the difference coming from State and Federal program grants. So Bridgeport taxpayers may only be paying for 41% of annual expenses. Doesn’t that info suggest you might know exactly what is going on with Capital budgets and all grants budgets? Have we ever gotten such information from the City since the Financial Review Board was here? If not, why not? Technology is so much more advanced today than back in that day. Why is it not serving us with presentation of data electronically, the creation of dashboards that makes ongoing fiscal issues obvious to those who wish to know, and allows those who wish for more detail to find a place to get such answers? Any problem with this? Which candidates are talking about these basic issues? Time will tell.
Ganim does not know the current state of the city. Foster knows what the Finch team is telling her. Torres as a city councilman has been voting on and knows the current state of the city, and how to make real changes and build on our progress to date.
Jennifer, so who is telling Rick Torres?
He is a sitting councilman with a working relationship with many city employees, votes on the budgets and city business. JML is also a source of information.
Jennifer, so we are supposed to believe an unnamed councilperson has better insight than Ganim and MJF?
Of the current state of the city budget and taxing policy, yes.
Attending committee meetings for the last two years, looking at contracts and understanding how the city works today and what can be improved upon going forward, yes, he has more insight and details, armed or unarmed.
Gosh, why am I surprised the same folks are leaving comments on this story too. So you know what I am going to say: Come to the Klein on Sunday at 4:30. This Sunday and see what Mary-Jane has to say.
So come to the Klein to see if Mary-Jane really will hit Joe Ganim, or will he hit a woman on the same stage. Only if you show up 4:30 to 7 will you know unless Lennie posts on this site by 7 pm.
*** It’s not like Joe can do anything right now about the high taxes in Bpt nor about the past, no? It’s time to move forward with someone as Mayor who’s had experience before with many of the issues that plague this city today! Love Mary-Jane but she lacks the overall experience needed to move this city in a positive direction. And right now the only remaining candidate running for Mayor who can get this party started right is “JOE!” ***
The mailer is a little negative, no? I’d be more interested to hear how MJF will lower taxes after eight years of uncontrolled spending by Finch. I’d also like to hear how she’d do that while having to employ Stafstrom and Finch’s political appointees.
The truth about Ganim is he lies. All the time. Pathetic little weasel.