Following a call last week by Mary-Jane Foster’s campaign for Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill to monitor the mayoral election, others are also weighing in. From Brian Lockhart, CT Post.
Connecticut’s largest city is Balkanized and the pressure is on the Secretary of the State to assume the role of a UN peacekeeper and make sure the political factions behave themselves during Tuesday’s elections.
Hours before the polls open in the city’s historic mayoral election, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy urged Secretary of the State Denise Merrill to dispatch staff to immediately respond to any problems or potential fraud.
“It’s the governor’s position that the Secretary should send observers into Bridgeport, given the past electoral history of the city,” a source close to Malloy said Monday evening.
Malloy met with Merrill in her office in Hartford.
Full story here.
Merrill issued this statement:
I am well aware of the problems that have arisen in Bridgeport in the past, and the current allegations, and do not dismiss your concerns. In fact I put our current program into place after the local election officials failed a basic requirement of an election in 2010: to have enough ballots.
… Our staff will be on the job throughout the day, with representatives on the ground in Bridgeport and all areas of the state, along with staff of the State elections Enforcement Commission, to respond to concerns that arise at the polls.
Yes, monitor the election! That would be an awesome use of a no-brainer moment. If they would also commit to verifying all absentee ballots, I would have a glimmer of hope for intelligence in government and commitment to accuracy in elections in Connecticut. Ask Chris Caruso about absentee ballots and also about voting machines left in closets uncounted. No, he definitely was not part of that, but certainly knows it happens. Come on Chris, advocate for this monitoring in Bridgeport please. Even though Torres supported you publicly in your primary against Finch, and you are working against him now, let’s agree on honesty of the election. I am 100% sure you are for that, sir.
Mr.Caruso–now would be a good time to make up for the backstabbing. Many of us Torres supporters are still registered Dems because he encouraged us to support YOU and we did and we liked you. Now, not so much. At least prove you are still interested in good government, please advocate for us: monitors and vetting the Absentee ballots. PLEASE!
flicka, I always believed Caruso is interested in good government. He is in the middle of party politics and is batting for what he believes is the good side of his team. Though it is always funny to watch. Because Chris could have run through a wall he was so mad at Finch for what he thought was Finch’s dirty political side. Chris would still have my vote, just not in this race, I am with Torres for the win.
Based on results in OIB as of this writing. A 20,000 vote turnout would score 37% Torres 7400 votes, 35% Ganim 7000 votes, and Foster 5000 votes at 25%. My swami prediction a couple pages back is Torres 7400 votes, Ganim 7200 votes, Foster 5250 votes. What is yours? Yes, I have a gaming side, we are in the game. The full city vote will reflect differently to some degree from OIB. Now is your time to say how it will not be for Torres, because I say it will be for Torres.
Look, if nobody is on OIB, then I will just talk to myself for awhile. Question: How many of you Foster supporters would be voting Republican this election if Torres gave Mayor Finch the spot to run as a Republican as Mayor Finch had asked?
PC, as I said before, Torres would need all 3500 Republican voters to vote for Rick and for blacks and Hispanics to stay home and not vote and still Rick Torres the Republican will be a loser again for mayor and the city council. But don’t worry, Rick Torres will still be the mayor of Black Rock.
The primary proved a vote for Foster is a vote for Ganim. Are you really going to do this again?
Here we go again, one more time for the sake of nausea. You made that baseless argument last week. It’s deeply flawed. Most people will vote for whomever they choose. Party affiliation doesn’t mean much. I understand the union line but you’re presuming every Democrat and every Republican is going to vote along party lines and that is just not going to happen. If you have evidence to support the above statement, by all means share it with the class.
Do you guys follow OIB? Lennie has already run a topic where Chris Caruso is supporting Mary-Jane Foster, she is the candidate and she made the request for the Secretary of the State to monitor this election, case closed. I wonder why Chris Caruso didn’t endorse Rick Torres, could it be he knows Mary-Jane Foster is the best hope for Bridgeport and he’s putting his name out there and is supporting MJF?
Naw, I think he wants to keep his job appointment.
Ditto, Jennifer.
Foster will effectively be spoiling for Torres, siphoning votes from Ganim. Not the other way around.
I respect the belief Ms. Foster’s supporters have in her but she should be starting out on the Common Council as Mr. Torres has. Them’s the opens to learn in Bridgeport politics. She’s aiming too high too soon and the fall will be more injurious to her ego than the poor showing in the primary. 9% is not much of a voter base to build on.
Caruso support for Mary-Jane is the same as Stevie A’s support for Musto and Finch. (The kiss of Death!)
Mr. Mackey, I wish it weren’t only about party. I was Chris Caruso’s campaign photographer in his primary against Finch and knew him for ten years before that. Heck, I photographed him with his lovely mother on one of their birthdays as I recall. I met Ted Kennedy Jr. and Robert Kennedy’s daughter through hanging out with Chris Caruso. I am really proud of those moments and enjoyed the process. I still have beautiful photographs in my mind I can remember having taken for Chris. With these people running for office in Bridgeport it is not about party. It is a game of who is with whom at what moment in time. Politics was written about thousands of years before this race, it is about positioning and power. I say that reservedly, because Torres is not in it for the power, that is why I support him. Check out my question about Mayor Finch running as a Republican, I wrote it with you in mind. I do respect your views and do not disagree. Torres, however, is a man of and for the people. That is my kind of politician. Otherwise I would not waste my time.
Can’t I get poetic for a moment and have a pause? Or as the most profound thing I ever heard uttered in the public was by Rodney King, when he simply asked, “can’t we all just get along?” Would you just like to turn the rest of this political day or two into a poetry slam and see who is still standing? Jennifer, I like Mr. Mackey, winning him over would be like winning the election for me.
A Pyrrhic victory at best, Ray.
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor, it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has been victorious in some way. However the heavy toll negates any sense of achievement or profit (another term for this would be “hollow victory”). LOL, damn it Derek, you are a funny fellow.
PC, the party name is very important in Bridgeport, in Connecticut and in America. On the national level the Republican Party will soon be a white male southern party. In Bridgeport the majority of the voters are black and brown, that’s where the votes are now and in the future. If the Republican Party is to ever gain any power they will have to expand past Black Rock.
PC, times are changing and those who don’t adjust will be on the outside looking in. When David Walker and Jennifer Buchanan started up their community organization I kept questioning them about the makeup of the group and I kept suggesting they needed to expand and to bring in people of color. Think about it, there are only 3,500 voters who are Republicans and there are 11 times more Democrats. This is not hard to understand, these numbers don’t lie and just like the national Republican Party people of color are not and will not join and vote for a Party that doesn’t want them. You can talk about the machine and Mario Testa, the DTC, the unions, felons, deals being made, it doesn’t matter, voters will not vote Republican in Bridgeport because times are changing just like who the voters are in Bridgeport.
I actually did not start C4BB, JML invited me to join, and your candidate was a very active member. Guess none of us from Black Rock as CW4BB members were too well received in other parts of the city.
Jennifer, you know I’ve encourage you to run to be a city council member and I’ve attempted to offer you ways to expand and to bring others into the process. I just don’t complain but I try to give answers.
Good morning Ron,
To your point, when I have mention Torres to people who are black or brown, they most often have said, “oh, Torres,” in their own accents and dialects, which has made it clear to me it is going to be person more than party today. The absentee ballots will be the hurdle to overcome. Not the person walking into the polls. Thank you for the good dialog. We will see.
PC, so what does that mean?
Raymond, my guess is you’re going to lose twice.
Donald, what is the friends’ wager? Leaving myself open to suggestions. You guys are very not correct about this one. I went into what I thought was Ganim country and received so much Torres support I thought I should just go home. I can tell you, Foster is a total unknown out on the street. Torres is the vote to beat Ganim, I am happy Mary-Jane is making a part of the political establishment vote with her, but the masses of people will decide this election. It will be a yes or no vote for Joe Ganim. I just hope Mary-Jane doesn’t take too much from Torres, because she is coming in third place. If she can’t win or place on Lennie’s blog, and only informed voters check in here, then how is this lady, unlike anybody on the streets if you will, going to stand a chance? It is impossible.
Sorry Park City, Adam Wood threw the Secretary of the State under the bus. No monitoring. Only in Bridgeport.
I hear about this guy a lot, but why should I care? Hello to him.
Well Raymond, we’ll certainly see tomorrow night now, won’t we? My hope is Mary-Jane wins, but I can tell you unequivocally she will not take one vote from either Joe or Ricky. Every vote she gets will be a vote for Mary-Jane and not a vote against any other candidate. You can bet on that.
That is fine. I don’t want to bet, that is just due to the moment. You have the right intentions. And, yes, now that you mention it, I believe you will have to be correct. Her votes are genuine. I came back on just to retract my bet offer. It is not a betting matter. Peace.
Imagine that, Democrats not trusting other Democrats.
The election should definitely be heavily monitored by the state. This way no one will be able to claim Joe Ganim won by fraud.
But the state won’t do that, because they (those who run the state on behalf of special interests) want to keep Bridgeporters fighting with each and politically divided so we are easier to manipulate and control, and so they have an excuse to not give us the education and economic development assistance we merit as the state’s largest (and neediest) city.
In any event, bring on the state monitors! Let’s have a win the merits and legitimacy of which can’t be disputed.
Agreed.
As in most Bridgeport elections, it’s the ABs that need monitoring, and from what history has shown us it’s the AB queen Lydia Martinez who has to be monitored.
I have read here that Lydia is supporting Foster. So if indeed Foster has asked for monitoring, wouldn’t she be asking to monitor herself?
I believe Lydia has been fined for absentee ballot abuse by the state almost every election. Why she is allowed to touch these ballots certainly puzzles me.
Puzzles me also. What is also puzzling is she seems to work for somebody different each election. With Foster running under a full transparency agenda it is puzzling she would allow Martinez to be associated with her campaign.
If she had a full transparency agenda you’d be able to see Stafstrom’s strings being yanked up in the air.
So you would tell someone you don’t want their support or any of their friends and their friends to vote for you? I don’t like some of the people President Obama has appointed but I still voted for him. I’m against the two wars but I voted for Obama.
Frank, let me give you a better example. I supported and worked to help Chris Caruso to become mayor but when Rick Torres walked into the meeting to support Chris, I had to talk to Chris about Torres because I didn’t trust Torres and I wasn’t going support Chris until we talked.
Torres is running for Mayor?
Ask your mother.
Thank you all for the banter, Lennie especially, for the editing. Good luck to the candidates who have worked hard and put themselves out there. And especially, GO TORRES!!! The right choice today!