Gamesmanship is part of politics. The craft of dubious strategy to place a candidate over the top is campaign tradition. That will never change.
There’s a lot of gamesmanship (and howling) coming from both the Democratic campaign camps of Mayor Bill Finch and challenger Mary-Jane Foster who’s seized upon an issue barbecuing Finch’s connection to a political action committee that she claims is an inappropriate financial relationship while the mayor has returned fire through a PAC advocacy group questioning the background of some members of Foster’s ticket.
Some Finch supporters are meowing to OIB, how could you give credence to that crap Foster is spreading? Some Foster supporters are screaming, why are you running that video garbage from another sham PAC working for Finch? Emotions are high on both sides which has reached beyond gamesmanship. The Finch camp is saying we’re going to sue the bastards. The Foster camp is saying we’re going to sue the bastards. Each camp is accusing the other of illegitimacy.
As campaign gamesmanship goes I say the Foster PAC attack against Finch is legit. I say the return fire from Finch’s PAC supporters is legit. (We can quarrel about the nuances.) But Lennie, say Foster supporters, our complaint is based on fact. But Lennie, say Finch supporters, the Foster camp is full of it and our return fire is on the side of the angels.
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
This campaign is a blast for political junkies, a major improvement over the Bill Finch-Chris Caruso primary in 2007. Finch supporters had pooh-poohed Foster’s candidacy, she’s not tough enough, won’t have the money, they predicted. Well, she’s shown a lot of toughness based on the edge of issues and it appears she’ll have enough dough to compete. And now the game is on. Bad blood on both sides. Stay tuned for a lot more yelling, screaming, charges, counter charges and strange and surprising endorsements. Bridgeport politics is not for the weak of heart. Which camp can keep its composure and not trap itself on emotion?
Passion is good in campaign life. Emotion can lead to mistakes.
Vote MJF.
To Bill Finch–don’t fear the voters. Fear the prosecutors.
I kinda liked it better the way Gomes was playing it, clean. This is going to get messy.
Lennie, let me get this straight–an SEEC complaint that their PAC is illegal because Beccaro was only using his mother’s name and showed he retained control, showed who’s paying who, the friends and family plan, based on indisputable public records is legit. BUT Finch’s, oh no! We got caught, let’s make a defamatory cartoon about Mary-Jane and other people running on her slate is legit? On what planet do public records, campaign filings to the Secretary of the State have equal legitimacy of a South Park ripoff? Sometimes fairness and equity in reporting demands supporting valid legal questions and assertions, preserving democracy (why we have freedom of the press in the first place) rather than to pander to the side, whose plan of action seems to be deny, deny, deny; let’s insult the other guys maybe no will notice what we did was wrong?! It’s like the Tea Party saying nothing will happen if we fail to pay our bills for things we already bought is very legitimate. I don’t often object to your reasoning but in this case I do. Sometimes justice should prevail over commercial considerations.
Okay sloop johnb, you’re saying I’m selling out because the Finch-friend PAC is advertising? MJF is advertising. John Gomes advertised and pulled his ad because he thought I was unfair. You Foster people are thin-skinned. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.
Thin skinned, emotional, are we being a pot calling the kettle black? Come on Lennie, you know I respect your professionalism. However, the idea I was trying to advance was sometimes the press should go for legit and boring, and forget the sensationalism political attack.
Au contraire, Lennie. I’m a Foster supporter and have a fairly thick hide.
This is in no way “journalism.” It’s a BLOG. First amendment stuff. Anyone can say anything they want including Grimaldi, AND, since it belongs to him and is not in the public domain, he can pick and choose what he wants published as a post and can edit the content as he frequently does. This is not the NY Times, Washington Post or the Hillbilly Gazette. There are no rules of order, no ethics to follow except Grimaldi’s.
MJ, kick Finch’s ass! Put yahooy in charge of cleaning squid.
Sometimes democracy is messy. That’s the way we preserve the rights of the minority, and check abusive power. There is an old saying regarding the practice of law, “If the facts are with you argue the facts. If the law is with you argue the law. If neither the facts nor law are with you, scream and yell!” Seems to be a whole lot of screaming going on. It is crushing to get caught, and nobody expected Finch to roll over and say you got me. However, instead of saying we checked the with SEEC, we do nothing wrong, how about you cite the law and facts surrounding the situation that makes you “legit,” instead of having another PAC make a cartoon for you?
I’ve been wondering that myself. If the mayor and his chief cook and bottle washer have the law on their side, why are they casting aspersions instead of defending themselves? This isn’t going away, not in the foreseeable future.
The way I see it goes something like this …
Tom Kelly, an operative for the MJF campaign, filed complaints with the Bridgeport Ethics Commission and the State Elections Enforcement Commission alleging financial improprieties between Hizzoner Bill Finch, the mayor’s chief of staff Adam “Pecker” Wood, their respective wives, and a political action committee Hizzoner the mayor “donated” $46,000.00 to back in 2007. This political action committee, managed by an attorney who has received in the neighborhood of $91,000.00 in city legal work, has reimbursed “Pecker” Wood for several thousand dollars’ worth of meals in some of the city’s pricier restaurants. Hizzoner has been reimbursed for travel expenses, lodging, and meals to attend the Democratic National Convention in 2008 and the Obama inauguration in January 2009. (Perhaps the mayor forgot there is plenty of complimentary food and booze at those sorts of events.) Mrs. Hizzoner has been reimbursed for shopping expeditions to a supermarket, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks and TJ Maxx. All of this wholesome political activity has been detailed in articles and editorials published by the Connecticut Post, including the sins visited upon an elderly woman by her greedy, avaricious son. The Finch camp responded to the revelations with a statement from the mayor that said “We went out of our way to do everything above board.” Adam “Pecker” Wood went on to question Mr. Kelly’s ancestry and business acumen but did not deny the allegations of financial impropriety.
But wait, there’s more. The Finch camp, through an undisguised attempt at deniability, have had a subordinate produce a 60-second video lambasting Ms. Foster’s choices for her ticket. The video was posted on YouTube, a rather half-assed move. It would’ve had greater impact in a regular time slot on News 12. Guess there just wasn’t enough laundered money in that particular PAC’s bank account to purchase air time.
Does any of this really matter? Sure. Politics is a dirty game. Just ask the ghost of Richard Nixon. Scandals like this have a history of not going away. It may not be the taxpayers’ dime but someone is footing the tab for the mayor and his chief of staff to live the life of Reilly while the city’s residents suffer from high unemployment, an extremely dysfunctional public education system and a corrupt party machine that takes care of its own and doesn’t even pay lip service to the common good.
Bravo Kid! We need you to become a Dem and vote for MJ in the primary.
You had better hope Finch doesn’t read these, it might screw the deal with AFSCME.
This mess is going to come down to the BOE. Who has the “inside” knowledge of the players and what it will take to remove the state and fix it? Parents are outraged and ready for change. Gomes has close friends/ties to the BOE and has three kids in school. This is where he becomes very important along with his CitiStat and business knowledge.
The BOE has never been more important to an election here as it is this year.
Thanks, anna.
The Finch campaign is going to cast aspersions on the characters of the Foster ticket from now until the 13th of September. Finch, Wood et al. have demonstrated no compunction over slinging mud. The only logical reason for this, if you want to call it logical, is One Term Bill and “Pecker” Wood have been caught with their pants down and their grimy little paws in an illegal cookie jar. At the same time Finch does not have much of a record to show, nothing he can claim as an accomplishment during his term as mayor. His promised $600.00 tax credit never materialized. He has relaxed hiring standards in order to give city jobs to a felon with a history of violent behavior. He and Wood were more or less ejected from the magnet school negotiations because the other participants couldn’t come to any agreement with them. The two of them nearly blew it for the high school students of Bridgeport.
And now comes Miller time, a PAC scandal of damaging proportions. We may need some Buffalo wings to go with this. Neither Finch nor Wood has directly addressed the growing scandal. The mayor more or less incriminated himself. Wood, sleazy operator that he is, tried to impeach the character of the plaintiff by painting him as an operative of the Foster campaign. He is employed by Ms. Foster in a political capacity, but that does not make the complaint any less serious or valid.
Ain’t politics great?
You don’t need to be an attorney to understand this: Regarding the State Ethics code for public officials:
• You may not use your position for your own financial gain, or the gain of your family (spouse, child, child’s spouse, parent, brother or sister) or an associated business, however inadvertent that use may be. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-84 (c).
yahooy,
Foster’s campaign is threatening to sue the Finch campaign, the Finch campaign is threatening to sue the Foster campaign. The Foster campaign has a stronger case. Bill Finch and Adam “Pecker” Wood have been caught with their pants down (see MCAT’s post from 8/7/11 at 7:04 PM), so they don’t really have anything to justify civil action against their strongest primary opponent.
Lennie’s right, this is a vast improvement over the Finch-Caruso fight, the dog and the one-trick pony show. So far Finch has racked up a large number of entries in the political debit column: First, the dissolution of the BOE which he enacted without consulting the City Council or the voters. Second, the revelations that Finch and Wood and their respective wives have been living high off the hog while the rest of the city suffers high unemployment. (If either of those two self-important assholes says “Let them eat cake!” there will be a revolution.) The particular hog they’ve been dining on is a political action committee set up specifically to launder old campaign funds and receive kickbacks from an attorney doing some of the city’s legal business. In clear violation of state election laws.
So who you gonna call, ghostbusters?
Which posting–I don’t find one at 7pm yesterday.
“You don’t need to be an attorney …” Great opening line.
Who is suing whom?
MCAT, thanks.
MCAT is suing someone???
Who me? 😉 What where those plaintiffs thinking? I have wonderful co-counsel.
Another no-show job exposed. I was at Stop & Shop when I overheard this conversation between two elderly ladies. It seems the Black Rock Senior center is run by Danny Roach’s wife Bonnie Roach. She opens the place in the AM and comes back to close it at 4 o’clock. If she spends any time there it is to run her house maids for her private business–The place has become a shithouse since the loss of Mikey Laness the former Director of the BR Senior center. This shit must end–these politically connected people are killing Bpt.
Lennie, are you trying to say Bill Finch is getting sued He is the only “bastard” involved here. As far as I know everyone else involved can account for their real parents.
Dear MJ,
Please, for the sake of the package, remove Joel from the mix. That comment is as low as it gets.
Joel, as the parent of an adopted child I take offense at these remarks. I am telling you man to man, knock it off. These remarks are uncalled for, they are callous and below low .
Joel–you are an asshole. I have no idea what Foster was thinking in putting you on the ticket. You will certainly do her more harm than good.
Joel’s comment is not under moderation, nor deleted, because Joel Gonzalez is a candidate for public office and it’s important for voters to know, right or wrong, the attitude and position of the candidates. Joel’s comment is way over the top and would have been snipped were he not a candidate. Joel should apologize to Finch, but that’s up to him.
Lennie, you used the word “bastard.”
‘We’re Suing The Bastards!’
Lennie, what if a “candidate” or currently elected official used a handle (not their real name) and made the exact comment? Will you allow the post to stand with a note outing the poster? Why not? I ask why ‘not’ because I’m sure it has happened or is very possible. Apologize to Finch? I don’t think so!
My deepest sincere apology to town committee, the parent of an adopted child. tc you know the most common reason children are given up for adoption is because the parent(s) can’t take care of them. When Finch selected me for layoff over 3 years ago, I’m sure he never stopped to think my kids could go hungry or worse yet, that I’d have to give them up for adoption.
*** It’s going to get worse before it gets better, trust. Also the Foster camp should not put too much faith in the Bpt ethics committee or the state elections enforcement committee. Both have no bite & politically connected one way or another! *** DIG DEEPER ***
The SEEC has some teeth. It would be nice if the US Attorney’s office opened an investigation, tore the whole thing apart to see what shakes loose.
Joel, you just don’t get it. You are now causing people to really question you as candidate and to question your judgement with your statements. What’s funny about this is you are main problem, shut up.
To Bill Finch: “You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law …”