On the evening of July 21, the 90-member Democratic Town Committee will meet at Testo’s Restaurant, the political flagship of party leader Mario Testa, to endorse a variety of candidates for municipal office with the main act the office for mayor. Incumbent Bill Finch has an edge for the endorsement with Joe Ganim at least a handful of commitments away from an upset, according to many political operatives.
Forty-six votes are required for the endorsement, but the town chair could theoretically break a tie if the vote were 45 to 45. The morning after the endorsement, challenge candidates will walk into the Registrar’s Office to begin the process to petition their way onto the ballot for the September 16 primary. They will have three weeks to secure certified signatures of five percent of the registered Democrats in the city. The current Democratic registration is 37,886. That means about 1,900 signatures.
In addition to Finch and Ganim, Finch’s 2011 primary opponent Mary-Jane Foster, school board member Howard Gardner and multiple mayoral candidate Charlie Coviello are in the race. City Councilman Enrique Torres is an announced Republican candidate.
Securing petition signatures is a laborious process requiring political operatives to fan across the city. The best way to find legit registered voters is at their homes. Standing in front of grocery stores is risky.
Elections officials see some new voter registration, most of it coming from the Ganim camp.
How much has party demographics changed? Dems now outflank Republicans by roughly 10 to 1. When Ganim became mayor in 1991, defeating the last Republican to hold mayoral office, Mary Moran, the city had more than 10,000 registered Republicans with Dems holding an approximate 3 to 1 cushion. The current Republican registration is down to 3,531. The unaffiliated registration is 15,630 with 249 registered with other minority parties. Total registration is 57,296.
While there is a large registration disparity between Dems and Republicans, voter interest has also dropped off in municipal elections. Voter turnout in a mayoral cycle more than 25 years ago was always more than 50 percent for the general election. The last couple of mayoral cycles it has hovered around 20 percent.
When Foster challenged Finch, the Democratic primary turnout was just over 20 percent. When Finch defeated Chris Caruso in the 2007 Democratic primary the turnout was 25 percent.
Is there more interest this cycle? Depends on the eventual candidate makeup and size of the ballot.
Yawn! Why do we recycle the same stories? Looking for a new ending?
Stevie,
That was a pretty silly comment. We will stop recycling the same stories once Finch and Brett have something creative to say.
Lowest Crime Rate in 40 years (maybe)
Getting Better Every Day (maybe for some people)
Let’s have a gun payback program (I guess they think more would have been shot up at the Gardens if it weren’t for the successful last one).
We are about to recycle another mattress.
We are going to build, fix or appear to build, fix or repair another park.
Bob, G-d bless you! I am glad you still like to attack me. You do understand two important points. I do not hold anything you say to me against you. I understand how it is when everybody is supporting different candidates. The second point is to you and JML, what could you possibly be thinking when you question me on Finch and his people? Don’t you get it? Whatever this Brett guy is doing, he is doing it very well. Every Mayor should have a strong communications director. Their job is to put a positive spin on everything. That is his job. He is definitely earning his paycheck. It is not like those no-show jobs of previous administrations. Would you be MJF’s communications director? For $1500 a week I could easily spin stories for her even if I am supporting Finch. I give the Mayor an A for everything he is dealing with this week. I cannot say any other candidate has had a banner week.
I understand the night of the Ganim fundraiser, the Greater Bridgeport symphony is hosting the fireworks at the bandshell in Seaside Park. I am sure it will be packed with Bridgeporters and neighbors from Trumbull and Fairfield. Doesn’t this great stuff make you proud to be a Bridgeporter? Hey, Bridgeport is getting better every day. You know if I weren’t going to a fundraiser, I would be at the symphony under the stars at our gorgeous Seaside Park located right next door to our University of Bridgeport.
I know many of you will miss me when I depart for a few weeks after July 11. Try not to miss my optimistic rants. But one thing is for sure, you will miss me. They may not let me escape from Russia but they will know I was there!
I love you Steve, but stick to the Menu venue. Brett is telling half truths, just like you have when you tell us numbers are not your thing. Isn’t it amazing when it suits your purpose to fire up the rhetoric and throw in the weekly expense of a public relations specialist, $1500 per week; or below where you have remembered $350 Million from 20 years ago, or 3000 jobs from a similar time period or $500,000 to a political campaign.
Steve, is it that you have difficulty with numbers when it comes to 7.5 years of Bill Finch as Mayor? But your numeracy skills are just fine if you are in attack mode? Then you are portraying the half-truth observation very well. Would you like additional help with numbers, Steve? Time will tell.
Okay JML, when it come to numbers and real estate I have been an idiot savant since the age of 10. I have made everyone rich but myself and I’d rather play in my sandbox since my childhood was stolen and while my friends were watching cartoons I was watching Ann-Margret getting laid in Carnal Knowledge and advising my parents’ friends to buy in Trumbull and Fairfield with no money down. So now you know.
Sure there’s more interest in this mayoral race. Finch is on the ropes. Even the power of incumbency can’t help. Ol’ Joe “I Have Seen The Light” Ganim will join an elite group that includes Marion Berry and Buddy Cianci: elected officials who were caught being naughty and were redeemed by a correctional penitence. I have ten bucks Ganim will be the next mayor of Bridgeport.
I’ll take that bet!!!
I want that bet!
Does anyone remember when Donald Trump, now a presidential candidate, purchased the Jenkin Valve Co property during the Ganim administration and let it go into foreclosure? Or better yet how about that loser’s proposal for a $350 million water theme park using 40 percent of Pleasure Beach and 60 percent of Carpenter Steel. That was 1994 when Ganim was Mayor, the economy was moving and 3000 permanent jobs would have been created. All the bells and whistles. There was an article in the New York Times June 3 1994. Well that never happened, then came the Conroy Steelpointe project that cost the city hundreds of thousands in legal fees for the pay-to-play scam, the $500,000 donation to the Mayor’s gubernatorial campaign. I’m just saying vote Joe Ganim because he should be Mayor! Well he is a likeable guy and we forgive him. Isn’t that enough? Such memories. Memories, like the corner of my mind. Misty water-colored memories of the way we were. Could it be life was simple then? Or has time rewritten every line? If we had the chance to do it all again, tell me would we, should we? Memories may be beautiful and yet, what’s too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget. So it’s the laughter, we will remember, whenever we remember, the way we were. Bridgeport 1991-2003 RIP.
Is this the same Donald Trump who bought Joe Ganim’s body and soul in the late 1990s?
Your recall of Donald Trump in the Ganim era is well recalled. Trump bought Ganim’s body and soul in the late ’90s. Enough said.
A day in the life of Mayor Bill Finch
Mrs. F: So honey, how was the Black Rock parade?
M F: It was okay.
Mrs. F: Tell me about it, did you have fun?
MF: Well it started out great, and we all lined up at the Black Rock community center. They had a car for me but I told them I was walking, next thing I knew I had to go to the bathroom and everybody was getting nervous that it took me so long to get back in line.
Mrs. F: That was nice that they waited for you.
MF: I started walking behind my car and waving to everyone, then it hit me like a ton of bricks, almost everyone I waved to didn’t wave back! I could feel the hair on the back of my neck go up! Even Bunny and Danny Roach gave me this look like, what the hell are you doing here!
Mrs. F: Honey, her name is Bonnie!
MF: So I’m walking around shaking hands, kissing these ugly babies and old ladies who are looking at me like I stole their box of Depends! Then it dawned on me that I raised their flucking taxes in Black Rock over 45%! These old whores will never vote for me, most of these old broads are sitting on homes mortgage-free with tons of money in the bank, any one of them could underwrite the school budget for the next year if they wanted too!
Mrs. F: I’m sure they all think you’re very handsome Bill, and you couldn’t hurt a fly!
MF: The more I think of it they should bus these old broads to IKEA in New Haven, let them loose for a few days smelling Swedish meatballs, and see if they can find their way out!
Mrs. F: Oh, honey, sometimes you’re so cynical. But in a good way.
MF: So for two miles that’s all I hear is Hey! Mayor, one of your green signs fell down! Hey Mayor! Don’t trip on a pothole! Hey Mayor! Watch your step, only half the street has been paved! I finally get to Ellsworth Field and who the fluck is there?
Mrs. F: Woody?!
MF: No! Joe (I’m up your ass) Ganim and his white polo shirt entourage!
Mrs. F: So then what did you do?
MF: Someone from the parade committee asked me to come up on stage and say a few words to the crowd of people, and I did, I then thanked them and told how I always enjoyed being in the Black Rock Day Parade each year and what a great wonderful day it was. As Ganim was looking at me with his Cheshire cat smile! Then I came down from the stage and Joe Ganim walks up to me and whispers in my ear, “Hey Mayor, your fly is open.” Here I am in front of half of Black Rock walking around with my fly open all day! Standing on that stage and not one person in Black Rock would tell me my flucking fly is open! Those little old gray-haired Black Rock bitches smiling at me as I kissed their hands and wished them well, NEVER ONCE TELLING ME MY FLY WAS OPEN!!! THAT’S HOW MUCH THEY HATE ME IN BLACK ROCK!!! They were probably texting each other all day not to mention that my flucking fly is open! I’m sure it was Jennifer Buchanan who started the fly text! She’s another one that I’d like to drop off at IKEA and see if she can find her way out!
Mrs. F: Honey, if Joe Ganim’s fly was open would you tell him?
MF: I’m so flucked!
And this is just one of the many loyal Ganim supporters. 🙂 How lucky Joe is to have you!
Jim Fox, will you marry me? There is something so completely wrong with you, it makes you absolutely right.
You deserve an award for your comedic posts.
Maria, Sonny Fox is an electrician so maybe that explains how his brain is wired.
I’m always biased and I’m always fair but I need not be an electrician to have a wired brain.
Always let an electrician check your shorts!
Nobody wants to give Jimfox an award because the digerati in Black Rock have endorsed Bill Finch for Mayor in 2015 and I have a URL to prove it.
Rumor Mill:
The ghost of Machiavelli is backstopping me on this one. Here’s why: he’s a big fan of Frank Sinatra who once played the ballroom at Pleasure Beach. The bridge is gone; the ballroom’s gone but Mayor Finch is the one who re-opened the beach where Frank Sinatra had a gig and that’s good enough for the ghost of Machiavelli.
Mayor Finch is scared by the prospect of having to actually work for a living. I heard first, and how he operates. Never leaves the office, always sends his chief cook/bottle washer to confer with City Council members.
Maybe Democrats outnumber Republicans 10-1 in this town. How ’bout that. The electorate in Bridgeport is highly fickle these days. Incumbency doesn’t mean shit. Out with the old guard. Even previously staunch allies of Bill Finch have abandoned his sinking ship in favor of Joe “I Have Been Forgiven” Ganim. Many of the candidates have good, practical ideas about how to turn the city around. Politics is driven by money these days and it is money that will determine who wins the Democratic primary and the subsequent general election.
Thank Christ for Charles Coviello. At least we know who will lose.
Speaking of Finch’s likely return to the private sector, how do you think his prior employment history in the private sector will impact his chances? Too bad he’s still too young for social security.