Ganim, Finch Both Claim Endorsement By Unrecognized Job Creation Party–Does It Matter?

UPDATE: The campaign camps of Joe Ganim and Bill Finch both argue they have received the endorsement of the Job Creation committee that is not recognized for a ballot spot. Some members of the concocted committee showed up at the Bijou Theatre today and voted for Finch. The Ganim camp is claiming they have proxy support for the endorsement and some members “did not get any notice of the supposed meeting today to nominate a candidate for Mayor of a seemingly illegal Job Creation Party and that they oppose today’s meeting.” Finch, desperately seeking a ballot spot after losing the Democratic primary to Ganim, is threatening to file a lawsuit to place his name on the ballot. In order to do that he would need standing such as an endorsement of the Job Creation Party that will not have a ballot line unless ordered by the court.

Original story: Former Mayor Joe Ganim in a letter to Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill says he, not Bill Finch, has the endorsement of the Job Creation Party that was created as a backup plan for Finch losing the primary. Party creators are scheduled to have an endorsement vote today at 4 p.m. at the Bijou Theatre, according to a letter circulated. This is the party state elections officials have ruled will not have placement on the ballot due to a paperwork snafu.

In a letter to Merrill Ganim writes:

“This is to confirm that I agree with the ruling of the Office of the Secretary of the State that there is no valid endorsement statement or line on the ballot for the Party Designation Committee reserving the ‘Jobs Creation Party.’

However, should your office at some time reverse its decision, which I think would be counter to the law, I would be entitled to the endorsement.

Enclosed please find the signatures of 15 members of the Party Designation Committee nominating Joseph P. Ganim as the Party Nominee (Mayor Of The City of Bridgeport). Please note that there are 29 members of the Party Designation Committee and, therefore, this constitutes a majority.

Many of the members live on Yacht Street near the area of the P.T. Barnum Apartments. Amid the controversy of the party’s relevance, Ganim apparently has been schmoozing party membership for support. What constitutes an endorsement of the party is unclear. Have proxies been issued to Ganim if a vote goes through this afternoon?

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49 comments

    1. As I have always said on this blog. Everything Finch does, Ganim does better. HE raised half of what Finch raised in six months, while it took Finch years. HE ran a better campaign, won the campaign. He outsmarted him with the police substation and now with the Job Creation Party. Ganim also files his paperwork on time. He never increased taxes but Finch did in 6 of 8 years except for election years. He also lowered the crime rate more when Bridgeport was full of gangs. Ganim is clever and surrounds himself with smart people. If the campaign is a sign of how the city will be run, then I want Ganim.

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      1. Did not raise taxes 10 of 12 years, just keeping you better. Do you know how he managed that, and are the city demographics and economy close to similar so that can be accomplished going forward? Not being snarky, but running on no tax increase before does not necessarily translate to the future.

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        1. Jennifer,
          Are you baiting me with that question? I can tell you he significantly raided the rainy day fund of the city when he finally agreed to implement reval and the rainy day fund today has about as much money for a half a dozen umbrellas if that is what you mean.

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          1. I am not intentionally bating anyone. People are voting for Joe because he kept their taxes down in the past. Long time ago. How are they basing their decision to vote for Joe because he will keep taxes down again in the future? Looking at the past and predicting the future, and looking at the here and now should be able to give his campaign the answers. I just haven’t heard them.

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          2. Bill Finch shared the observations in his first year in office that:
            1) We are the largest City in the State by population
            2) We are small in area, about 17 square miles
            3) When the Financial Review Board left town, there was approximately $55 Million in the City Fund Balance (rainy day fund) depleted by Ganim and then by Fabrizi ($17 Million spent in the last FY). Finch has had to deal with funds running in the $10-15 Million during his eight years. That’s in the range of 2% of City Budget whereas the $55 Million was above 8%. How much room to maneuver? Get your flotation device when it starts raining? Time will tell.

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    2. Follow the Money, you are right, the developer Finch wants to give the 40-year tax break to for the Father Panik site is involved in this controversy. He is connected to the governor and contributed to Finch’s campaign.
      I had brought this up right at the start. The Council voted against it.

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  1. Joe has Bill totally outmaneuvered and “erased” from the November ballot. No write-in for Bill.
    The New Movement Party is moving to safer ground–away from Bill. Charlie knows there won’t be a “second chance” for Bill this year with the voters. The incompetence of the Finch Campaign assures us there will be no spot on the ballot for Bill Finch in this election, anyone stepping up to get him back in the race will be stepping onto that careening bus just in time for the crash.

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  2. We are all having fun with all the machinations and maneuvering going on since the primary. But if you step back and look, it’s like all these moves and counter moves are proving one thing: both sides are as slick as they have ever been. Finch and his team, walking up an icy hill in roller skates and redemption Ganim showing how slick an operator he still is. BPT is screwed. LOL LOL.

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      1. If Finchie loses in court (and that is a safe bet), the November election will be a contest between Enrique Torres and The Crook. Torres should not be dismissed. His campaign is gearing up. Ganim doesn’t have the absentee ballot strength Finch had. According to political players in Bridgeport, Wanda Jeter burned her bridges with Ganim. Lydia Martinez is going into self-preservation mode; she will not perform her AB Santeria for The Crook, so the playing field is (somewhat) level.

        I have to disagree with part of your assessment, Lifelong Bridgeport. Bill Finch’s team has shown themselves to be anything but slick. They have been headed off at the pass one more time. With Finch’s name off the ballot he can’t even engage in the electoral practices little Donald Segretti (of Watergate notoriety) called “ratfucking.” It’s all over.

        I just saw Adam Wood in Black Rock. He looked like a man who had just been told The Great Pumpkin is an invention of Charles M. Schulz.

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        1. TBK–correct. For the Finch team, replace slick with:
          a) Inept
          b) Keystone KOPS
          c) Washington Generals (team that always lost to the Globetrotters)
          d) All the above

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          1. Notice Steven Auerbach is conspicuous by his absence. Where’s that landslide victory now, you old sourpussed curmudgeon?

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    1. Slick is not the appropriate word. Smart is the right word and we haven’t had a smart mayor in a long time. I am looking forward to it. So are most city employees. Except those whose gravy train is about to end.

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  3. The Finch camp is obviously desperate. McCarthy’s going to be out of a job; Adam Wood will have to go to rehab followed by regular attendance at Assholes Anonymous; David Kooris will have to go somewhere else to pimp for Stamford-based developers; and Mark Anastasi will probably get a job chasing ambulances for a personal injury law firm (he has John Haymond on speed dial).

    But Ganim is desperate too. He doesn’t have the AB strength of Lydia Martinez and Wanda Jeter. The meeting at four o’clock is just to pour salt into Tax Bill’s wounds. Finch may not have a winnable court case but he can still do a lot of P.R. damage to Ganim’s allegedly “reformed” reputation.

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    1. I have to disagree with one thing you’ve said, TBK. Lydia will sell her soul to anyone she thinks can help her. Be it Finch, Ganim, Lucifer. It doesn’t matter to her. She’ll make amends very soon. Trust me!

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  4. Speaking of part-time attorneys, Ganim made a blunder by sending a copy of his paperwork to Alma. He has now included a Bridgeport official in this mess and opened the door for Mark Anastasi to claim jurisdiction and now the entire City Attorney’s staff is at Finch’s disposal.

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  5. Joe Ganim held the line on taxes as mayor and most people feel he’ll do it again, perception.
    Bill Finch never utters the words or cared about holding the line on taxes and spending.
    Finch, McCarthy and Sherwood really squandered our tax dollars for the past eight years, a comprehensive audit of all departments should be Joe’s first priority, at the same time signed resignation from all department heads. The taxpayers have suffered long and hard under Bill Finch!
    Save us from more humiliation Mayor Finch, your campaign is dead in the water, it’s time to step aside.

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    1. For what it’s worth, Steve. Bill Finch doesn’t have a rat’s ass of a chance in court. He was elected to the office, it isn’t a birthright. He really needs to focus on finding gainful employment. As if he really needs one. His legislature and municipal pensions must be rather phat.

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  6. This entire “Jobs Creation Party” thing is turning into a hot steaming pile of fresh dung. According to News12:
    “There were complaints in Black Rock Thursday that some supporters of both Finch and Joe Ganim were not playing fair.

    “Residents at the Twin Towers complex claim Ganim supporters used strong-arm tactics to influence other residents into voting for him.”

    Both these clowns are acting like desperate men. Is this what Bridgeport politics has degenerated to? What in the fucking hell is wrong with them? This is going to end up in the Fairfield County Courthouse with reporters from Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and New York City blocking Main Street and Fairfield Avenue with their satellite trucks.

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  7. What a choice! Ganim, the pretty good mayor until he decided to become a crook (how have any voters determined Joe is now straight?), Finch the inept mayor with a bully for a chief of staff, and Torres, the only really honest one of the three but faces a monumental voter registration deficit? Let’s hope Mary-Jane stays in the race.

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    1. Both the clowns are going to cancel each other out. Voters are going to be so disgusted by the pettiness and childishness of Ganim and Finch battling over a nomination from a party that is not recognized by the Secretary of the State’s office. If you think it’s nasty wait until Finch’s attorney takes this to court tomorrow or Monday. There will be more subpoenas than were issued for the Watergate hearings.

      What it boils down to is Joe Ganim, a crook who was convicted of lying to and stealing from the people of the city of Bridgeport, wants a significant number of the people of the city of Bridgeport to give him the opportunity to fuck up the city even worse than he left it. Bill Finch, a two-term mayor, wants a third term to to continue fucking shit up. Neither choice is worth considering.

      There’s an old Latin saying:
      “Ad infernum cum utrisque autem inhonorabitur.”

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  8. I think I figured out the Finch Campaign strategy: They’re going to ignore the Secretary of the State’s Office, hold their own mayoral election, and install the “winner” as mayor. Then they’ll set up a “government in absentia” in Providence, where they’ll plot the takeover of Bridgeport City Hall by coup. (Probably by having Finch and his supporters position themselves incognito outside the Morton Government Center and Lyon Terrace City Hall, where they’ll have inside operators pull fire alarms to empty the buildings, whereby Bill and his supporters will slip into and occupy the buildings. No, they haven’t figured what they’ll do after that. Maybe Dan Malloy will be prevailed upon to send in the National Guard to prop up Bill Finch and his supporters in a standoff with BPD, et al.)

    P.T. would be having the time of his life with this Keystone Cops Campaign if he were lucky enough to be alive in Bridgeport 2015!

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  9. Hey Steve,
    How about that Finch landslide? Pretty impressive. Your boyfriend forgot to file paperwork and now his only chance at electoral redemption is a write-in campaign. Let us know if you need any help spelling his name.

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  10. We all go to sleep tonight because there has been a sighting of Steve Auerbach so all is well in Bridgeport and that landslide will now happen with Job Creation Party and things are getting better in Bridgeport. How could we ever doubt Steve’s word?

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  11. What’s insane is if you don’t like Finch and want him out of office. What, there’s no one better to get to run for mayor than a convicted felon. Lennie summed it up, ONLY IN BRIDGEPORT. We talk about surrounding towns taking advantage of Bridgeport. They may or may not be taking advantage of Bridgeport but they are laughing at Bridgeport. Look at this from outside the bubble , Bridgeport is actually considering electing a man who steals. That’s insane, well at least that’s what everybody is thinking outside the bubble.

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  12. *** Just who are these unknown, no job creation party members and why is Joe wasting his time with these Finch, “need a city job” last-minute non-active voters? *** WHOOP! ***

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  13. Bridgeport Kid, I am not ruling out a landslide. There is only one candidate who can beat Ganim. Only one. It may be a steep mountain but certainly doable. Can you think of one candidate who can honestly heat Ganim other than Bill Finch? Be honest.

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  14. Enrique Torres can and will beat Joe Ganim. I appreciate your personal belief in Bill Finch but you are either ill-informed or just not accepting what you see and hear. Finch has taken too many self-inflicted political injuries. This fight to have his Jobs Creation Party line placed on the ballot is futile. His only chance is a write-in campaign but he needs at least $100,000 in addition to the funds on hand.

    Joe Ganim has said Bill Finch is acting like a desperate man. The same can be said about Ganim. If he has the nomination the election should be his to lose. But Ganim is acting more than a little desperate hisself, trying to make off with the JCP nomination, threatening to file suit if a judge allows the party line on the ballot, all his huffin’ and a-puffin’ in the news media.

    In a week’s time this entire clusterfuck is going to end up before a judge in the Fairfield County Courthouse on Main Street. The courtroom will be packed with reporters from TV, radio, newspapers. This will drag on and severely damage both the Finch and Ganim campaigns. Neither will be electable.

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  15. I’ll tell you one thing, Rick Torres will not be getting the black and Hispanic voters, in fact 95% of his votes will be white. Now, what is the breakdown of the voters in Bridgeport?

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  16. I do not think Torres will get the black and Hispanic vote. He will do his best in Black Rock and will have a showing equivalent to Foster and that is their home turf. I will support Finch and it is way too late to address Ganim’s past. Torres will continue to serve as a councilman though he may get serious competition from Katie and Scott as well as JML and Tyisha Toms. Bridgeport Kid, take a nap, we will wake you when it is all over!

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    1. Au contraire, m’sais tout cela. The Connecticut Republican Party is lining up behind Enrique Torres. The GOP is adept at raising large amounts of campaign money and getting out the vote. The Torres campaign has a strong grassroots base. More than a few Finch supporters will be changing their votes to Enrique Torres because we’re all more than a little tired of the corruption and cronyism, tired of Bill Finch catering to the whims of down-county developers at the expense of Bridgeport’s middle class. A GOP win will be a wonderful end to the business of “corruption as usual.” Very good for the state of Connecticut and GREAT for the people of the city of Bridgeport.

      Bill Finch, on the other hand, has been effectively disowned by the Connecticut Democratic Party because he LOST the primary to a convicted felon who set back the city’s progress more than a decade and cost us more than $200,000 in lost revenue, legal costs and no-show jobs for the friends of Mario Testa.

      Governor Malloy is not going to endorse Joseph P. Ganim. His primary victory is a black eye for the Democratic Party at the state and local levels. It will affect Democratic politics in the suburbs. If he wins the general election it will have a negative effect on the city’s image for years to come. Forces are lining up to prevent that from happening.

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