‘Passion’ For The City, Fabrizi Forms Exploratory Committee For Mayor

Fabs and Finch
John Fabrizi and Bill Finch could face off next year. CT Post photo.

Saying he has passion for the city, John Fabrizi on Tuesday formed an exploratory committee for mayor seeking to reclaim the office he occupied for nearly five years following the resignation of Joe Ganim after Ganim’s conviction on corruption charges in 2003. Bill Finch replaced Fabrizi as mayor when he did not seek a second four-year term in 2007. Finch is expected to seek a third four-year term in 2015 and has already raised nearly $200,000 for the task. Fabrizi becomes the first potential Finch challenger to take this step.

Fabrizi has been itching to position for his old job after Democratic party regulars prevailed upon him not to seek another term after he urged a judge to show leniency on behalf of a sexual offender who was friends with his son. Following the political fallout, a Democratic party poll showed Fabrizi could not defeat party maverick Chris Caruso in a Democratic primary so party leaders urged him not to seek reelection. They recruited Finch, then a state senator, for the job and he defeated Caruso in a tight September 2007 primary.

After his mayoralty, Fabrizi returned to his former position with the Board of Education as director of Adult Education. He will retire from the position next month which will free him up to raise money and test voter support for a possible full-blown candidate committee. Many political operatives say Fabrizi would be a viable contender for Finch’s job, contrasting his tenure as mayor with Finch’s nearly seven years, if Fabrizi can raise the money. It’s a big if.

When Fabrizi became mayor and won a four-year term, the money was raised largely by political operatives. Now he must make the ask for moolah. Finch’s political structure knows how to raise money irrespective of Finch losing support in some neighborhoods after three straight tax increases and administrative gaffes that include the $500,000 cost involving developer Manny Moutinho improving his own property as part of an airport safety plan. Finch political operatives believe the mayor will be well positioned for reelection next year in anticipation of construction of mega outdoor retailer Bass Pro Shops on the Steel Point redevelopment area, plans for a new Harding High School and public access to the long-closed Pleasure Beach.

Fabrizi has been making the rounds touching base with political operatives about a comeback. While just about every other former mayor headed for the suburbs after leaving office, Fabrizi has remained in Bridgeport living in the North End. Others are weighing their options for mayor, including Mary-Jane Foster who challenged Finch in a Democratic primary in 2011.

Fabrizi’s entry may force the hand of other potential candidates to announce sooner for fear he could poach support from them. Fabrizi issued this statement today:

Today, I am pleased to announce the formation of an Exploratory Committee to assess the viability of announcing my candidacy to serve the citizens of Bridgeport as Mayor. I have formed this committee to gauge both public and financial support for my return to the Mayor’s office. I have made the decision to form this Exploratory Committee after significant self-reflection, conversations with family and friends, and a number of personal conversations with citizens the City of Bridgeport, a city for which I have always held a deep and abiding passion. Through this Exploratory Committee, I intend to bring the issues of taxation, economic development, public safety, education, and open government to the forefront of the political discussion in our city. I believe that my demonstrated record of accomplishment in each of these areas places me in a unique position to build a better Bridgeport.

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18 comments

  1. Ronin’s Song, to the tune of Mr. Sandman
    www .youtube.com/watch?v=CX45pYvxDiA

    Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum; bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Mr. Greenjeans, please cut us some slack, hear the voices of those you attack. Your lips are red like roses in clover, so you can kiss Mario’s ass all over! Mr. Greenjeans, I’m so alone. No Common Council to call my own. Please don’t turn on your solar beams, Mr. Greenjeans grant us our dreams!

    refrain

    Mr. Greenjeans, stop your hypocrisy, return Bpt. to a Democracy. It’s like a film by Federico Fellini, please remember what they did to Mussolini!

    Mr. Greenjeans, think of your future that’s something politicians would want to nurture, all your enemies will come back to haunt you, does this come back to even remotely daunt you?

    Mr. Greenjeans, wake the fuck up, realize that we are completely fed up. Your whores and lackeys on Common Council will turn on you because it’s just so logical!

    Common Council, please hear my words. You are regarded as acouncil of turds. Disregard the Mayor and his erection, you had better think about your re-election.

    So in closing I’d like to say, drastic changes will be coming your way. They say that victory is always fleeting, I look forward to your final beating!

    Mr. Greenjeans please bring us our dreams!

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  2. Maybe this would be a good thing. Fabrizi and Finch would cancel each other out. They may split the machine vote giving true Democrats a place at the table. This is good news! Go, Fabs!!!

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  3. Fabrizi got up at the last DTC nomination meeting to nominate a mayoral candidate and gave one of the most sickening nomination speeches for Finch I had ever heard.
    I know from past conversations Fabrizi hated Finch so that speech said to me Fabrizi will sell his soul for nothing.
    This is going to be a disaster for Bridgeport if these two are the only mayoral candidates. Let’s hope not!

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  4. Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. We should throw Finch out for a guy who couldn’t control his own demons, who then testified for a sex offender after the judge refused a private conversation with him, who now is back with a passion and exploratory committee. And what’s he done to show us how circumspect his behavior has become? Hit Ruby’s strip joint for a party with his wife. Please, OIB.

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  5. This is the problem with our one-party system. Too bad there isn’t some other party with a policy plank of fiscal responsibility including debt, tax and spending reduction we could choose. A party that is business-friendly and encourages economic growth with pro-business regulatory policies. Too bad we have to choose a Democrat.

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    1. BOE SPY, we do have that party, there is some other party with a policy plank of fiscal responsibility including debt, tax and spending reduction we could choose. A party that is business-friendly and encourages economic growth with pro-business regulatory policies. It is lead by John Marshall Lee and David Walker got his jump-start from them but BOE SPY, nobody wants any part of that party.

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  6. Emmett Kelly climbs back into the ring, eh? Let’s run down Fabs’s peccadillos:
    • Got drunk while on the clock in the mayor’s office
    • Snorted cocaine while on the clock in the mayor’s office
    • Acted as a character witness for a man convicted of child molestation

    On the plus side he likes to party, abusing alcohol and cocaine while mayor. He also likes to hang with strippers. How can he not win? That’s a great résumé …

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  7. You folks are a bunch of squares. Fabrizi was keeping up with the theme of “Passion.” Lennie needs to get with the program and book the next OIB party at a local strip bar as I’ve been suggesting since last year. Stripping is a form of free speech and protected under the Constitution. Everyone who takes the oath of office swears to uphold the Constitution after all. Had I been at Ruby’s with Baffled in Bridgeport, I would have treated Fabrizi and his wife with a drink that would have fit the occasion:
    www .youtube.com/watch?v=Z3HJ1fQot-I

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  8. This can be used for PR against Fabs, especially if it is used as PR to sway the conservative Latino constituency. “FaBreezy is not a detergent, it just hides the smell.”

    – Drinks on the job
    – Snorts cocaine on the job
    – Goes to strip clubs

    On the flip side there should be an ad “Finch raised your rent by raising taxes.” And this should be mailed to the elderly constituency because they have fixed incomes. Then list all the pork-barrel and spending (driveway, lawsuits)–Or “will Finch Filch?” or “The Finch who stole Bridgeport.”

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