Like him or not, former State Senator Ernie Newton’s not afraid to mix it up with OIB readers, judging by his responses to criticism. I’m wondering, for some weekend banter, would the political reemergence of Ernie and former Mayor Joe Ganim make you more inclined to get involved in city elections? Or less so?
OIB readers are among the most active in their communities, followers of political and government-based news sources tend to be that way. But would they stoke your involvement? If so, which way? Both have detractors and supporters. Ernie and Joe did time together in the joint and from what I gather it tightened a relationship that had its ups and downs through the years. If Joe gets in the battle for his old job, my guess is Ernie will support him. The nostalgia I sense for Ganim among voters comes from the African American community where Ernie has his base support. As for Ernie, he may take a crack at his former State Senate seat next year, currently occupied by Ed Gomes. That would be some battle. Eddie’s not afraid of a good fight. As Eddie likes to say, “If I get into a fight with a bear you’re better off helping the bear.”
Joe Ganim for Mayor!!!
Jimmy the Weasel for mayor.
donj,
Don’t believe the pipe.
Joe Ganim for Mayor!!! Of Easton!!!
I remember Little Joe using that same “Don’t bet on the Bear” line during his trial. People like Ganim & Gomes have inflated egos that in time will blow up in their faces. Ernie Newton is a very colorful guy who even his opponents rather like. Ed Gomes has delivered little to the district & looks like an easy target for Ernest “T.” Only time will tell us the future of BPT but the past proves the Bear can win.
Hey Anti,
Ed Gomes is 75 years old.
Will your prediction of him blowing up come in this lifetime or the next?
You are like the guy walking around with a sign that says “The world will end today.”
And when someone points out they saw him yesterday with the same sign his response is “Sooner or later I’m going to be right.”
Grin Reaper,
Sorry I missed Ed Gomes’ last birthday, I would have sent him a card. Further proof of the theory that only the good die young. I openly admit here you might be better read than I am. Please enlighten me & the OIB community about the tremendous achievements Sen.Gomes has brought back to taxpayers here in Bpt. Newton clearly is not the sharpest knife in the drawer but is very capable of drawing blood. Gomes is just cashing the paychecks we continue to write him. Ernie will continue to do what he does best, exploit the weakness of others to his benefit. Will it happen in this lifetime I don’t know, how long is a lifetime?
I for one have had enough of the Joe Ganim talk. It’s time for a change. Joe did a lot of good things for Bridgeport but he also did some things that were bad for Bridgeport. His time has come and gone. If Joe enters the race, from my point of view he will help Foster more than Gomes. Joe will take a lot of the Black vote that would have gone to Finch and Gomes. Joe will also take some of the senior vote away from Finch.
Would it be good for Bridgeport to have Joe back as mayor? I don’t think so. He would recycle many of the incompetents we now have holding mayor-appointed jobs. He would keep Sherwood, Carroll, Nunn and the list goes on.
Ernie Newton, who gives a damn? Replacing Gomes (who turned out to be a do-nothing) with Newton, another do-nothing with a track record of zero is an even exchange. In either case the city gets screwed.
All this bullshit about who’s going to run for Mayor, is it Joe & Ernie or Bert & Ernie, Mary-Jane Shoeshine Gomes vs. Gomes. Who give a flying fluck?
Who will have the best plan to lower my taxes and balance the budget gets my vote. Right now it’s Finch.
It’s a huge waste of time to banter over the prospects of a couple of lowlife miserable thieves who aspire to be mayor.
It is a waste of time to speculate about who the next mayor will be. Caruso is out, hived off by the Malloy administration. So that leaves Gomes, Foster, or a rerun of the Bill Finch Show.
yahooy,
Please elaborate for me, how many candidates are you referring to?
Last night’s meet and greet with MJF produced a lot of surprises for the residents of the 138th.
1. We learned we are the only area without an NRZ zone.
2. We learned we are the only area without a person from this district on any board or commission.
3. We learned on midnight shift we very rarely have a car patrolling in this area.
4, We learned community policing is a myth perpetuated by this chief of the PD.
5. We learned our council people and our district leaders are the only ones who benefit from this administration.
6. We learned when Curwen resigns from the council Martha Santiago is pushing just one candidate to replace him, an out-of-towner named Mike Marella, the uncle of our other do-nothing council person Paoletto.
People who I have known for years signed up to work for MJF and surprisingly many wrote checks to her campaign even though this was just a meet and greet meeting. Maybe just maybe we have awakened a sleeping giant. Time will tell.
All of this chatter about Joe Ganim and Ernie Newton re-entering the political fray is pointless. Both of them were convicted of receiving bribes, for Christ’s sake! Ganim, at least he went for the gusto. Newton, a self-styled Moses, sold out “his” people for cheap, just a few thousand dollars. (His past behavior reminds me of Charon, the ferryman on the river Styx.)
Voters need not worry about either man’s employment prospects. Ganim has a thriving business helping recent convicts navigate the federal prison system. Newton, an accomplished pianist, can always find work playing in the Holiday Inn cocktail lounge.
Well, Bill “I don’t have a clue” Finch is at it again. In today’s CT Post there is an article that discusses a land swap with our great neighbor Trumbull. We would change boundaries and trade the land where the present Bridgeport park department offices and repair facility are located to Trumbull so this pie-in-the-sky magnet high school could be built. Bill Finch said he would be in favor of such a swap.
Here is the catch, the site of our present park department complex is the only area Trumbull could build their sewer treatment plant according to the engineering firm hired by Trumbull.
Hey Bill, do you realize the processed Trumbull sewage would cut through the heart of Beardsley Park and into Bunnell’s Pond? Bill, do I have to remind you that you live a stone’s throw from Bunnell’s Pond? It would then travel through Bridgeport into the sound. Bill, during the last storm Park City Ford was under water, under your scenario it would be underwater and covered in waste.
Jesus Bill, do you have a clue about anything that hurts Bridgeport? You have got to be the most out-of-touch mayor in this city’s history. So much for your clean and green BS.
tc,
Thanks for mention of the CT Post article. Regardless of the merits of a land swap by the two towns or the sewage treatment and school plans, the article quoted Tim Herbst as dealing with an important subject, public pension obligations, and discussing the doubling of money to fund the same. What a concept!!! Read on:
Funding Retirement Plans – A Very Public Issue
Do you like to get the news of a tsunami, earthquake or blizzard that will hit your area well in advance of the event or after it has happened? It’s a reasonable question when one looks at public pension plans and their underfunded status combined with the minimal attention paid to them by most elected leaders.
There are two general types of retirement plans for employees:
1. Those that define benefits to be received by retirees at some future point as a flow of income guaranteed by the plan and trustees who assume all risks. Regular funding is based on actuarial assumptions of inflation, deaths, and investment returns, among others.
2. Those that define contributions to a plan by both employees and employers. At normal retirement the account value received is whatever has been accumulated by the investments in the plan over time. There are few if any guarantees. All risks to funding adequacy to provide income for unknown retirement years into the future are borne by the retiree.
Employers in the private sector have migrated from defined benefit pension type plans to defined contribution plans (like profit sharing or 401(k) for example) in the past 20 years. Defined benefit plans continue to be the main retirement plan for municipal, state and federal employees. And therein lays a major problem. Who bears the real risk, if the plans are underfunded, whether by poor investments, unrealistic assumptions, or failure to contribute necessary annual deposits? Current employees get nervous. Legislators who approved the plans and funding years before are not on the scene to be held accountable. Current taxpayers are seemingly stuck with the obligation. And who is sharing the news with them?
A simple math example is helpful in understanding part of the problem: Let’s say we want to have $1,000 available as a lump sum 30 years from now for our one employee to provide a lifetime income. Were we to assume an 8% investment return for the period, we would only need to contribute $8.17 per year to get to $1,000. However, if we wanted to be more conservative to account for investment market challenges over the long period and asset allocations averaging less than the best returns of certain categories, and even allow for some losing years, we might assume a 5% investment return. Then we would require an annual deposit of $14.33, more than 75% additional annual funding! Now when you have large numbers of retirees and hundreds of millions or billions of funds to accumulate, the 75% increased funding takes on worrisome implications for current public-sector annual budgets.
The lower the interest rate assumed, the bigger the increased funding effect on current budgets and current tax collections. The higher an interest rate assumed, the lower is the called-for annual contribution and effect on taxes. The problem appears when the assumed interest rate and the net average earned over a period of years begin to differ too greatly. But are public trustees looking at that or considering its importance as plan stewards? When you add to the above problem, the divergence between assumptions and reality, an executive decision not to fund for one or more years, this problem is deepened. And when you call this deferral of an obligation a budget cut, regardless of where the idea came from, an elected leader is keeping this financial truth from everyone.
If you are a public employee expecting such a retirement income, you need to look at today’s leaders and see what long-term action they advocate and fund beginning today. Vigilance on the funds is critical and the results should be regularly posted so that trends, especially troublesome or overoptimistic assumptions, can be corrected. And the taxpaying public, most of whom do not personally enjoy defined benefit pensions, may not be happy to recognize the obligation after seeing public total compensation comparisons. But taxes will need to step up to fund the plans. What to do about this reality? That is what current elected officials are grappling with today. If they do not quickly act on this serious matter, they will be seen to be “kicking this can down the road once again.”
What is happening in Bridgeport today on this subject? Are you a taxpayer? Are you a pensioner, currently or in the future? Stay tuned …
BEACON2 // Mar 25, 2011 at 11:06 am
to your posting
B2,
And just who are the trustees of the City’s pension plans? Are these trustees residents or not residents of Bridgeport? Once again this is more than important; it is critical to the decisions made under a fiduciary responsibility.
And how is that fiduciary responsibility any different in its callousness when the decision is made by the 999 group under Finch to put off making the statutorily required pension fund payments? Rell didn’t care obviously, but Malloy will not allow this game to continue.
And by the way the City was supposed to file an amendment to the pension plan if they were getting a deferral, but I don’t think there’s a copy for the ordinary citizen to read … and weep.
At what point does the DEP enter into these negotiations? This is a minor freshwater tributary that could not possibly handle this load. Our kids fish in that river! This will be a throwback to Seaside Park back in the ’60s where you caught harbor trout & blind eels. Further consideration must be given to the fact we sold Beardsley Park to the state of CT. We must sever all ties to Trumbull’s sewage and let them fend for themselves. They already think their shit doesn’t stink, prove it.
Like all former mayors of Bridgeport, Bill plans on leaving the city the moment he is voted out of office.
tc,
Finch isn’t worried about the affluent effluent dumping into Bunnell’s Pond so close to his house. He knows he’s going to lose and won’t be able to afford his mortgage and outrageous taxes.
I wonder if he knows they tore down the Liberty Rock and are planning to construct ultra-low-income housing on the site. If he can’t afford Liberty Rock Manor, Dick’s is having a sale on tents.
Finger firmly in throat,
The Ernie and Joe show makes me wanna puke.
Two convicts entrusted in public life ripping off the people who voted them in, one is illiterate to boot.
tc’s lovefest for Foster is admirable. As far as I know she hasn’t announced yet, has she? Even MJ herself knows she can’t win without Gomes’ help. Marriage made in heaven.
yahooy is worried about Bill paying his taxes, I’m sure the BRBC’s got him covered.
That state senate race will be a beaut, Ed Gomes, Ernie T, Andres Ayala??? Maybe my pick Caruso???
Think about this.
Ernie was convicted of skimming campaign funds for his own personal use.
Now if he runs and qualifies for state funding he will have the opportunity to take from the taxpayers of the state of Connecticut.
Only in Bridgeport!
Only in Connecticut!
Hey Antitesto,
One year when Ed Gomes was on the City Council, your namesake Mario Testa, rigged the town committee vote so they would endorse Mario’s candidate Sybil Allen along with Ed Gomes. If he couldn’t get both seats he would at least get peace in the district.
Problem was, Ed Gomes refused to run with her, turned down the endorsement, found a political neophyte, took out petitions, qualified for the primary and proceeded to kick the endorsed slate’s ass.
Now that is Anti Testa where the man Gomes will back up his words and puts action behind his claims. Maybe you can learn a little from the good Senator.
HEY tc, just to name a few things.
$1.3 Million to build St. Mark’s daycare center.
$500,000 to move Mt. Trashmore.
$35 Million so your candidate could build a ballpark and arena.
$2.3 Million Innovation Center to expand small business.
Yes tc, with all the mistakes I’ve made in my life, one thing is for sure, the good will outweigh the bad!
tc … I think I’m going to leave it up to you to explain to Mr. Newton that perhaps he might be mistaken as to the extent of his contribution to making these worthwhile projects reality. If it were left to me, I would simply say he is full of shit.
Ernie, first things first:
1. Mt. Trashmore. You were in office when this abortion started. You amongst others allowed it to grow into a major problem. You took action after a lot of noise was made to get this eyesore removed. The state did give the money but at the behest of you and others.
2. $1.3 Million for St. Marks Day Care, since when does the state fund religious schools and daycare? Whatever happened to separation of church & state?
3. $2.3 Million for Innovation Center??? Where the hell is that and who runs it?
This is what you cite after a decade in Hartford???
So no matter what you say, the facts are what they are. tc, you asked me for something. You can WIN but the facts are what they are.
tc, I see you didn’t mention the $35 million for your candidate!
Did he mention the money you skimmed for personal use?
I’m sorry, Bridgeport Innovation Center on Connecticut Ave., Mr. Sam Pierponte is the owner.
Who’s the warden of the Bridgeport Correctional Center, Ernie? Surely you remember his name.
Ganim’s out of it. I just hope the African Americans who live in Newton’s area have the brains to NOT vote for this convicted felon who violated not only the public trust, but stole from his own constituents. Ernie has no clue as the the extent of the damage his actions have done to either Bridgeport or the reputations of his African American constituency. Ernie, if you have trouble understanding this or decide I’m attacking you solely on your race, then you’re a racist of the worst kind.
Vigilante. We’ll let the voters make that decision. But you sound more like a KKK card-carrying member!
Don’t play the race card, Ernie. It’s not about that. It’s about serving the public’s trust, which you were convicted of violating. You’re a crook.
Once again the race card, eh Ernie? You sound like you’re still blaming the white people who have toiled with the African Americans for slavery. I’m no racist. You are.
I’m tired of the entitlements and blame. It’s time to stand up and be a man. You’re not and I pity you.
You stole from your constituents, paid the price with a jail cell accommodation and still think people should trust you. Get a life and go away. You’re just a leech.
Well yahooy, you can say what you like.
But all these projects are for real and the record speaks for itself.
You wouldn’t know because you don’t live in Bridgeport!
Voting YES, when otherwise not convulsing on the Senate Floor, does not give you the right to claim ownership of any of these projects. The records do, indeed, speak for themselves.
The feds caught Marion Barry on tape smoking crack with a prostitute in a DC hotel room. All Mr. Newton did was skim campaign funds and take a paltry bribe. I’m sure the folks back home in the district will forgive him …
Facts is facts, by the way …
Fact of the matter: Messrs. Newton and Ganim are CONVICTED FELONS.
You got it, Bridgeport Kid!
yahooy!
Say what you like. Remember OPINIONS ARE LIKE ASSHOLES. EVERYONE HAS ONE!
Yes, and yours stinks!
EVERYONE have a GREAT WEEKEND!
Remember. People who judge don’t matter. People who matter don’t judge! Which side are you ON!
Ernie–What’s the difference between “judging” and “forming an opinion?”
LFG, you shouldn’t ask hard questions like that.
Does illiteracy qualify for a handicapped parking permit?
Yes, just take a look at some of the people riding around with these parking permits.
Don’t confuse Ernie with words that have more than two syllables.
Ernie’s off to choir practice. Good thing the hymnals have the words printed in them.
Hypothetical question:
Assuming Joe G. and/or Ernie N. decided to run AND were elected, would potential developers/employers/home buyers be more or less inclined to invest additional resources in Bridgeport?
Stated differently … would the stature, reputation, accomplishments and skills the two have to offer attract financial capital and human talent to the city; and would CONFIDENCE in the city’s future be enhanced, compromised or destroyed?
Think about it.
Grabbing bullets midair with your bare hands.
If you want to know how to turn a question into a foot-stomping, get-your-attention then change-your-mind kind of statement, just ask Bruce Hubler, he’s an expert on that topic.
LE,
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Get over yourself, Local Eyes. You’re a legend in your own mind.
Bruce Hubler // Mar 25, 2011 at 2:24 pm
to your posting
Bruce,
More than a good question … this is an alarming vision of the City … and yet there is no reason to think that first will come the laughter at voters who delivered this nightmare and then will come the tears for the voters who delivered this nightmare.
Incredible action is needed on the part of the good men and women in Bridgeport to stop this nightmare from happening … there is great strength among the OIB’ers … on knowledge alone.
Give me an OIB panel against a Mayoral candidate panel and you’ve got a real discussion going on.
There is no doubt in my mind we have capable and competent candidates to serve as Bridgeport’s Mayor. I may have my own bias as to who is best, but still there are choices that are reflective of a Bridgeport that wants a future.
As long as the Democratic Town Committee is involved a fair primary is and will be an uphill battle. It may be to some candidates’ benefit that Governor Malloy is not a great fan of Bill Finch, who supported Ned Lamont in the last Democratic gubernatorial primary. This is a proud city, a vibrant city. The citizens need strong leadership in City Hall. Not a convicted felon, not a Harvey Milquetoast type beholden to Paul Timpanelli and the Bridgeport Regional Business Council. Not a man recruited to thwart a mayoral bid by a maverick politician. Not a pretty face beholden to the whims of a stubbornly antiquated political machine.
What say he, Tofu Tootsie?
Zip up your pockets, if that happens.
Local Eyes, old sock old kid! How the hell are you? Last time I saw you was at Matty’s Corner. You were trying to sell me on selling hot air to unsuspecting PC users.
It is deeply troubling when elected officials are more sympathetic to the plight of their fellow elected officials rather than the needs of the people they were elected to represent.
I have no doubt Ernie Newton would most likely win in his old district if he chose to run again. I also believe Joe Ganim would fare well if he chose to run for Mayor.
The voters of this city get what they deserve and deserve what they get, if my assumptions do indeed become truth.
Of course. Ganim will do more harm than good. Even if Oz the Great and Terrible on Madison Avenue advises him not to run his ego will not allow him to sit out the election.
flubadub, I’m in total agreement with you. Like Ernie or not, if he runs for his old State Representative seat he would win in a landslide. As for Joe, a lot of people truly like Joe and they would vote for him, more than what people think. They are both real players in the City of Bridgeport, like them or not, jail or no jail.
And that’s a sad commentary.
The dysfunctional status quo will be changed only when the regime is changed. It will not be necessary to call in the U.S. military to strike at the Palace of the Holy Cannoli with laser-guided bombs and missiles, not necessary to send in squads of Marines to overrun the ramparts of 999 Broad Street. More than a few of the people of the city of Bridgeport are fed up with the lack of economic growth, fed up with a public school system that turns out poorly educated young men and women with no job skills. (Is it any wonder there is a permanent criminal underclass here?) More than a few of the people of the city of Bridgeport are personally insulted by the antipathy of the office holders elected to represent the interests of the city but instead serve a self-interested master on Madison Avenue. No, the people will be mobilized and motivated to express their displeasure at the ballot box.
I’ve been to some great cities. Funny thing, in most I didn’t even know who the Mayor was, or care. I don’t think people judge the Mayor or elected officials of a city as much as they may judge the city on the citizens’ attitudes and the concerns expressed, e.g. my taxes, the rent/mortgage, parking prices etc.. If you go somewhere and everyone seems to be in pain or upset because of the daily struggles, you probably wouldn’t move there or move your business there. So in this respect I couldn’t care less if my mayor was a felon who paid his debt and learned his lesson, as long as he could get a rein on our taxes, crime, unemployment etc. and get the citizens excited about Bridgeport again. Throughout history some of our greatest minds have spent time incarcerated.
Hey Hector, were they incarcerated for stealing from the public or were they incarcerated for political reasons e.g. Nelson Mandela?
Everyone deserves a fresh start. To forgive is a divine act. Messrs. Newton, Ganim, Rowland, et al. were convicted of crimes against the public trust. I’m more than willing to forgive, maybe more than the next fellow. All of those men paid their debts to society and have earned a second chance. My forgiveness does not extend to the ballot box, however. Newton and Ganim, especially, need to prove they are worthy of the public’s trust. They’re giving hints they may run for public office again. Perhaps a few years in an appointed government position at this point in time is more appropriate than an elected office.
Society is unforgiving toward individuals who have done time in prison. Not everyone is judgmental but a goodly portion of us don’t hear that sort of thing very well, that someone has done time in the joint.
In politics it is not impropriety that can sink a career so much as the mere appearance of impropriety. Remember Gary Condit? He was a Congressman from California. One of his interns, Chandra Levy, went missing. Condit, a married family man, had nothing to do with Ms. Levy’s disappearance. He lost his job anyway.
In 1977, Senator Howard Cannon of Nevada, then chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, was offered some property owned by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at a discounted price. It was a “gift” to Senator Cannon for helping to block a bill that would’ve deregulated the trucking industry. Cannon was never prosecuted in the case, which landed several Midwestern organized crime figures behind bars. The resulting bad publicity ended his twenty-four-year political career.
I hear you, I hear you. Bridgeport needs a mayor who is independent of the prevailing political organizations. The Democratic Party is dominated by an entrenched machine. The Bridgeport GOP is an ineffectual organization that is unable or unwilling to mount a spirited, vigorous challenge to the status quo. Unless and until someone from outside this political clusterfuck steps up to the plate, things will remain as they are now. The party hacks who deliver the voters to the polling places will continue to take advantage of the ignorance and pessimism.
I hope every person who is eligible to vote would take an effort to think of the ramifications of voting for Ganim. If I owned a company and was thinking of moving any or all of it to Bridgeport I would ask myself the following. Why would I move to a city that re-elected a mayor who was convicted of stealing from the citizens? This would indicate to me the citizens are just as crooked as the ex-felon or just dumb.
So I would never move to Bridgeport!!!
Move to Shelton, then …
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Developer-R-D-Scinto-pleads-guilty-in-corruption-716566.php
Say what you want about Finch, or any of the candidates who are running for Mayor. They all have political and personal blemishes, but Ganim and Newton are blemishes on the city. They represent an era of corruption this city has to move beyond.
I learned very early in life that you teach people how to treat you. Ganim and Ernie taught the rest of the state Bridgeport didn’t deserve respect, they taught private companies you have to pay to play, and they taught the citizens of Bridgeport not to trust their elected officials.
The time they spent in PRISON was a much-needed respite for this city to lick its wounds and move forward. If two ex-convicts who embarrassed this city have the nerve to come back and seek the same public office they used for their own gain, what does that say about us as citizens of Bridgeport? Have we taught these two disgraced leaders they humiliated us and they can come back for seconds?
On a special note to the East End community. If you ever want the economic and political respect of the rest of the city and state, DO NOT VOTE FOR ERNIE!!! Washington DC re-elected Marion Barry and they are still a punchline today! Don’t be fooled by his “My People” speeches. He sold you out and your best interests for his own gain.
Amen to that. Moses didn’t charge his people $5,000.00 to cross the Red Sea after God parted the waters.
To all of you idiots who support Ernest “T”‘s quest for public office …
Asked yourselves this question … He gets elected. Then what???
The colorful suits return.
If Ernie “Moses” Newton is reelected to his old seat it will be the people of that district who will be poorly served. There is racism and discrimination in Bridgeport, to be sure. To heal that festering societal wound takes time and patience. We as a community ought and need to see our differences are created by our diversity.
Economic development will not cure all of the ills suffered by the people of the city of Bridgeport. The creation of long-term jobs would go a long long way toward solving the biggest problem in the city: unemployment.
yahooy, why don’t you tell us, then what?
No, Ron. Am I to believe you did not understand my question? Simply put, I want to know from the “idiots” who support Ernest “T” just what we may expect from him in whatever office to which he is elected. All he is doing is looking to get reelected. There is no statement of policy, no plans of action, no nothing. Just like him, a flash in the pan but an ultimate empty shirt.
You tell him for me he needs to give this city a big break and just disappear. We desperately need better than that jerk can provide.
Ron, I will say this. We in Bridgeport used to have one of the more powerful delegations in Hartford. In fact we had as a city a lot of power in Hartford. Power relates to money coming into the city from Hartford. We had at one time the comptroller and the assistant comptroller from Bpt. We had the Director of OPM from Bridgeport and we had many Commissioners from Bridgeport. Today we have Murphy who has an important job and Caruso who fills a BS role in state government.
Today our delegation is made up of largely uncaring self-centered people. We get shortchanged on just about every grant coming out of Hartford. My reps which include Ed Gomes, Musto, Stallworth and a retired firefighter whose name I can’t recall because I have never seen him here, have produced squat to help this district with its flooding problems, crime problems and the like. In fact none of them knew about the jail or at least they ignored the jail coming here until the people started raising hell. I don’t care what office Ernie is running for, it will be more of the same. Why is that? Because the voters have given up and don’t give a shit. BTW if it isn’t Ernie it would be some other do-nothing party hack.
But neither Newton nor Ganim have apologized for their behavior. This goes to the entitlement both of them have shown. NO REMORSE, except that they rued the fact they got caught. Is this leadership? I doubt it.
Newton and Ganim remind me of wise guys who flipped for the government and went into the witness protection program. Sammy “The Bull” Gravano pleaded guilty to 19 murders and told of his life in the mafia to biographer Peter Maas. He never expressed remorse for the murders or the other criminal acts he admitted to, including conspiracy to distribute narcotics, truck hijacking, loan sharking, extortion, bookmaking, etc. Gravano was eventually arrested for conspiracy to distribute ecstasy pills in Arizona and sentenced to almost twenty years in prison.
Age is not on their side when it comes to rehabilitation. Neither Newton nor Ganim is a youthful offender.