71 comments

  1. Do you know a vote for Foster will give Finch $576 a WEEK, every WEEK FOR LIFE? That is what a $30,000 a year pension, which Finch will qualify for in two more years of city employment.
    $576!!! Look.
    Where did the Finch promise of $600 to you go? A vote for Foster is a vote for Finch, taxes and lies.

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      1. M Rodriguez,
        What “white savior bullshit?” I’m not speaking for Rick Torres or any other candidate. I am speaking as an individual who sees more than a little hypocrisy in Joe Ganim’s appeal. He is pimping votes from a minority community, painting himself as some kind of folk hero. He is not a “folk hero,” he’s a convicted felon, a crook. Twenty years ago he put more cops on the street, lowered the crime statistics, clamped down on gang activity. What else did he do for the black community, plant some flowers in the median? Big fucking deal. Other than that he didn’t do anything substantive, did not create jobs. The economy was booming in the 1990s because President Clinton knew how to make things happen. Ganim claims to have kept taxes in line during his tenure but that’s just so much bullshit. The city’s finances were under state oversight and out of his control. Sure, he brought some development to town but at what cost? He took bribe after bribe after bribe and went to prison for his greed. For that he deserves a second chance? Get the fuck out of here. He has cynically been exploiting the ignorance and fears of the black community for his own ends, ends that are not justified by the means.

        Mary-Jane Foster presents herself as a reformer but what claim to fame does she have, a baseball park? Big mad wow to that.

        Rick Torres has more than a few legislative victories as a City Councilman, passage of resolutions bringing more transparency to city government; limiting the punitive “boot and tow” program; restricting the WPCA’s ability to foreclose on homeowners for outstanding water bills, among other things. Mary-Jane Foster has offered a list of miracles she will perform in the first 50 days of her administration. Joseph “I Broke The Law” Ganim has said he will appoint an ethics commission (imagine that, an ethics commission appointed by a former attorney ruled to be lacking in the moral fitness and ethical character to practice law). While Foster and Ganim have been talking the talk, Mr. Torres has been walking the walk, working as an alderman to improve the quality of life here.

        Take your “white savior” comments and stick ’em up your ass.

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        1. Rick Torres stuck a black power fist tattoo on his arm and compared the pain to the struggle of black people in this country. He compared the work of his volunteers to the work of the black panthers. He’s a loser who’s making a fool of himself riding his bourgeoisie-ass Segway around the hood, trying to appeal to people of color. But vote as you please. And stop thinking about my ass.

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          1. The raised fist is a symbol of solidarity, not black power. Stop reading “Rush Limbaugh for Dummies.” He came from the barrio, not the lavender suburbs. He started in very humble beginnings and worked his way through university and now operates one of the most successful businesses in Black Rock. He and his wife raised five decent kids. He also has been an effective alderman. Who’s your candidate, Mickey Mouse? Foster doesn’t have a chance. Ganim will not succeed. That leaves the also-ran category. Which one is your pick, Tony Barr? David Daniels? Charlie Coviello?

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          1. Talk to Rich DeParle. He’s gonna have Bill Finch detail the cars in his voluminous inventory of pre-owned vehicles.

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      2. I would imagine you are correct on the Finch job, Andy. My question is, did she agree to keep some specific people on board from the current administration? Which is just fine if she thinks they are the right persons for the jobs. I ask because her first 50 days said recruit and hire the best and brightest Economic Development Head, however in the CT Post today she indicated she would keep Kooris on in a lesser position. Again, which is fine if she thinks he will do a good job, it will be interesting to see if any others from this administration are a go or no for her.

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        1. If she is talking about keeping Kooris in the number-two spot, then what is wrong with that? BTW all appointed jobs are up for grabs. Not all of Finch’s hires were assholes.

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      1. Andrew,
        As usual you are right.
        The corrected number is $576.92 a week for a pension for Finch, should Foster be elected and Finch work two years at a city job.
        Look, I will send you 92 cents, you can buy a pencil, do the math and proudly say you corrected me. Be happy.

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        1. I know the math and I know MJF has not offered Finch a job. BTW is Ganim collecting his city pension yet? After all he had 12 years employment and I don’t know if he’s reached age 55 yet if he has not then no pension until then. BTW, I use a calculator.

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    5. Black Rockin, did you know the convicted felon gets a pension from the city? Remember his $1 million insurance policy the taxpayers paid for that sent a friend to jaiL? You must be some kind of idiot or just a Foster supporter motivator. You are correct in over 5000 cases. A vote for Foster was a vote for Finch are you really comparing that to Joe Ganim? Or Rick Torres? Remember Black Rockin in case you forgot. BILL FINCH, Mayor, won Black Rock!!! Now Foster will take Black Rock!

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  3. A vote for Ganim? Here’s a quote from Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Atticus Finch is teaching his children about right and wrong. He could have been referring to Joseph P. Ganim:
    “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it–whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”

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  5. Give me the heads of Finch, Wood, Nunn, McCarthy, Anastasi, Sherwood and Timpanelli!

    Then send the FBI after Rich DeParle, Bpt Chairman, Board of Assessment Appeals!

    It seems wishy-washy Mary-Jane Foster developed a case of amnesia!

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  6. Stafstrom is the evil genius behind everything Finch and now Foster.
    It’s Stafstrom’s people knocking on doors, even Finch himself went a-knocking for the Foster cause, of course MJF isn’t doing any knuckle-busting herself.
    KILLS ME SOMEONE ON HERE SAID FOSTER WAS BEHIND THE FIGHT OVER THE SELLING OF THE BOE, when it was Maria Pereria and Judge Lopez, AND NOW FOSTER IS TEAMED UP WITH STAFSTROM AND FINCH, the BOE-selling bastards.
    Once she loses November 3rd we won’t have to hear from her for another four years and this is a great thing.

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    1. Mary-Jane Foster had an amazing day knocking on doors. Not only were they thrilled to meet her they wanted lawn signs. It is clear the tide is turning! Even people who worked for Ganim asked for a sign. Needless to say it was a great evening for Foster, and myself!

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  8. I know plenty Andy, but you are acting like a bitch during that time of the month. MJF sold her soul to Stafstrom and Finch and you are in the corner holding your breath and turning blue.

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  9. B Kid, I take exception to your characterization of the black community when you said, “He has cynically been exploiting the ignorance and fears of the black community for his own ends.” So if the black community supports Joe or anyone else then they are being exploited and ignorant as opposed to doing what they think is best for their families.

    Let me tell you what the black community supports, jobs, a decent home, fair wages, good jobs for their children and family, a good education and a better life and we don’t give a damn if we get that from Joe, Mary-Jane or anyone else. The black community will gravitate to the candidate who offers it hope for a better life because that’s all we’ve ever had in America is hope.

    Trust me Kid, you haven’t figured out the black community in any shape, form or fashion because if you had you would know we will never vote Republican because of the way the National Republican Senators and Congress have treated our President Obama with disrespect and disdain and if your party would treat the president of America like that then you don’t give a damn about us. Trust and believe, the black community have never been exploited or ignorant, by Joe, Mary-Jane and certainly not Rick Torres. At no time in American history has the black community did good and white America did bad, but when the black community does good the white community does great.

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    1. Don, great point. The Republican Party starting with Senator Mitch McConnell when he said, “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” now that’s one of the nicer things Republicans have said about President Obama.

      Don, it would be very wise for all candidates to take your words seriously and act on them where you said, “we don’t give a damn if we get that from Joe, Mary-Jane or anyone else. The black community will gravitate to the candidate who offers it hope for a better life because that’s all we’ve ever had in America is hope.” Having a tattoo of a black power fist on your arm won’t get a Republican black votes.

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      1. Well Abe Lincoln was a Republican, so not all bad. Yes, the current crop of Republicans just end up looking ridiculous and self-serving to everyday people in the north, regardless of color and perhaps more so to people of color. However Rick Torres is not from that same mold. He believes in government spending money responsibly, but his heart is with the people, especially children, and helping to improve their lives in Bridgeport. He grew up in the projects and certainly knows firsthand the issues of the most underserved in the community. It is a definite problem that people are willing to vote only along their party lines at times. Vote for a break from the past. In Bridgeport, once the contest is over, the neighborhoods have to stand in line, they don’t come to the top of the list. The well-heeled in the business community have always been Ganim’s supporters and those who benefited from him. Sorry to say, but don’t be fooled so easily. To break the good-ole-boy network in Bridgeport has been the only true objective of good political change in Bridgeport for decades. A vote to jump right back into it is astounding, uneducated and foolish.

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        2. Rick Torres has NO connection with black voters, none. Torres is a big Rush Limbaugh listener and believer. Perhaps Rick could tell us some of the blacks and Hispanics who support him.

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          1. Mr. Mackey, I have gotten the impression you are a passionate man, from reading many of your posts over some time. Though I also get the impression you have a dislike for Torres I have not seen fully explained. Can’t be because he got a tattoo, or because of Rush Limbaugh. So what is it? I would be interested in a yes or no answer as to whether you have sat down and talked with him. In fact, if you like, you could probably get a whole group of Torres dislikers together and I will see he comes to a meeting with you. Let him squirm and talk his way out of being the guy you think he is. Why not?

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        3. Park City, I don’t usually respond to people who write behind the cloak of anonymity, but I’ll make an exception in your case.

          I bought into everything you had to say until your last sentence. A person would have to be uneducated to vote for the person they honestly felt was the best person irrespective of their reasoning. Spoken like a true Republican, I know what’s best for you and any other option is wrong and uneducated. My people died for the right to vote for anyone they damned please and those who do vote for Joe, while I don’t agree, can take comfort in knowing their vote isn’t uneducated, just different.

          That’s why blacks have a problem with the Republican party, there’s only one right way, your way and anything else is uncivilized. Wasn’t it your party of choice who is now telling America somehow Social Security is now an entitlement after I paid into it for 50 years? But you got me, right?

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          1. To bracket Rick Torres as being from the party of McConnell, Boehner, Cruz, Huckabee et al. is to say you are misinformed. “All politics is local,” to quote the late Thomas P. O’Neill. the policies and platforms espoused by the GOP’s national leaders are not the same issues pursued by the party at the state and local levels. You and Mr. Mackey are clearly misinformed and choose to be ignorant of the Republican candidate for mayor. Rick Torres has shown himself to be a man of compassion and caring for ALL the people of the city of Bridgeport, not just the armchair liberal suburbanites. Where Foster, Finch and Ganim have only been able to say “I will do this or that” Torres has been walking the walk, pushing resolutions through the City Council, resolutions that affect EVERYONE, not just moneyed special interests. Torres’ brand of Republican politics is much closer to the party of Lincoln.

            You make unfounded comparisons to Senators and Congressmen who are clearly bigoted. Get off the pity pot, stop acting as if the world owes you something just because you are here.

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          2. Very well Mr. Day, I knew the word “uneducated” was a bad choice and there is no editing button here. However, the word, in my use, refers to an education regarding the true nature of politics in Bridgeport, something most people who are not connected to political individuals personally know little about. Because of the larger meaning of “educated,” in a more general sense, denoting schooling or even intelligence, it was a bad choice of wording, but I mean it in the limited sense of Bridgeport politics, not as a slur on people’s schooling or intelligence. In any case, your point is taken. Thank you. I am not a Republican, I would say I am independent, so, since you aimed the rest of your comment at Republicans, I will say it does not apply to me. Anonymity has become a game here. When OIB first started, people took anonymous names as much for fun as to hide identity. My name is Raymond Currytto. My comments can be seen for what the words say, sometimes not deliberately thought out to deeply, rather than for whom is saying them.

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    2. You make excellent points about the national Republicans, and the shameful way they treat President Obama. I agree their attacks on him are beyond attacks on his policies they disagree with. Your statement about what blacks want is what we all want, and you are correct in saying as a nation, whites do great and blacks do good. My confusion comes in at, you will vote for anyone who gives you hope for helping you get what you want, except a Republican. Bridgeport has just been ranked as one of the worst 10 cities to raise a black child. How many years of all-Democrat rule have we had, how many top 10 worst lists have we made under this one-party rule? The will not vote for a Republican statement does puzzle me.
      blackdoctor.org/467093/top-10-worst-cities-to-raise-black-children-2015/

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      1. Jennifer, I’ve already said I’m a loyal Democrat but I have no problem in voting for a Republican like Jodi Rell, the late Jack Kemp or a Colin Powell. Rick Torres is not the answer to the problems facing blacks, Hispanics or Bridgeport. Rick is good at talking so he should able to talk to blacks and explain his views to them and a number of them to say they believe in Rick and they would come out and support Rick Torres, now that’s not hard to do.

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        1. I remember you posting if it were between Finch and Torres in November you would vote Torres. I was puzzled by Donald Day’s response. Thanks, Ron.

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          1. Jennifer, there is no confusion from what Don said and myself. My dislike of Mayor Finch and his policies would make me vote for Mickey Mouse before I would vote for Bill Finch.

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          2. Jennifer, there should be no ambiguities about what I said. I believe birds of a feather flock together and when the conversation comes up about voting Republican one can’t help but paint all with the same brush.

            There are certain beliefs and tenets associated with being Republican and most of those don’t have the best interest of blacks in mind. The fact Rick will now say how he will uplift the condition of blacks in Bridgeport does not generate support in the black community because we’ve never heard that from him until it was time to run for elected office. My people understand campaign rhetoric as well a anyone and from my perspective that’s just what we are hearing from Rick.

            I hope that addresses your concerns with what I posted, but unlike Brother Mackey, I haven’t ever met a Republican I would vote for, nationally or locally, but that’s just me.

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          3. Thanks Ron and Donald, this Republican appreciates your very thoughtful posts. Sure hope I am not painted with your broad brush. Today’s Op Ed piece by Brooks in the NY Times, I hope shocks the party into some serious soul searching and get back on track towards their original core values. As to Torres, he starts at home regarding employment of minority youth. He has discovered 52% of city homeowners are being overtaxed by as much as 800%. His plan is to train our tax assessor’s office to do their jobs correctly so revaluations of property is not delayed so the 52% do not carry unfair tax burdens for the rest of us. Did you know People’s Bank pays about $60,000 per year in property taxes, while vacant land such as Remington Woods pays about $700 per acre, including a tax credit for the pollution they have not cleaned up? Owned by the DuPont family, yet another reason homeowners are overly burdened and land is not developed. Getting all properties assessed at their real and fair values is the right thing to do for every citizen of this city.

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  10. Keep hope alive!

    I hope Mary-Jane will be honest and transparent with the voters of Bridgeport, and tell them what backroom deal she made with Bill Finch and John Stafstrom!

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  11. The “backroom” deal was support green initiatives and kick Ganim’s ass back to Easton as he will be gone from this city that he loves–not! The day after he loses his redemption bid. Does anyone not agree?

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  12. Thank you Raymond for the point of clarity and like I said I agreed with all your observations about Rick, I just didn’t appreciate your last sentence.

    Derek Brown, the fact is Rick Torres is a Republican and while you say his views aren’t aligned with the National Republicans you do understand the National is the father and the local is the son of the party. Keeping that in mind you need to understand as far as blacks are concerned the son must answer for the sins of the father and we will not differentiate from that because some other white Republican thinks we should. To characterize myself and Brother Mackey as ignorant is in itself ignorant because we’re telling you the mood of the black community with respect to ever voting for a Republican mayor. It’s never gonna happen irrespective of how many tattoos he gets, blacks he employs in his establishment or how many times times you espouse his virtues. He pays for the sons of the father.

    Finally let me say, Brother Mackey had never claimed to be a spokesman for the black community, that’s your tail and the monkey swings on his. All Mackey had ever done is to offer this forum views from an Afrocentric prospective, which are astute, credible and honest because he lives it every single day of his life here in Bridgeport. You don’t have to like what he says, but you certainly don’t possess the juice to discredit anything this Brother had ever said on this forum.

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    1. I think I would take the man for what he said there, Derek. Rick might as well just be a Democrat and stop the torture of trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. He started as a Democrat and is just very idealistic and some of that idealism apparently lines up with Republican ideas, predominantly that individuals have to take responsibility for their own lives and fortunes, government should be limited and currently is bankrupting the nation through money spending choices. He is probably more of a libertarian as he says. Likes to listen to Malcolm X and others, believe it or not. He is an individual thinker of good will towards the different people in Bridgeport. It does not line up with what goes on nationally, because that doesn’t really have a strong bearing on Bridgeport, but yes, he is suffering for the sins of the drunken father.

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      1. Someone made a point earlier that Bridgeport under Democratic rule has become one of the worst places in the United States of America to raise a black child.

        It should be pointed out Brother Mackey is more than a little hostile toward Rick Torres for reasons that have yet to be explained. A tattoo? C’mon, get real. Mitt Romney? Rush Limbaugh? You must be high on something.

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      2. Based on what you have said about Rick Torres then where are all of these blacks who are supporting Rick Torres? Let them come forward and tell us all why we should vote for Rick.

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        1. You should be addressing your comments and concerns to him directly. He is at Harborview Market most days. Go down there, have coffee, ask him these questions you are obsessed with. Ask him. I do not speak for him, nor do I work for his campaign. I speak for myself, period.

          The future of the city is at stake, not just the fortunes of one community. You and Mr. Day have very bigoted views and opinions of the GOP. The local party is not the same as the national party. To hold Rick Torres (whose moderate political views, social liberalism and practical conservatism are much more in line with Abraham Lincoln and closer to the core values of the national Democratic party than all of the Democrats vying for office here) responsible or answerable to the sins of John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Mike Huckabee, Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh or any of angry old white men you don’t like is counterproductive and a waste of time and thought. By doing so you are not working to solve the problems facing all of the people of the city of Bridgeport. Your intransigence, mulishness and disingenuousness are a distraction from the greater issues. Why are you wasting your time on this nonissue? I hear what you’re saying, how you feel about the Republican Party. I hold similar feelings, the Tea Party is a collection of angry, bigoted white people from the ‘burbs, a group of arch conservatives who haven’t got a clue about life in the inner city. They don’t like black folks, they don’t like Latinos, and they don’t like poor folks in general. The Tea Party forced John Boehner from the SOH gig because he wasn’t as intransigent as they want their leaders to be. The Tea Party was going to force a shutdown of the government because they wanted to defund Planned Parenthood and Boehner stood up to them. Rick Torres had nothing to do with that.

          Conservative GOP members of Congress have defeated every gun control bill that has come their way after the mass shootings in Newtown, South Carolina, Louisiana and Oregon. We’re not talking about knee-jerk legislation here, no. Two commonsense proposals: universal background checks for ALL prospective purchasers of firearms; and a federal ban on assault weapons. Common sense and no nonsense. But the Tea Party is beholden to the NRA. All we will get from Capitol Hill is a moment of silence for the victims.

          Is Rick Torres responsible for that? No. If truth be told he is a Republican on financial issues: lower taxes, smaller government. Where he veers from the orthodoxy is using the power of government to improve the quality of people’s lives. Before either of you go off half-cocked do a little more research. Criticizing a local candidate for the sins of the Washington elite is ignorant, ill-informed and shortsighted.

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      3. I’ve been saying that for years, those Republicans who want to make real change need to become Democrats because voters here will never give real power to them. Remember, the entire South were Democrats until the Civil Rights laws started in the 1960s and because they didn’t like the fact blacks would be able to vote they changed from being Democrats to being Republicans. Local Republican Parties easily attract people of color by just changing their policies and to make it known they don’t support the national Republican Party on views that hurt people of color. As for Torres, he could talk to a number of black ministers in Bridgeport and try to get them to accept him and his viewpoints.

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          1. Republican Party and blacks. If you want a sense of how much black voters dislike the GOP, consider this: Both Mitt Romney and John McCain scored single digits with blacks, 6 percent and 4 percent, respectively. The last time this happened, it was 1964 and the Republican presidential nominee–Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater–had pledged his opposition to the bulk of the Civil Rights Act, driving blacks out of the party just four years after they gave Richard Nixon a sizable minority in his presidential bid.

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