Former Mayor Joe Ganim is still moving around, schmoozing potential supporters, meeting them for lunch. Some folks say he’s definitely running for his old job, others say Joe’s being coy, others aren’t so sure. It’s classic Joe creating a buzz. Even if he decides not to run it doesn’t harm business for the family law practice where he serves as a clerk.
Meanwhile Joe’s trying to regain his law license that was stripped by the state following his federal corruption conviction in 2003. An OIB poll conducted a few weeks ago shows Mayor Bill Finch and Ganim in a dead heat. There’s nostalgia for Joe in Bridgeport’s black and brown communities that saw improvement during his years as mayor from November 1991 to April 2003. Not so in white Bridgeport where Mayor Finch has a commanding lead over Joe. Why the difference? African American and Latino voters tend to be more forgiving–and more distrustful of cops–than white voters when it comes to prosecution. Most of us have had a family member or a friend that’s encountered a run-in with the law. The punishment tends to be disproportionately against black and brown voters who are still trying to catch up educationally and economically, and cannot afford the finest legal counsel.
But then there’s Joe who had the dough to hire seasoned lawyers, rolled the dice, went to trial, took the stand, was convicted and received a nine-year sentence. Irrespective of Joe’s conviction, some voters believe he received too much time. Others aren’t so inclined claiming he’s shown no remorse. Fact is Joe carved out a strategy 10 years ago and hasn’t budged because it would interfere with his appeal process.
If Joe gets in it certainly changes the dynamics of the race. Ganim and Finch were never buds. They got along for political purposes. When Bill needed a job Joe obliged. When Joe needed a vote on the City Council Bill obliged. Ask Bill about Joe and he’ll make prehistoric noises. Ask Joe about Bill and he’ll say Bill’s third string. Bill was among the first pols to call for Joe’s resignation in 2002 following Joe’s Oct. 31, 2001 indictment. Bill walked into Joe’s office with fellow City Council members John Guman and Phil Kuchma and State Rep. Jackie Cocco to urge Joe to resign on the basis that he could no longer govern given that he was spending so much time crafting a defense of the charges so distracting.
Ten years later John Guman is treasurer of Mary-Jane Foster for mayor and Kuchma, a downtown developer, is supporting Finch. If Joe gets in it will be among the most fascinating mayoral races in history. Finch supporters are ready to pounce on Joe while Joe gives as good as he takes.
Meanwhile, should Joe get in the other mayoral candidates–Foster, John Gomes and Charlie Coviello–must figure out a way to cut through the static.
In anticipation of a democratic primary, I’m gonna switch! Lennie, what are the deadline dates that potential candidates need to be aware of? If Joe is a go, he must say so soon. Entering the race too early can be a bad thing, but so can entering too late. Lennie, remember Bridgeport has a high number of white residents with prior felony convictions, not to mention those who never got caught.
Okay, then! First Hubler, now Gonzales. Similar minds think alike.
Joel,
A note of envious admiration from yahooy!
Speedy, the deadline for a party affiliation switch such as GOP to Dem to vote in the primary is June 13. Unaffiliated voters can join a major party and vote in the primary up to the day before the primary.
Nostalgia can sometimes erase the bad and only keep the good memories. I just ask the people to keep in mind the potential for getting their good-time mayor back in office will be a continued lack of jobs. No new business in their right mind would consider coming to the Park City when the former corrupt thief is rehired by the victims. No CEO or CFO could justify placing their corporate funds at risk.
If this guy cannot get a job, please somebody with a soft heart and head hire him before the City totally implodes.
Once again OIB & the voters are missing the big picture. The biggest problem keeping BPT from ever achieving prosperity is our very own MARIO TESTA.
The puppeteer continues to hold our elected officials in a spider’s web of collusion for his own personal gain. We need to end this just like in the Godfather movies. I do not suggest violence but the principal remains the same. We must eliminate opposition that is detrimental to our prosperity. We must replace the lemmings of the common council as well as the DTC. The only hope for prosperity is in completely cleaning house. These little power brokers have a false sense of importance we need to eliminate.
We need a candidate who is willing to offer a full slate of candidates to produce change. John Gomes is preparing a slate of candidates to replace the entrenched politicians in his campaign. MJF appears somewhat reluctant to offer a choice to voters. To me this suggests she would be comfortable working with the same old common council & DTC. I intend to vote for change, where should all of my loyalties be placed?
Hey Anti, your Greenwich side is starting to show (False Sense of Importance). LOL.
Rerun:
This is still America and everyone deserves a second chance.
My opinion of Joe Ganim is if he throws his hat in the ring this month, he will have an 8 to 12 point lead over all others, including Mayor Finch. The National, State and local media will jump all over his candidacy, front page news good and bad.
Mayor Finch along with Mayor Fabrizi will go down as just caretakers, waiting for Ganim to return.
Joe Ganim can point to all his good deeds, opening of four new schools, Steelpointe, the citywide clean and green program, the beautification project at Seaside park and Went Field. New street signs, treescapes, road blocks with New Jersey barriers to close off drug-infested streets, the ball park as well as the Arena at Harbor Yard, and above all No New Taxes.
While Finch can only show us a false promise of a Six Hundred Dollar Tax Rebate, with potholes & rain barrels. Potholes & rain barrels will be Finch’s swan song. (To the tune of These Are a Few of My Favorite Things by Julie Andrews.) While Finch & Fabrizi both had visions of grandeur, that they would be the ones to finalize Steelpointe.
With Ganim in the race safe money will appear, those who give to Finch also will send a check to Ganim, but right now time is on Bill Finch’s side. The longer Joe sits out, the larger the lead for Finch and others.
If Joe gets in the race by May 15, Finch may spit the bit—Riders Up!
Delusional.
Jimfox,
Many, if not most of the accomplishments only happened because Lowell Weicker kicked in a massive amount of state money to support them. Not likely to happen again.
Is Joe a serious contender? I don’t think so.
He’s a spoiler. A consummate spoiler. He will draw too many votes away from Foster and Gomes making Finch’s victory seem like a mandate. I’m ashamed of him. Doesn’t he realize anytime his or Newton’s name is associated with political office, serious municipal investment runs for the hills?
MJ should register as an independent if she expects to be on the general ballot in November. A Foster-Finch battle will ensure Finch goes where he belongs … somewhere else.
Lennie, I think you have this right, Finch needs the black to stay in office but if Joe Ganim gets in the race for mayor the black vote plus the Latino vote goes to Ganim. But what will Ganim do for both of those communities if elected, we know Finch has done nothing. Finch has never wanted to be mayor and Ganim needed to be mayor in order to run for governor.
B2,
You have got to be good for at least 25 500-word paragraphs on this topic before you get to the point that Joe Ganim and all the people who would vote for him are full of shit.
Two weeks ago I mentioned one financial item about Ganim and no one said anything about it. So I’ll say it again.
Ganim and Stafstrom originated the “big idea” to get State legislation so they could issue a Pension Obligation Bond for $350 Million to be paid back over 30 years with a coupon rate of 7.4% that forces the City to pay $30,267,269 annually for 30 years. It momentarily funded Pension Plan A at about 80% of necessary and everybody was happy.
Ganim essentially did not give operating instructions to anyone about making annual fund payments also, so he didn’t and Fabrizi followed suit. According to Finch, Ganim lost $100 Million of the $350 Million borrowed in volatile markets.
OK Ganim advocates, do you have an answer to the Pension Plan A train wreck that is upcoming? Hail Mary passes rarely come true in Bridgeport though we like to keep hoping. How about Woody Hayes: “Three yards and a cloud of dust!” Got to have the linemen to do the smart blocking and the quarterback to execute as well as the coach to direct the action. What do we have today, with our structure, team on the field and the self-satisfaction of the incumbent and most of his elected team?
Under 250 words. More later on last night’s NRZ meeting in East End with BOE Supt. John Ramos at Dunbar School.
B2,
I know he no longer has his law license and I do not believe he is entitled to vote; however he is entitled to hold elective office? Only in Corrupticut could this happen!!!
Yahooy–BEACON2 hasn’t commented on this article and you are attacking him, stop chomping at the bit! Ganim’s influence in this election is critical. He will sway many voters if he runs, or supports any candidate. Nothing cleans like a new broom. We need to throw out all of the old bullshit before we can move forward. This city is dying and our future will be decided in the upcoming primary. We need Finch removed. In a worst-case scenario we need a viable alternative to this dictatorship. This madness must end. If the primary delivers Finch as the Democratic candidate, we still need to eliminate this asshole. I don’t care who the Republican candidate will be, I will support him/her to eliminate Finch.
Try to say what you said again. I haven’t got the foggiest idea what your point of view is.
Only the little people pay taxes:
www .ctpost.com/local/article/City-councilman-owes-nearly-4-000-in-taxes-1383788.php
This is ridiculous and a waste of time & energy. Ganim is not going to run for Mayor. Nor should he.
For all who say the black & Latino sectors think well of him and are more forgiving of criminals and thus would vote for him, you’re crazy!
He’s been in jail and off the scene for almost nine years. He’s done. If he had any sense of shame, he would nip this speculation in the bud.
The people who keep carping Ganim 2.0 would win a mayoral election are the same morons who thought Donald Trump was a serious presidential contender.
The Donald’s Out???
Joe says go, the wife says NO.
Frustrated Bridgeport Democrat, you are wrong, just go out and ask blacks and Latinos which candidate they would vote for mayor, Finch or Ganim. Finch has shown NO leadership as mayor.
Ron Mackey,
I just don’t believe they would elect Ganim who essentially after a bright start sold everybody out; white, black, Latino, whoever.
He was an arrogant, obnoxious rich kid who moved back into Bridgeport purely for ambition and the next step politically. When that failed, he stayed to line his pocket. He did next to nothing to better this City other than cosmetics as evidenced by B2’s earlier post.
However perish the thought, given the historically tremendously low voter turnout compared to North End and Black Rock, that pea brain Newton could get elected.
If so, the idiots–black, white, Latino, whoever, deserve what they get and should stop whining.
Frustrated Bridgeport Democrat, take out the Newton part, I agree with most of your comment. But I go back to my comment above, if Joe Ganim gets in the race for mayor, the black vote plus the Latino vote goes to Ganim. But what will Ganim do for both of those communities if elected, we KNOW that Finch has done nothing.
BEACON2 and others on OIB have listed a number of reasons why Finch must be be voted out of office. But before you get to what is in that list, let’s look at the first reason that came from Finch’s own mouth is the reason not to vote for him, the $600 rebate we never got and never will. All of this makes Ganim look good.
Right On, Ron.
The minority vote COULD go to the African American candidate who walks the streets and talks six languages, right? Would make sense. Gomes is out there with NO credit from here but plenty on the streets.
Once again … neither Ganim nor Newton deserve to represent the public trust. Second chances don’t apply here. Bridgeport has been milked by administrations and their minions for the past 40+ years. It’s time to chase the moneylenders out of the temple. The state needs to step in and take over financial control. None of these flies or leeches know how to put Bridgeport back on the road to financial recovery. You have Finch, Wood, Nunn, Carroll, and none of them have any clue how to run a business, let alone a municipality.
B2, what is current cost of borrowing and was the rate fixed or floating on that Bridgeport bond:
“Ganim and Stafstrom originated the “big idea” to get State legislation so they could issue a Pension Obligation Bond for $350 Million to be paid back over 30 years with a coupon rate of 7.4% that forces the City to pay $30,267,269 annually for 30 years.”
Bridgeport Now,
Add line item ‘53201 from the Police Department budget for Prin/Interest Pension A $15,437,327 (p. 137 of City Budget) to ‘53201 from the Fire Department budget for Prin/Interest Pension A $14,831,942. The total is $30,269,269 going to bondholders as a 30-year repayment stream, rather than to retirees (who are currently drawing down $32 Million per year anyway). Not one dime of it is providing one iota of public safety today!
The coupon rate of 7.4% is a fixed rate. Since that is higher than taxable bond rates today, I do not understand why this liability (and the future 19 years of payments) are not reduced by a re-funding of the Bond (or what a homeowner with a 30-year mortgage would call a refinancing) unless the State required terms in the agreement we do not understand. I am sure John Stafstrom can explain this seeming no-brainer! We are on track to spend taxpayer funds over a 30-year period for a total of $906,000,000 to repay the one-time payment to Pension Plan A back in 2000. How great a Ganim financial concept does it look today?
I provided the CUSIP #108151T76 for anyone with the time and interest to research the additional details that may be found if John Stafstrom is not available to provide the history. As a City vendor he cannot respond to a direct question like that I have learned, courtesy of Dawn Norton. Perhaps, Dawn Norton, Acting Finance Director, will answer your questions. That would be a capital idea (I mean, a principal and interest idea)!
Gomes walks the walk and he talks the talk. He is expanding his influence throughout the city. MJF seems to be content to sit behind her desk @ UB. Reminds me of a song from my youth, “See you in September.”
THE HAPPENINGS
“See You In September” (1966)
I’ll be alone each and every night
While you’re away, don’t forget to write
Bye-bye, so long, farewell
Bye-bye, so long
See you in September
See you when the summer’s through
Here we are (bye baby, goodbye)
Saying goodbye at the station (bye baby, goodbye)
Summer vacation (bye baby, bye baby)
Is taking you away (bye baby, goodbye)
Have a good time but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above
Will I see you in September
Or lose you to a summer love
(counting the days ’til I’ll be with you)
(counting the hours and the minutes, too)
Bye baby, goodbye
Bye baby, goodbye
Bye baby, goodbye (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
Bye baby, goodbye (bye-bye, so long)
Have a good time but remember
There is danger in the summer moon above
Will I see you in September
Or lose you to a summer love
(I’ll be alone each and every night)
(While you’re away, don’t forget to write)
See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
I’m hopin’ I’ll
See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
Well, maybe I’ll
See you (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
In September (bye-bye, so long, farewell)
Underestimating the political firepower of John Gomes for Mayor would be unwise. Prior claims of Ganim’s appeal to minorities are unconvincing and over a decade old. A strong voice can rekindle those votes but my OIB training tells me rear-view-mirror thinking is a path to the political graveyard.
Gomes is chasing a crowd that still wants change but has been frustrated by a debt-stalled economy. That’s a crowd that can be swayed by instability and Gomes is well-positioned to benefit from that.
I pay attention to announced candidates who show interest and share opinions.
He’s BBBAAACCCKKK!!!
Welcome back LE.
Lennie, did you see Councilman Warren Blunt is receiving a $14,000 increase in pay, going from $68,000 to $82,000 as reported in yesterday’s CT Post? Who authorized this? Was it the new Health Director or the Mayor? This is outrageous. Who are the others receiving this kind of salary increase? Do you think you can ask the administration for the new salaries for us (the ones who are paying the taxes)?
Mary-Jane Foster, if these kinds of salary increases are being approved for department heads, YOU have my vote in the primary.
Hey Joe, do everyone a favor and stay home. Try being a husband and a father. You already wasted nine years of your life. Move on, Bridgeport doesn’t need you. It’s screwed up already with Finch and the rest of the department-head losers.