The Movie Script No One Would Believe–How We Got To This Point On The Verge Of The Vote For Mayor

Ganim, Foster, FInch
Boys, the campaign is almost over!

If you had scripted the city’s mayoral race to Hollywood filmmakers, they’d probably call the cops to lock you up in disbelief. Heck, a couple of mayoral candidates on Tuesday’s ballot have been locked up. Even a scribe who’s covering the race had an involuntary vacation. It’s not every day a mayoral candidate can actually transform a difficult past into a credential. It takes timing, location, passion, power of persuasion and loads of hard work and a few breaks along the way. Joe Ganim is driving the interest in this mayor’s race and a whole bunch of folks inside Bridgeport and out have taken notice. For others, it’s a surreal front-row seat.

Marion Barry and Buddy Cianci are former mayors folks cite as examples of felonious comebacks. They were different cases than what Ganim is trying to do and his opponents are trying to block. Barry made a comeback in Washington DC following a public meltdown marinating in cocaine. Cianci made a comeback following an assault conviction. He was actually one for two in felonious returns. More than a decade ago he was convicted on corruption charge while in office. Last year, running as an independent mayoral candidate in Providence he was defeated in a competitive race for an open seat.

This schizoid whiplash election is coming to a close and it’s been a wild ride that began January 1 in the East End church of State Rep. Charlie Stallworth who also serves as pastor.

How did we get here?

Charlie Stallworth
Ganim started his comeback in the church of Charlie Stallworth at podium during  Ganim fundraiser. Sue Katz photo.

Ganim was released from federal incarceration in 2010. He toyed with running for mayor in 2011, but the timing was not right. He had three years of supervised release, a form of probation, he was reconnecting with his children, he was trying to regain his law license and his wife was not crazy about his return to the public arena.

In the years that followed, circumstances dictated Ganim revisit running for mayor. A three-judge panel, citing lack of contrition, rejected his application to reinstate his law license. The Connecticut Supreme Court agreed. The court impact diminished his economic vitality. His marriage dissolved along the way. He had child support and alimony obligations. Consulting work dried up. Who would pay Joe an economic package worth $160K afforded the mayor of the state’s largest city? Ganim is a political warrior with redemption on his mind, but his economic standing was also a factor. He saw Finch as vulnerable. Anti-Finch politicians urged him back in the game.

As a politician Ganim is a risk-taker, but he’s also a pragmatist. If he didn’t think he could take out Finch he’d not have gotten back in the game. Ganim also recalled as mayor he had a hand in lining up at least four jobs for Finch when Finch served on the City Council. Sometimes, Finch has trouble maintaining relationships. Ganim cultivated the anti-Finch vote, blending new political friends with old relationships.

So on January 1, 2015, based on the urging of his political contacts, Ganim said something he had never before declared: in the sanctuary of church he publicly apologized about his past after 14 years of declaring he had done nothing wrong. In Bridgeport, people have screwed up, families have suffered, some have strong redemption stories; people like comebacks. Very few politicians have Ganim’s skill set for connecting one on one. He went to work. And immediately Finch did him a huge favor. The mayor and his campaign advisers pounded Ganim’s every move, in news releases, in statements, interviews and even in legislation. Instead of poo-poohing Ganim’s return and running extensively on his own record with a major redevelopment of the East Side, Finch’s public demonizing of Ganim had many voters who had suffered asking the same question: why is the mayor afraid of Joe Ganim?

Ganim, Adams, Meyer
Ed Adams, center, the retired FBI agent, provided Ganim campaign cover.

Most voters knew about Ganim’s baggage, but Finch’s strategy was to go after him full force from day one. His strategy failed. Finch even publicly declared people like Joe Ganim should not have the right to run for public office. It played right into Ganim’s hands, especially with African American voters stinging from Finch’s attempt to seize control of the Board of Education with the power to appoint its membership.

For Ganim, the messaging became easy, he’s not one of us, he does not understand us, he wants to pick and choose who should run for office, who should be involved in deciding our government.

As the spring progressed, Ganim tested his comeback for campaign dollars at a fundraiser at Vazzano’s Four Seasons in Stratford. Ganim stitched together old friends, new friends, family members and Finch political enemies to help raise money. The thing took on a life of its own, even surprising Ganim. The event raised more than $50,000. It signaled to Ganim he could raise enough money to compete. In the gut of the Democratic primary it wasn’t important what the well-financed Finch spent, it mattered what Ganim spent.

Ganim addresses crowd
Ganim raised $50K at Vazzano’s fundraiser. Sue Katz photo.

As a campaigner, Ganim can be a one-man riot squad: he was the candidate, the strategist, the media schmoozer. He doesn’t yell, he doesn’t scream. He also has underlying passion that connected with volunteers. Ganim, in 2015, revisited two key issues that helped elect him in 1991: taxes and public safety. After historic shootings in the Trumbull Gardens housing complex, Ganim announced he’d open a campaign/police substation filled with police officers who supported his comeback effort to provide a sense of security to the area.

Who is your kid safer with, Ganim or Finch? That’s exactly the question Ganim forced. It didn’t matter Finch called it a political stunt while declaring crime has never been lower. It didn’t matter Police Chief Joe Gaudett told his police officers to stay out of Ganim’s so-called substation. The deed was done. Voters saw Ganim as trying to do something. There was a hole in the fence of the housing project. Ganim went to Home Depot, bought supplies, fixed the fence. Who cared the patch job was torn down days later?

Ganim, shooting victim
Ganim with Trumbull Gardens shooting victim.

Along the way Ganim received some much-needed cover to assuage voters about his corruption past. He received the endorsement of the police union. One of the FBI agents who locked him up, Ed Adams, decided to embrace his comeback declaring everyone deserves a second chance. With Adams, now a private investigator, by his side, Ganim called a press conference to announce if elected mayor he will form an office of Public Integrity.

As summer progressed Ganim began picking off members of the Democratic Town Committee. Finch leveraged the power of incumbency to keep some town committee members in line. On the eve of the vote, Democratic Town Chair Mario Testa, never warm and friendly with Finch, announced he was all-in for Ganim. Finch held the endorsement. Just the appearance an eight-year incumbent had to fight to win the endorsement added another dimension to Finch’s political weakening. Ganim’s campaign operation took to the streets and within a week had qualified for the ballot through the petitioning process, touching thousands of Democratic voters.

Finch, Lyons, Malloy, Brantley at Black Horse
Finch had the backing of Governor Malloy.

Meanwhile, a third candidate qualified for the Democratic primary, Mary-Jane Foster, Finch’s 2011 primary opponent who had little regard for Finch and Ganim. While waging a credible race against Finch in 2011, the University of Bridgeport executive didn’t take advantage of her first run, largely staying below the radar in the ensuing years. She got into the race late, bled political support from 2011 to Finch and Ganim, had trouble raising money and put her own loot in. But Foster and Ganim also smartly petitioned their way onto the general election ballot. They had a Plan B if the September primary did not work out. Finch took another route. Rather than petitioning his name directly onto the ballot for mayor in November if he lost the primary, Finch’s political operatives prevailed on Republican used-car salesman Rich DeParle to serve as a straw man under the Job Creation party line. DeParle creates party, he secures signatures for the ballot, he’s approved for the ballot, then resigns as the placeholder. Finch took this route for fear of looking weak for hedging his bets.

On September 16, Joe Ganim’s underdog campaign operation shocked outside observers with a tight win over Finch who became the first incumbent mayor in Bridgeport history to lose in a primary. Ganim ran up large pluralities in heavy African American precincts amassing a mighty retail operation that galvanized the anti-Finch vote unhappy about the direction of the city. Finch’s field operation was strong too, but Ganim inspired many new voters to the polls and others who had not participated in municipal elections. Foster finished a distant third. Finch announced primary night he would follow his Plan B on the Job Creation line. Days later, Foster, based on her primary performance and assumption that Finch would be on the November ballot announced her withdrawal from the general election.

Finch reelection on thin ice.
Finch slipped on the paperwork.

A funny thing happened along the way to the general election. That very day OIB contacted Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s office to determine Finch’s November ballot status. A spokesperson revealed that Finch’s name would not appear on the ballot. Someone in the Finch camp botched the paperwork ensuring his general election spot. Without a ballot line, Finch met with Republican mayoral candidate Rick Torres urging him to withdraw from the race so that Finch could be the Republican candidate. Torres rejected Finch’s deal.

Foster, Finch unite
Foster accepts Finch endorsement.

Foster, although having announced she would leave the race, had not yet filed her written withdrawal notification. She reversed course, regrouped waiting to see if Finch would run as a long-shot write in candidate. Anathema of his legacy losing to Ganim, Finch decided Foster was the only chance to stop Ganim in November. Putting differences aside and to his credit, he threw his full public and financial support behind her, including some members of his campaign infrastructure following his lead. Finch combined with Foster’s fundraising operation has raised about $200,000, even outraising Ganim in the latest campaign finance reporting period. Foster’s campaign has new life and traction against Ganim, a formidable campaigner. Have they persuaded enough voters their way or have they run out of time?

Rick Torres makes pitch for mayor. He's a factor in race.
Rick Torres makes pitch for mayor. He’s a factor in race.

Ganim as the Democratic nominee has financial strength, a passionate retail operation including a large chunk of the party apparatus led by Town Chair Mario Testa as Ganim seeks history.

Foster rally Klein
Mary-Jane Foster rallies supporters in final days.

Foster is also trying to make history as a petitioning candidate in her quest for the mayoralty.

Torres, the Republican, is also a factor. Torres and Foster both enjoy a base of support in the high-turnout Black Rock School precinct where Ganim runs the weakest. They will split the Ganim anti vote there.

In less than 24 hours more than 61,000 eligible voters will decide this incredibly surreal election.

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43 comments

  1. Torres is more than a factor, he is in it to win. Having raised $20k-plus against $800k of the other two main opponents, he is a clear powerhouse of ideas and passion. His campaign receives far more support than neutral or antagonistic responses. Foster can build on her name recognition this race, but has no chance of overcoming the automatic Democratic vote of more than a third of the electorate. Only Torres has gained 41% in a general election of all the candidates besides Ganim. He will do better than Foster who has only a select politically aware vote. With your help and the general name recognition Torres enjoys in the diverse neighborhoods of Bridgeport, he can win this split election. The attempt at minimizing his campaign by printed media will only reach a certain percentage of the electorate and the tactic cannot bring a win to Foster but only to Ganim. Vote Torres. The right choice for this election, for ideas, passion, bi-partisan successes, open accountable government and no baggage.

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    1. PC, the city has changed since the last Rick Torres run for mayor, the City’s voters are now more black and brown since that time and those voters will not vote for Republican Rick Torres. You said, bi-partisan, please, Rick Torres agreeing with Democrats? Please.

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      1. Hi Ron, Rick is more brown in the summertime. Definitely more black and brown in his soul than Mary-Jane, Joe qualifies long before she does on that one. Only one day left. Thank you for the back and forth, I have enjoyed it more than not. All the best and may the best Torres win.

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      2. Ron, Rick has had at least three agreements with Democrats in the city council, they passed his “transparency resolution,” support closing the coal plant in the South End, and supported a moratorium on tax giveaways to corporations with those minimum-wage jobs. The focus has been wrong. Support the neighborhoods, let them create the jobs. These big companies come in for a free ride and leave the moment it is not working out for them, at a huge taxpayer cost. People can really argue against their own best interests in Bridgeport. But there is hope and Torres is a part of the solution this time, not just a continuation of the same old, tired, story.

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    2. PC, if you take the time after this Tuesday and really read what I’ve been saying you will find a pathway for Rick Torres to win in the future. Right now you’re drinking the kool-aid but trust me I’ve given a way for victory.

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      1. I agree with you Ron, get Rick into the neighborhoods. The difference is you won’t allow for the fact he is in the neighborhoods. Foster will be a spoiler at best this election. It will be a sizable spoiling, but she has nearly zero chance of putting up the numbers needed to win this election. That I am most sure of.

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        1. PC, okay he’s in the community but no one knows him, trust me. I’ve never heard him mentioned in church, the barber shop, any club or store, but he’s in the community, okay then he’ll be a a real big winner in Black Rock.

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          1. Thank you, sir. I have been phone calling, I know something about the average good people of Bridgeport. They still are trying to decide. Or will pick in the voting booth. Let them. I’m sure the guys at the barber shop all sit there with Mary-Jane’s literature in hand going over the finer points. Picture that. You can build a comedy skit around that one. Torres. The right choice at this time for Bridgeport. If you are underestimating his potential to win this, as I know Ron is, then you will be handing the election to Ganim. Foster has zero chance of posting 7000 or more votes on line G. If your vote is Foster or Torres, you will be handing the election to Ganim by voting line G. Enough said, all the best Bridgeport. It is a painful process, with conniving characters at the top of the food chain. May the best Torres win, the right person for this election.

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          2. PC, I know Rick Torres will not even come anywhere near 7,000 votes. You talk about a picture, well I’ll tell you this, Rick Torres’ tattoo won’t get him any black votes. As Donald Day said in an earlier post and got it right, most voters already know who they are going to vote for on Tuesday. One thing I do know is Rick Torres will lose both positions he is running for.

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          3. I will take you up on that bet, Mr. Mackey, it would be a pleasure to meet you sometime and say hello. Torres will outshine both Ganim and Mary-Jane. I was in the North End, thinking Ganim had great support there and truly was amazed it was mainly Torres, with undecideds mixed in, and a very few Ganim. Mary-Jane is not even on the horizon. She comes in third, or I owe you any dinner anywhere in town.

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  2. A script based on this tragicomic tale of greed, egos, corruption and the WWE-like intensity of the candidates’ supporters is all very colorful but it might be a hard sell in Hollywood without a Marvel Comics superhero flying in to save the day. Ganim Man? Foster Woman? Captain Torres? Inspector Daniels? Tony The Barr?!

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  3. Why am I voting Torres?
    Because he is not Ganim, Finch or Foster.
    Because the last thing we need is business as usual in city hall.
    Because voting Ganim will bring national embarrassment.
    Because Foster will hire Bill Finch and Company as part of a deal.
    Because Rick will be an uncompromising leader.
    Because Torres will root out the patronage and do-nothing jobs that cost the taxpayers millions.
    Because Bridgeport needs the REAL CHANGE that ONLY Torres can bring.

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    1. Rick Torres has shown us all the type of person he is, the type who will go with whatever is the best deal for Rick, he’s a Democrat, then he can’t have his way, he becomes a Republican, then when he can’t get what he wants he goes out and supports a Democrat for mayor. Now again he wants to be mayor but he is also running for the City Council position in the 130th district because it’s all about Rick Torres and not the voters. He makes people dizzy.

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      1. Rick Torres is an honorable, decent and highly intelligent man, who will put the people of Bridgeport’s interests first in all decisions. As he has shown in the city council, so will he show as Mayor. Go Torres. The right choice for Bridgeport at this time.

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      1. No one bitched when Mary-Jane’s patron saint Bill Finch was double-dipping a mayoral salary and a paycheck from the state senate. How quickly you forget.

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    1. Why not? Tony Barr and Charlie Coviello are running. Maybe Torres is just looking for a job in the Foster administration? Oh wait, he is working for Ganim so maybe the Ganim administration unless there is a huge voter turnout. Ganim’s latest WICC commercial, I’ll bring jobs, lots of them, lots and lots and lots of jobs, so vote for me you gullible stupid people. Really, I have changed. Really, I have changed a lot. Just ask Ed Adams, you idiots.

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      1. Has anyone read that beautifully written letter to the editor in the Sunday Connecticut Post just under the Mary-Jane Foster endorsement? The author, Betsy Orman of Bridgeport really captured the Foster so many of us have come to admire and respect. These adjectives expressed in the editorial are a breath of fresh air and do not have anything like disgraced, convicted felon, or liar. Her characteristics represent those of a role model for the youth of our city. Great letter for the few who read the Connecticut Post. 17,000 readership.

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      2. Looks like you’re trolling for a job, Steven. No one kisses ass as much as you do unless they are looking for a payback. Maybe Mary-Jane will give you some dog biscuits.

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          1. I called it the way it looks, Steven. You must be looking for a job in the Foster administration. She’s not the right gender for any other interest you may have.

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  4. How to alienate the entire North End of Bridgeport!
    Mary-Jane Foster wants to replace Stop & Shop with low-income housing???
    Who does she think she is, Bill Finch?

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    1. Yes Jim Fox, I already spoke to all of Mayor Finch and Foster’s supporters. They know the truth. However, Ganim supporters insist it was John Fabrizi that put the Stop and Shop there and deny Al Lenoci was part of it. The North End is not as sharp as Black Rock but some of the voters are educated. The North End was pretty pro-Bill Finch. He lost Winthrop by 35 votes. Be scared, very scared. I know at least 14 of those 35 votes who did not vote. We can be sure that will not happen again. Unless of course that nice piece of lit Ganim sent out “who do you believe in” resonates with fools. I believe in Mary-Jane Foster. Ganim supporters believe in dreams that will not be realized.

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      1. Here we go with more Black Rock self-righteous blowhards pretending to be an elitist again. If you really had a clue, you’d have moved a few blocks over the border years ago. Apparently you also lack the intellectual acumen to make the few extra dollars necessary to move away. Hopefully after this election you’ll find the added motivation to get out. Bridgeport doesn’t need your smug sense of superiority.

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  5. Just wait until those convicted felons of a minor nature try to get a job with a major convicted felon of 16 counts in city hall. Imagine. Bribery, racketeering, mail fraud, shakedowns at a cost of millions to the taxpayer getting a job that pays $150,000 and they cannot even get a job at McDonalds or Burger King. I think you are going to see many disgruntled Ganim believers. When the election is over the Trumbull Garden visits will end. The hotdogs and hamburgers will be over. The area will look as spectacular as it did during Ganim’s 12 years because crack and drugs make you rewrite history and for those who just believe, good for you! Ganim has embarrassed and taken advantage of certain communities in an extremely shameful way. He will take care of those who got him votes and those people will be marked and held accountable!!!

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  6. If a regular person even has 1/10 of what Ganim had on their record, they would not got a job anywhere. Tomorrow when I cast my ballot it will be for Torres or Foster. My parents who are lifelong Dems are voting for Foster. Yesterday while at my girlfriend’s house I saw Foster people walking around knocking on doors. I never recalled them doing this during the primary.

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    1. donj,
      After you have made your decision as to LINE B or LINE G, Column 1, take a close look at your Council selections and seriously consider:

      Toms and Lee
      At 10 F and 10 E
      On Tuesday, November 3.

      Time will tell.

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  7. Ms. Foster still has credibility issues. Other than telling the assembled crowd at 100 Middle Street “There has been no deal,” Mary-Jane Foster isn’t saying on the record she will not hire Bill Finch. Given she “graciously” accepted his endorsement and the support of the political machine he and John Stafstrom operate and the latter brokered the union that put Foster and Finch into the same bed, it’s impossible to believe a job for Bill is not part of the arrangement. He needs another two years on the city payroll; giving him a no-show job would be in keeping with her affiliation with the quid-pro-quo culture of Bridgeport politics. Ms. Foster is a vice president at the University of Bridgeport, where Mr. Finch was employed prior to his recruitment by Mario Testa and the DTC. He was fired from that job for being ineffectual, a characteristic of his mayoralty. Maybe Ms. Foster can appoint him Commissioner of Inefficacy.

    The “show me the money” culture of Bridgeport City Hall corrupts absolutely. It has corrupted Mary-Jane Foster even before an election in which she is far from being the sure winner.

    Joseph P. Ganim is a convicted criminal. More than a few people do not want to see him become the once and future mayor of a city still lumbered with the “pay to play” scheme he ran out of City Hall. One big difference between him and Ms. Foster: The Crook has a record to promote; she does not. Misrepresenting her past and saying “I’ll never lie to you” and “I’ll never make a promise I can’t keep” is simply not enough. She has already lied by omission regarding Mr. Finch’s continued employment with the city of Bridgeport. She also broke promises she made before the primary, issuing an amended “first 50 days” list of miracles. Gone was the promise to prune the municipal payroll by eliminating the no-show jobs. (Must’ve been part of the negotiations between John Stafstrom and Tom Swan.) Ms. Foster and Mr. Finch were the bitterest of enemies until political expedience made the Faustian bargain of a political marriage of convenience an attractive proposal.

    These may seem to be minor quibbles to some but it goes a long way toward tempering Ms. Foster’s honesty and integrity.

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  8. Joe Ganim–sixteen (16!) felonious “mistakes!” Let’s get serious, Bridgeporters. Letting the convicted criminal go back to the scene of his many, many crimes is scary, laughable, and a major-league mistake. Are we really poised to once again become a national laughing stock?

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