8:30 a.m. update: So, the other night I was subjected to sharing the stage with the irrepressible City Councilman Bob Troll Walsh on Rob Foley’s Bridgeport Now cable access program.
For the uninitiated, Rob’s show is sorta like answering questions inside a clothes dryer. You tumble here, tumble there against the entertaining host’s rapid-fire questions. It’s a nice, if raw, local forum. During the middle of the show Rob received a call from Congressman Jim Himes who had a couple of Washington updates to share. It’s pretty cool that our congressman would call a cable-access program.
Anyhoo, Rob takes the call on the air and to avoid the Bambi-staring-into-the-headlights look I chatted with the Troll about City Council compensation. Should they be paid? I think so. Many members put in 15 or 20 hours per week, especially during budget-making time. Every year we hear about the nine-grand stipend council members spend in lieu of an actual pay check. The stipend, initiated under former Mayor Joe Ganim, simply is a way to provide something of a payment to cover council members expenses. Covering an actual salary requires a charter amendment question decided by voters.
I’m in favor of a Charter Revision Commission to review the question and pose it to the voters. Don’t know if it would pass. The four-year term for mayor passed in 1998 without the council included on the question. The council had been a drag on the question in prior four-year term attempts for mayor.
The Troll, who does not access the stipend, said he wouldn’t necessarily be against compensation for council members, but such a charter question, he said, should also include reducing the size of the council from 20 members to 10, one per district instead of two. This would place all the emphasis on one member with no crutch, or no one to carry the load for a running-mate cripple. (This does not suggest all districts have a weak running mate, but some do.)
Troll agreed with me that compensation of roughly $15k or so per year would be reasonable.
So what say you? A charter question to address council compensation? And should the size of the council be reduced?
While we’re at it how about minority-party representation thrown in?
Russo Eyes Congressional Bid
Former Republican State Senator Rob Russo is seriously considering jumping into the Congressional battle against Democrat Jim Himes. Fairfield State Senator John McKinney, whose father Stewart had represented Connecticut’s Fourth Congressional District before Chris Shays, shocked Republicans with his announcement that he will not seek the seat.
The timing apparently is not right for John and his family in a race and position that requires a huge commitment. Other Republicans are expected to jump in the race, but Russo has solid relationships with key GOP officials in Fairfield County including McKinney, a close friend and Shays for whom he worked. Russo is also well liked by Gov. Jodi Rell.
What’s part of Russo’s argument to be the GOP standard bearer? He’s from Bridgeport, understands the city, and can cut into Jim Himes’ vote in the Park City while winning the traditional down-county GOP strongholds. Russo, for instance, ran ahead of Shays in Bridgeport last November. Shays secured just 20 percent of the vote in Bridgeport. Had he carried 30 percent in the city it would have been enough to retain his seat. But that same tsunami that knocked out Shays also knocked out Russo who lost to Anthony Musto.
I spoke to Russo this morning and he understands this will not be any easy task. He must work in earnest to raise the money necessary to scare away other Republicans and be competitive against a well-financed Himes in November of next year. Himes defeated Shays last November, the beneficiary of Barack’s tsunami in Bridgeport. It’s always possible that a deep-pocketed Fairfield County business exec could jump into this thing. That places a premium on Russo working his political contacts and starting a massive fundraising effort. Look for him to file the official paperwork within the next couple of days.
The 2010 race, however, will be a completely different dynamic. A much lower turnout in Bridgeport without Barack on the ballot. Himes, as the incumbent, has the opportunity to build his own following as he asks voters for another two years.
This means Russo will not seek a Bridgeport Board of Education seat. The numbers-challenged GOP has trouble filling slots for a variety of positions let alone a primary, but they may have one for BOE. Incumbent Sauda Baraka was not endorsed by the party last week. Some party members have some issues with her, including her commitment to the task. So she’s out fielding signatures to get her name on the ballot to challenge the endorsed slate that had been led Rob Russo. That means the local GOP must fill Russo’s vacancy. Will it be Sauda?
News release from Jim Himes
Himes Announces $700K for ABCD’s Total Learning
Congress passes Labor-HHSE budget to invest in education, job training
Washington, DC – Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) has secured $700,000 in the U.S. House-passed version of the Labor, Health, and Education Appropriations Act for Bridgeport’s Total Learning Program run by Action for Bridgeport Community Development, Inc. The bill provides short-term relief to struggling families and puts in place long-term solutions to help grow our economy and build up the workforce of the future.
“Funding early education is one of the most effective investments we can make to prepare our future workforce for success,” said Congressman Himes. “Ensuring all children are prepared for school is the right thing to do, and it’s got a great return on investment.”
The funding will allow ABCD to extend its services to more children and improve the teacher-to-student ratio in its classrooms. Total Learning provides a system for learning that significantly increases the skills of infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers, leading to measurable academic improvement of Bridgeport’s elementary school children. The key elements of Total Learning include a multi-sensory, arts-infused approach to curriculum, reduced class sizes, an extended school year, extensive professional development, family support services, and parent and infant and toddler programs. The program is implemented in several locations, including Bridgeport’s public schools.
In addition to funding projects like Total Learning, the bill includes a number of provisions to train the next generation of employees. It provides funding to recruit and train health professionals in underserved areas and for programs to boost literacy and help disadvantaged students prepare for college.
As a Bridgeport voter, I’ve always believed that the dedicated and hard-working City Councilors should be paid for the amount of work they have been and should be doing to serve their constituents adequately. It should not be a part-time job with no pay. I vote for $35,000.00 per city councilor and cut the numbers from 20 to 7. One city councilor per 20,000 residents is reasonable ratio. I think you’ll see a dramatic change in the quality of the candidates and dedication to the job performed by the elected candidates: Democrats, Republicans or Independents. Let’s do it! The stipend program/system is not working. It may have been a good idea at one time, but let’s move on …
Sorry, Lennie and OIB fans … I forgot to include that in the above proposed plan no one can serve on the City Council who already holds a paying position with the City of Bridgeport … I think this is partly the root of Bridgeport’s political problem … because city councilors are not paid for the amount of time they have to dedicate to the job … we end up with mostly candidates who are city workers. And the conflict of interest, real or perceived, is almost impossible to avoid.
I am in general support of a charter revision in b’port re the size and makeup of the council. The emphasis has never been on quality so what we’ve seen is a quantity of self-serving individuals led around by a strong party leader and weak mayor. Yes, there are exceptions but I think most would admit I’m right as a general rule.
So the idea of 10 councilors paid $15-20k is a good one. I love the idea that anyone elected cannot receive the councilor salary and a city salary. I would also propose the the council president be elected from the ranks and receive an additional stipend of about $3-5K. I don’t see how you can include minority party representation.
Even if all the bloggers agree, how do you sell the idea to Mr. Testa and the council he controls?
I am 100% against compensation for being a city councilman (woman). Everyone that runs for that office does so knowing it’s a non-paying job.
Reducing the number of council people makes no sense as it will increase the workload of the council regardless of pay. Once you start with salary it will never end.
Just as an aside you can not prevent a city employee from running for elective office.
Let’s assume we pay the council people $35K that’s $700K with 20 council people. I believe that money can be better spent on city services.
Money will not improve the quality of people running for office. Just look at Hartford and Washington.
Do you know that if the number of districts were doubled and each city council member had their own districts to represent, you and Barney would have to challenge one another for a seat in your district? Two candidates living on the same street has its disadvantages!
I think it would be a good idea to pay council members. Salcedo has a good idea that council members when paid for their service cannot receive a city salary as well.
People other than Calamarians would probably step up for election if compensation were offered.
Yeah. I think it’s a good idea.
Get paid, are you crazy!!!!!!!!! No way. People are willing to volunteer as they should. Bridgeport can’t afford it and it opens the door for BOE members to get paid, etc. … It starts part-time, then down the road full-time … NO, NO, NO … … … … … … … … …
For the record, I am also against the 4-year term for Mayor and always have been. 4 Years is way too long to wait on a performance review for your CEO. The people who argue that your CEO is always running for office with a 2-year term perhaps don’t realize what can happen in 4 years with no checks and balances (especially in a town with a 1-party system).
You can thank Joe Ganim for the 4-year term. Enormously popular with those who were not aware that he was nothing more than a filthy crook, I would not have been surprised if Joey were elected Pope.
Now we have a real shithead in office and we regret expanding the term.
At the time, I suggested that we would someday rue the decision. I was beaten down with the mantra that the mayor needed more than 2 years to complete the projects needed to improve conditions in Bridgeport. Valid point. Had we left things as it was, Phinch would have had to pay more attention to his performance if he expected to remain in office. Here we are at the midpoint. The man has failed miserably and there is nothing we can do about it for another 2+ years. Only when we rid ourselves of the Calamarians will a 4-year term be suitable.
Thank Lennie too. He likes to take credit for this genius idea.
I think Rob Russo’s ego has finally exploded his head.
Lennie I know you like this guy but come on he can’t even win a general election for State Senate let alone announce right. I am ashamed as a Republican that this is all we have to put up after McKinney drops out.
What do you call his head-to-head special election win over Tom Mulligan? He croaked Mulligan in Trumbull and Monroe and secured more than 40 percent of the vote in Bridgeport. Musto beat Russo because of Barack. As did Himes. No Barack, Shays and Russo would have maintained their seats.
Even if Russo got 40% in Bridgeport in 2008 (a feat that he didn’t manage to achieve in 2004 or 2006), he still would have lost by almost a thousand votes. Russo lost because it was a Presidential year, and because the anti-Bridgeport vote couldn’t overcome the Bridgeport vote. Simple as that.
But if you’re going to assert that it was all Obama’s doing, maybe you could tell us what the turnout % was in Bridgeport in 2004 and 2008, and how much of that difference you’d attribute to Obama being on the ballot.
It wasn’t the percent turnout that made the difference. It was the 9,000 new registered voters from 2004 to 2008 and registration up by 12,000 from 2006 to 2008 that helped make the difference. Also Shays’ war position didn’t help him nor his declaration that the economy was strong.
The percent would prove (or disprove) your claim that Russo’s loss was due to Barack.
The registration increase wasn’t 20k over 2004–it was 9k.
Correction noted on 9K. Still a significant number. Registration was up by 12,000 from 2006.
I watched the show with interest. Bob and Lennie came up with some good points.
Reduce the size of the council. Yonkers has only 7 members on their council and they get paid. The reduction in the amount of members and stipends would also enable the 7 sitting members to have a staff attorney solely representing the City Council and their constituents. Not like having Mark solely representing the Mayor.
I want people who are interested and know what they are doing in running a major business.
You were probably the only one watching!
I call it the same thing everyone else does, a special election not a general election.
What is the need to keep looking back to what could have been in 2008 if Obama weren’t on the ticket? Maybe it was not Obama that beat Shays and Russo, maybe they were just sitting praying that Hillary would magically appear on the ballot and their troubles would go away. It didn’t, so lets stop the “if no Obama” insanity and move on.
Lennie, with all due respect, are you saying that since Obama is not on the ticket Rob Russo’s chance of beating Himes are through the roof?
I’m not saying it’s through the roof but a better chance for any Republican.
Hehehehe, come on Lennie, a better chance than what?
LennieGrimaldi
This is when I have to correct you right off the bat. Number 1 Himes beat Shays because of him Obama had a role in the win but not too big as you think. Himes campaigned hard and he ran very very close with the same numbers Obama did. Shays was toast either way you want to put it. You are not gonna tell me it’s because of Obama that Shays only got 19% of the vote no no no no you are wrong as can be Lennie. Himes’ team worked and they got over 31,000 people in the city to vote for them. Musto on the other hand won because of Obama and I will admit that. I like Russo but did not vote for him I voted for Musto and the reason was I could not stomach myself to vote for a Republican that year at all! Let’s take a deeper look at the Musto and Russo race. At Black Rock School Musto beat Russo. The results were 1,129 for Musto and 1,019 for Russo. Musto won there by 110 votes a decent margin but remember Russo beat Finch in 2004 and 2006 at Black Rock. So yes Obama was a factor in that race. Obama got 1,567 votes and McCain only got 702 votes and that was an Obama landslide victory at Black Rock he won by 865 votes. But give Russo credit he did very well in Black Rock and the rest of the city. I am still surprised Russo did so horrible on the North End at Winthrop. Musto won very easily. Winthrop has never been a friendly place for Russo I wonder why? So my point is you’re wrong Lennie and you can’t compare a general election to a special election nobody voted in that! I didn’t even vote in the special election. And my last statement the reason why Musto won Black Rock was because of the Black vote believe it or not there were many Black voters who voted at Black Rock in November and this was the deciding factor at Black Rock. Russo only campaigned in one section of Black Rock and did not campaign in the section that had the Black voters. Musto did and he won fair and square.
Baloney. Russo doesn’t perform well at Winthrop? He won Winthrop in the special election. And can you tell me of the 17 towns in the Fourth Congressional District how many Himes won? Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk. City voters were pissed at Republicans and, for the most part, punished anyone on the GOP line because Barack inspired them to the polls. Shays didn’t help himself any with his war position and his out-of-touch “the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” And yes, 9,000 more voters in Bridgeport from 2004 to 2008.
Winthrop:
McCain 31%
Shays 33%
Russo 36%
Townwide totals:
McCain 16%
Shays 24%
Russo 31%
Republicans do better at Winthrop, but 36% still kind of sucks. If he had cracked 40% there you might have some kind of case.
When you say “can you tell me of the 17 towns in the Fourth Congressional District how many Himes won?”, the obvious answer is “enough of them.”
But you’re smart enough to know that it’s not about which towns are colored red or blue–Farrell took 40% against Shays in Greenwich in 2004, while Himes got 44%. She got 39% in Monroe to Himes’ 44%. You know that voter registration and preferences shifted in every precinct in the district. My question is, why are you pretending to know less than you do?
And that 20,000 number is still bogus. Where’d you get it?
Thank you for the correction. It is 9,000, still a significant increase. According to the CT Secretary of State website Himes received 31,286 votes in Bridgeport (Working Families votes included) to Shays’ 7662. Shays received (by my math) a pathetic 20 percent of the vote.
I missed your comment re: 20% earlier; and you’re right about that–I don’t know where the 24% came from.
You’re telling me if you replace Hillary with Barack, Himes’ total in Bridgeport is the same? And district wide?
Close to it. The feat that Himes achieved was in reducing the drop-offs from the presidential line–most of the new registrations never showed at the polls.
I think what you said about people being mad at Republicans is right–it was Bush that lost all those Bridgeport votes for Shays.
Lol look what I just found of Rob Russo He was texting his Good ole pal John McCain lol.
images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://rootdownmedia.com/photos/flight/2008-11-21_flight-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://rootdownmedia.com/blog/archives/2008/11/&usg=__73PVg-kpfSAHzEg2hnNAoO35fJM=&h=359&w=540&sz=56&hl=en&start=18&um=1&tbnid=kLVpWLUEYYIsaM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drob%2Brusso%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1
donj, I have to take issue with one thing you stated. We did a lot of work throughout Rob’s ENTIRE district in Bridgeport. We actually did our walking outside the traditional Republican areas of Black Rock. We also decided on the campaign, since we did a lot of walking on the previous two campaigns, that phone calls would be a better way to reach as many voters and we called a lot of people in Bridgeport. I was disappointed Rob didn’t get your vote, I thought we were going to a couple times. It was a personal goal of mine, but maybe next time.
Fourth Congressional District in Connecticut has historically been moderate Republican with some independent Democratic leanings that can be overcome easily by the right Republican.
Bridgeport Democratic voters are historically conservative unless ticked. Strong labor roots, but based in the skilled trades, which tend Republican if scratched right. They were Reagan Republicans before the term was invented.
Himes might be good for a second term, might, but if Obama vote runs conventionally in ’12, Himes is toast against the “right” Republican no matter how many candles he lights at St. Augustine’s.
See that Democratic U.S. Rep. from Norwalk in the 1960s.
Better yet, see what happened at Columbus School in Bridgeport in 1946 in the Lodge v. Mucci U.S. Rep. campaign. And that was a Yankee v. Ital-Am.
Ask Lennie.
Hey Lennie,
“No matter how many candles he lights at St. Augustines.”
Wasn’t Al Lenoci known to light candles at St. Augustine???
Could it be that Enlightened is Sonny Lenoci???
On Rob Russo, remember next year you will have a democratic ticket headed up by U.S. Senate Candidate followed by the candidate for Governor. This is definitely a much different look then a ticket headed up by Obama. Depending on how Dodd et al. shakes out this can have either a positive or negative impact on the congressional race.
Himes has already been raising money. This gives Himes a leg up in the fundraising battle over anyone.
Right now Himes is doing and saying all of the right things and maintaining a high profile. Hell, he even appeared with Rob Foley and calls into his talk show. This is a man on a mission.
This is way too early to figure out but it makes for nice chatter on the blog.
Lennie Grimaldi for Bored of Education.
My call is this. McKinney runs for governor. Republicans don’t really think Russo can win in 2010 but he then runs for mayor of Bpt in 2011. He gets to do 2 years campaigning in Bpt with funding from both campaigns.
… which sets him up nicely for a dark-horse Presidential run in 2012, followed by a vigorous 2-year campaign for Secretary General of the U.N. in 2014.
Russo has been campaigning for elective office in Bridgeport since 2004 at least, and still can’t crack 33% of the vote in a general election. Another losing campaign isn’t going to be a big qualification on the old resume.
If he wants to be elected to something, he should either a) move or b) change parties. His desire to rehabilitate the Republican Party in the state’s largest city is flatly incompatible with a desire for public service, and he’s undermining his credibility by putting his name up for every single office that needs a GOP name.
If I ever considered running for State Senator, Congressman, BOE Rep, and Mayor all at the same time, I hope a friend would take me aside and tell me that I wasn’t doing myself any favors.
My you’re angry. Did Russo diss you? You make Yahooy sound like a sweetie.
I am such a pfucking sweetheart that diabetics can’t be within 50 feet of me.
No, we don’t know each other. I’ve met him, though, and the words “snake oil salesman” came to mind.
I just read an awful lot about Rob Russo on the blog, and from where I’m sitting he looks like the least serious political figure in the entire city.
He could be a Democrat and actually serve in something–I think he’s maybe too conservative but at least we’d have a meaningful debate about it. Or he could be the RTC chair and build up the party, which means he’d become newsworthy again sometime around year 2025.
Himes was a Johnny Come Lately that ran on Obama’s coattails and won only because Obama was on the ticket. No way Bridgeport comes out in ’10 the way they did in ’08. Diane Farrell was twice the candidate and she lost without “Barack-o-mania”. The rest of the 4th’s frustration with the current economic situation, the mishandling of just about everything by the administration and not to mention how Jimmy is beholden to the White House makes him very vulnerable. Russo will have to bust it to raise coin but nobody works harder.
Bob Walsh, I think, speaks true above, and not partisan blather.
MCAT: What grand conspiratorial genius on Russo! I would concur but down county would hate to waste one to help Russo get elected mayor. They consider Bridgeporters to be quite dots.
Even if the Republicans lose to Himes next time, I think they would like to train a candidate for 2012 and find out if the individual can stay out of traffic.
I meant to say “Reagan Democrats” in post above in case anybody was confused.
What is a “quite dot”?
Re: City Council
Every reform movement in American politics comes with the warning, “Be careful what you ask for.”
This essay posits against paying city council members, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
There is nothing inherently wrong with the current system of election for Bridgeport City Council, nor is there anything wrong with changing it.
The two-per-district system of 20 councilpeople allows for election of a “cripple” to be carried by another. Parties do this to cover an ethnic or geographic hole in the district, to elect a hack who will do what the party wants, to paste over a political dispute, or by mistake. Sometimes all of the above.
The “two-per” advantage is that you hopefully get one smart guy doing the thinking for both, but the hack brings along votes that the smart guy might not get. If you get two smart guys–of good will–so much the better. In that case, you also get two people to cover a district so you can split it up or cover for each other as the case may be.
The disadvantages of the “two-per” system have been well-stated in the blog here, and well-observed by anyone who has watched the council in action. The usual reaction is “Who are these retards?” This, of course, is a slur on the mental capacity of the retarded.
The “one-per” system of 10 has the advantage of concentrating decision-making into one member. The theory goes that the fewer monkeys swinging from the chandeliers at a council meeting, the better. Dropping membership of council from 20 to 10 would seemingly make that possible. We are starting to dip closer to the typical New England town way of doing things with five or seven selectmen, and perhaps a first selectman (mayor). That works very well in a lot of places. With modifications, it is not dissimilar to the mayor/council governments of the Midwest and West. Or you can scratch the mayor and have a city manager. Or keep the mayor to do things like cut ribbons.
That does not fly too well on the East Coast. Our traditions call for a mayor as an executive, and screw the political scientists.
I almost used a naughty word there.
The trouble with paying any of these councilpeople, whether it be 10 or 20, is that they are going to want more. It will not be a part-time job, but one that the elected official thinks should be full-time, with benefits, and with a car (complete with lights and sirens no doubt). This is not being overly cynical.
There is no guarantee a “higher quality” person will run or that they will spend more time on the job if they are paid. Let’s be real here, this is Bridgeport. It doesn’t matter if the political party is Republican, Democratic, or Jesuit, it would still be a paying job. The political system in Bridgeport is based on the position of leaving no dime on the table, legally, illegally or kinda-sorta squeezily. Grab it.
An appeal to idealism or altruism is not met fondly here, nor generally rewarded here.
By making a council position a paying job, citizen politicians would be knocked out of the way by someone willing to campaign harder for a paying job. Rather than rewarding civic service, paying for it will help remove the incentive for doing it for the good of the community.
Unpaid council members who care can get elected. The political system is always looking for candidates for the unpaid headache. The system allows idealists to compete along with the party hacks.
If the job has a salary, it will be the idealists and no money versus the party hacks with money.
Now, just to prove I can be a bomb-throwing idealist, cutting council from 20 to 10 is probably a bad idea. More council people give more constituencies a chance for representation.
Bridgeport, like most communities over 50,000 people or so, has many constituencies, especially ethnic and economic ones. The most important political subsets identified are Republicans and Democrats. But as Jasper put it so well: “Tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum.”
(If you are campaigning for some “rights” or another around here make sure to stay out of traffic. Pedestrians are considered a contact sport.)
Economically we have poor people and working people. Some upper middle class folks. We have white, black and brown.
Let’s skip the economic differences. This gets bankers involved and stuff like that. They can be just as greedy as your most scandalous, illiterate Democratic committee member. They just have more expensive suits.
So let’s move on to ethnic differences. If you have a mixed-up community of groups, the biggest trick politically is to get them all to work together. No matter where you go in America you are always going to run into Italian versus Irish, black versus white, and Puerto Rican versus Puerto Rican.
So a City Council has an idealistic function of giving all these groups a place to yell and swing from the chandeliers like monkeys without shooting each other. We hope.
If you want to make this better, elect 20 aldermen from 20 districts. The “two-per” has the delicious solution of pushing the ethnic problem out of City Hall and into the neighborhoods where political leaders can more easily stuff an interest group up its own anus.
This can lead to resentment, but hey, that’s the next election.
Twenty districts means 20 separate candidates, all potentially running off in their own direction. More interest groups are represented. Party district leaders are weakened.
Downside: City-wide leaders are probably strengthened. Aldermen will be more insular to their own neighborhoods and can’t see the larger city.
For example, there was a discussion about the 138th Aldermanic the other day where the candidate was talking about getting out of Hooker and campaigning in the other precincts. The complaints in Hooker may not be the same as Success Park. The trick to getting elected and serving is understanding both.
That solved, how are we doing in the “Finch for Secretary of State” campaign?
I feel great, just came from the gym. Hey Lennie, are you kidding me about Winthrop that was a special election!!!!!!!!! only 421 people voted at Winthrop!!!!!!!!! 2004 2006 Finch Kicked Butt there! In 2008 Musto more than kicked butt it was an old-fashioned beating about 3,000 people voted at Winthrop in November. Musto won by over 700 votes. Don’t get me wrong I do like Russo but at times he comes off as too conservative and that won’t help him at all in any precincts! Black Rock is solid Blue territory and by the way Chris Russo I don’t know if you’re correct about you campaigning in the mixed areas of Black Rock school precinct district. I was not greeted by anyone at all. I swear I must have gotten four door knocks by the Musto camp. Usually when outside people think of the Black Rock school precinct they think about white voters, well that’s not the case. In 2008 black voters made up a large % of the vote in Black Rock school. Many black voters live on Alfred, Princeton, King, Wilson and Fox streets. And on the avenues such as Scofield, Crowther and Davis Ave. Musto won Black Rock school because of the black vote and there was no effort by Republicans.
marlys you are wrong in your Shays numbers! Shays barely got 20% of the vote!!! Republicans better shape up soon if they want to be competitive like how Rick T was in 2003. If Russo ran for mayor he would get my vote.
Don, you and Lennie are right about Shays at 20 townwide; I don’t know what happened but maybe I added some Darien in there by accident (next town on the spreadsheet).
Anyway I think it’s good that we’re all digging in on the numbers, because the short versions of campaign stories (like “Himes won because of Obama”) hide more detail than they give. Why a candidate did surprisingly well in this part of town or poorly in that part of town is going to have a pretty interesting story behind it, one that one of the politicos around here probably knows.
I just read that he is running for congress. Well my thought on this is he will not get my vote again. I really like Jim Himes he is doing a good job so far and there is no reason for me to vote against him as of now. But I will say even if Himes loses it still isn’t bad for Bridgeport. Russo also cares for the city. It will be interesting to see how Russo acts toward the right-wing nuts in New Canaan and Darien! because those views don’t work with a city guy like me. Last thing my great president needs is a right-wing conservative from CT. I know it’s early but I made up my mind; Chris Dodd will not get my vote. He will hurt democrats across the board if he is on the Ticket.
marlys I agree with you to an extent but not fully.
Number 1: Russo is not Chris Shays who only lived here to get votes then moved when he lost. Russo is a diehard Bridgeport resident and I give him a helluva lot of credit. I’m pretty sure he has enough money to move somewhere else if he wanted to but he has not.
If he wanted to run for everything I have no problem with that but why doesn’t he go local or something. Mayor??? State Rep where he would have a great shot at winning??? Let’s see it could be possible he could win Black Rock and Central and run strong at Longfellow. Trust me the way I see it now is I would rather have Russo as my mayor than do-nuttin’ Finch!
His family lives in Fairfield, I think. Rob lives right across the street from Fairfield (on Brooklawn).
That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about Bport, but there are Democrats more conservative than he is in town, and if his priority were to get things done in government instead of prop up the old cadaver of the local GOP he could definitely go that route. Perpetually running for any office without a Republican candidate doesn’t make him look dedicated, it makes him look like a hack.
Lennie said Russo will do better than Shays in the city because he ran 10% higher and that is true. But Shays was really liked in the ‘burbs and I don’t think Russo will put up the same numbers at all as Shays in the ‘burbs. Russo needs to work his butt off to win.
marlys
Mama always told me no matter how many times I lose to get back on my feet and try harder. Never underestimate a man even if he loses a million times.
Obama lost senate races and now look where he is. He is a superstar in my house. But if Russo were so concerned about Bpt, why did he vote for McCain?
Yahoo: dots = dotty, “mentally unbalanced,” “mildly absurd.” Sorry, a sarcastic Englishism to describe “Aryans from Darien.”
I don’t think I’ll ever see the day that Bridgeport City Councilpersons get paid. Then again, I thought I’d never hear that Councilmen Bob Walsh was getting “laid.”
Why cut the number of Councilpersons or the number of districts? Why not keep the same number of Councilpersons and increase the number of districts or wards? Maybe we should have them all run at-large. Each councilmember makes decisions that affect the whole city after all. Should we also pay the BOE members? Don’t they put in some serious hours in the process of conducting their elected duty? I’d like to think they all do!
The McKinney news is a surprise to me. This changes things as far as the BOE is concerned. Russo is out?
If Russo is out and Baraka is getting signatures, the RTC will most likely give her the spot just to avoid a primary. So it would be smart for anyone interested in the spot to take out the petition forms and level the playing field at a potential RTC nomination and endorsement process. I’ll make the trip to the Registrar’s office tomorrow.
The outcome of the Himes race in 2010 will depend on WHO eventually end up being the Democratic Governor candidate. Remember when I told you about the reports from my pOIBlitical spies at Mario’s? They reported that Blumenthal is considering a run against Dodd. Dodd is not doing good on the poll side. My newest Facebook friend Amann and other dems are lining up for a shot at the Gov. post. It’s too early to tell. But I have noticed that “Dick” has been sticking his head into lots of issues lately and seems to be taking advantage of the free press opportunity that being Attorney General provides. Lennie, why don’t you do your job, squeeze the Dick and see what you can get out of him.
Joel Gonzalez
I agree we can’t have another d stef run as gov. Malloy would be perfect reason Himes could keep the Stamford numbers too. My vote goes Malloy’s way. But if Dick is at the top I think he could beat Rell. Dick has the name recognition and could easily win. There are more democrats in the state then ever. I feel that Malloy might have a shot but Dick would be a heated contest.
*** The stipend amount is more than sufficient ($9,000 a year); however it should not be taxed. To receive a $1,800 check after taxes but be responsible for $2,250 worth of spending receipts each quarter is stupid. If you’re doing your job as a council member & don’t have a city job or good paying job to cover the expenses @ times, it can be a bit harder on the wallet if you choose not to take the stipend. It’s up to the individual council member to decide, people on the outside looking in really don’t have a clue just how useful a little extra money can be in keeping touch with your district, special classes on new streamlined techniques in government in general, and @ times opportunities to see how new things are working in other urban cities which maybe also be experimented with here in Bpt. However, I stress the fact “if using your stipend wisely,” these things can be very helpful but there are those that use their stipend for personal use and fail in turning in any receipts which ends up putting a negative look on the entire process. *** A 4-year term for mayor is needed in cases where the city is as large & has many issues as does Bpt. A mayor cannot really concentrate on too many city issues if after a year & a half they must begin to prepare for another election. However, a recall act should be in place to handle problems such as the past Ganim issues, etc. *** I’m fine with 2 council persons per district, however sometimes having all members from the same party can be counterproductive. So I believe that 10 seats total, covering each district should be endorsed for council by the Dem. & Republican parties; 10 Dem. seats & 10 Repub. seats. With the normal primary procedures for other Independent or non-affiliated parties to be able to run also. This would really spice up the local primaries & hopefully make the local town committees think twice about who they give the one endorsement to, who could be beat by an independent candidate if not doing their jobs! Would be quite interesting & hopefully get rid of some of the dead weight on the council. *** And last but not least, the Dem. party did not back T. Mulligan the way they should have but instead just threw him to the dogs, sink or swim. They were more intent on getting votes lined up for the D.T.C. chairman’s pick as I remember. T. Mulligan was & still would be a good choice for state senate. I volunteered time towards his campaign & would again if asked. That’s the type of person we need in the State Capitol not like what’s up there now! ***