Ganim Spokesman Hartford Bound After Enjoying Time In Bridgeport

It’s not every day someone volunteers their time with a brutal commute from Massachusetts. Veteran communications professional Av Harris has been doing that through Joe Ganim’s transition period as mayor-elect and for the first three weeks of Ganim’s mayoralty. Ganim had tendered him an offer as communications director but family commitments closer to home prevailed. Harris has accepted a director of communications position with the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in Hartford with a January 4 start date. He will spend a few more days volunteering his time in Bridgeport before enjoying the holidays.

In the early days of Ganim’s mayoralty Harris has been a refreshing source of information without demanding the labyrinth of freedom of information requests. He enjoyed the challenge of representing Ganim’s mayoralty. Statement from Harris:

“It has been such a pleasure working with Mayor Ganim and the entire team here in the city of Bridgeport. I think Joe Ganim has a lot of very talented and capable people around him and he is poised to do well in his second chapter as mayor of Bridgeport. He has been given a second chance by the voters in Bridgeport and I think this will be very interesting to watch as it moves forward in the next few years. It has been a real eye-opener and a wonderful opportunity for me  to work in government at the municipal level. I find that Bridgeport is a very vibrant community with a lot of bright and engaging people, and it would have  been an absolute pleasure to stay here and manage communications for the city.

However, I do live in western Massachusetts and I have two teenage daughters who do need my attention and my time and devotion. And it would have been very difficult and stressful for me to do this job here in Bridgeport to the professional standards I set for myself while continuing to uphold my obligations as a father, which are very important to me.

So while I was very honored and humbled to be offered the position of director of communications for the city of Bridgeport, I have elected to decline that offer and instead I have accepted a position as Director of Communications for the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in Hartford. I will be starting that position on Monday, January 4 and that should also be a very interesting professional challenge in another critical area of public policy and I look forward to it very much. But without question, I will miss all of the new friends that I have made here in Bridgeport dearly and I wish them all and Mayor Ganim nothing but total success.”