Starting July 16, endorsements by major political parties for municipal office can take place. The reality is, for Democrats at least, those party preferences will be pushed to the back end of the endorsement window of July 23 to lessen the time challenge candidates can secure signatures to petition their way onto the ballot, a ploy of Democratic Town Chair Mario Testa. Candidates for five Board of Education seats are still a work in progress.
The school board offices are occupied by Democrats Tom Mulligan, Leticia Colon and Bobby Simmons and Connecticut Working Families Party members Sauda Baraka and Maria Pereira. Mulligan and Simmons have told political operatives they’re not running again. Simmons generally votes in a bloc with Working Families. Colon also wants to move on but may run if political operatives cannot find acceptable replacement candidates. A lot is on the line in this election with Democrats holding a 5-4 advantage on most contentious school board votes.
Jessica Martinez, a city parent and staffer for the education advocacy group Excel Bridgeport, had considered a run as a Democrat. Martinez, a supporter of Superintendent of Schools Paul Vallas, tells OIB: “I was approached about running for the BOE, however, I turned it down because now is not the right time for me. I did truly consider and it did hurt me to say no but I had to face reality that I have too much going on to add such a huge commitment to myself, my family and my two jobs.”
East End City Councilman Andre Baker is also considering a run, but as a critic of Mayor Bill Finch will find it difficult to win the party endorsement. That means he’d need to secure roughly 2000 approved signatures from registered Democrats in the city to wage a primary. Not an easy task. East End District Leader Ralph Ford, who’s on the outs with Finch, is working his contacts on the Democratic Town Committee to build support for Baker and that includes leveraging the threat of former State Senator Ernie Newton running for City Council in the East End. If you don’t support Baker we’re putting Ernie on the City Council! It’s an interesting strategy by Ford, given Finch operatives opposition to Newton on the council. Even with Newton’s latest legal issues involving alleged violation of state campaign finance laws, the Moses of his peeps is still a popular figure in the East End. The threat of him running for council could free up some town committee votes in support of Baker for school board.
The school board operates under state-mandated minority party representation so two of the five slots on the November ballot will go to, or be split among, Republicans, Working Families Party or petitioning candidates.
All 20 seats for City Council are also up this November. (More on those races in the coming days.)
The election calendar, per timetable set by the office of the Connecticut Secretary of the State, follows:
JULY 16, 2013 to JULY 23, 2013 (Tuesday – Tuesday) POLITICAL PARTIES PARTY ENDORSEMENT. Endorsement by major party for municipal office by town committee, caucus or convention between these days.
PRIMARY PETITIONS AVAILABLE. Petition forms for persons desiring to oppose party-endorsed candidates for municipal office must be available from the registrar of voters beginning on the day following the making of the party’s endorsement of candidates for municipal office or beginning on the day following the final day for the making of such endorsements, whichever comes first.
JULY 24, 2013 (Wednesday) 4:00 p.m. POLITICAL PARTIES MUNICIPAL CLERK PARTY ENDORSEMENTS — CERTIFICATION. Last day for certification by a major political party to municipal clerk of party endorsement for municipal office. Each endorsement must be certified by either the chairman or presiding officer or the secretary of the town committee, caucus or convention which made the endorsement; the certification need not be signed by the endorsed candidate(s).
Clerk must forthwith publish notice of certification and that list of candidates is on file.
AUGUST 7, 2013 (Wednesday) 4:00 p.m. REGISTRARS PRIMARY PETITIONS — FILING. Primary petitions for opposition candidates of a major party for municipal offices must be submitted to respective registrars by 4:00 p.m. of this day. Registrars of voters, deputy registrar or assistant registrar must be in their office or office facilities between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. to accept petitions.
I’ve heard good things about Andre Baker.
I’ve heard good things about Steve Auerbach.
Oh no, wait a minute, that was Red Auerbach.
Sorry Steve. Come to think of it I can’t say I’ve heard good things about you.
Gee Bob, thank you for remembering my uncle Red. May his memory be forever a blessing. You have never heard a good thing about me? Gee whiz I can’t imagine why. You need to expand your circle of friends.
I have heard bad things about Ernest Newton.
I’m sure we can find good and bad in everyone unless you are God.
Mackey,
You want to put a crook in office, go ahead and vote for him. Shows much about the way you think.
yahooy, let me try this again, I’m sure that we can find good and bad in everyone unless you are God. Now maybe I’m missing something here but the word vote never came out of me.
yahooy, how do you feel about Martha Stewart going to jail for lying and now she’s back on TV like nothing happened and she is getting richer because she has a following who believe in her?
Ron–the most important factor that should not be overlooked is Martha Stewart is not an elected official. Inside trading is indeed an offense but cannot be compared to elected officials who gerrymander to rip off the very same people who placed enough trust in them to vote them into office. That is a blatant abuse of power. Once convicted of violating the public trust, voters should deem them unelectable. Although it is their constitutional right to seek elected office doesn’t mean the voters should turn the other cheek, forget their past offenses and reconsider them as viable candidates. Once they violate the trust that was placed in them, the matter of re-election should not even be a consideration, and it doesn’t matter who they are.
Godiva2011, why should the voters of the East End deem Mr. Newton unelectable? You want them to have your values, think like you and vote like you? Maybe they are right and you should have their values and vote for whomever they want without your help.
Really Ron–you have to ask why??? He’s proven not once but twice he can’t be trusted with money that is not rightfully his for the taking. Yes, perhaps they should have a different set of values and start setting their standards higher when it comes to what they expect (and deserve) from the candidates they elect. I really don’t care who they vote for and they truly don’t need my help, they just need an honest and trustworthy person to put their trust in. Tell me–why do you get so indignant when someone renders an opinion that is different from yours? No need to be combative, this is an adult discussion, or so I thought.
Godiva2011, stop trying to preach morals to others. It’s okay if people don’t think like you. If you want another candidate for the East End then get involved with the issues in the East End then maybe they would listen to you.
I wouldn’t give Ganim the time of day either. I don’t like Martha Stewart. By the way, she didn’t violate the public trust. She dealt in insider information and got out of a stock before it lost value. Newton and Ganim are both bums for the obvious reason. People who support their return to office are simply stupid. I don’t care who you support. Hopefully there are enough people out there who want better than those schmucks can provide. Remember Mackey, you’re the guy who brags you were in on the BFD contract negotiations for years and years and years. How’s that worked out for us?
yahooy, negotiations are two-sided and firefighters cannot make the City pay their portion towards benefits. We negotiate in good faith and if the City does not do their part firefighters can do nothing because firefighters cannot withhold their service because the City breaks the contract, they can NOT go on strike.
Martha Stewart did violate the public trust when she dealt in insider information and got out of a stock before it lost value.
See what I mean. You think like mud. You, Auerbach and Joel should start your own blog. This one is beyond your capacity. Your horseshit about Walker embarrassed me.
yahooy, where do you get off insulting Joel and myself who are not even part of this conversation? You would never say that to my face and to be honest … Lennie … Ray … this is why yahooy should be forced to use his true identity because he abuses the blog with his anonymity.
yahooy, I know you are not talking about me because that’s the kind of statement you say face to face.
No. I’m directing my comments at you.
yahooy, then be a man and tell that to me face to face instead of hiding on a blog.
You’re cut off. The blog is for spirited dialogue only. You are obviously bereft with angst from the tenor of my other than flattering comments about you. So, I shall ignore any further comments from you directed to me or regarding any other topic.
Have a blessed day.
yahooy, over the years Andy Fardy and I have had some real heated discussions about issues we didn’t agree on and they were face to face, man to man. On the other hand we had some good conversations laughing and listening to each other.
WHERE IS ANDY FARDY? I miss his comments!
The issue is not Ernie. The issue is the East End.
I don’t think Ralph Ford alone can dictate if Ernie Newton runs for city council or not. That decision will be made together, and with input from several others. Ernie probably wins a primary for city council in that district. There are friendships involved that have nothing to do with politics per se. I’m not sure if anyone on the board here can evaluate that. I can’t.
But I’m pretty sure Ralph doesn’t have an Ernie card to play unless Ernie has given him one without conditions. I’d like to hear that from Newton himself, but no American pol is going to be so reckless as to say he is letting another pol decide absolutely whether he runs for office or not. It’s not in character.
The puzzle to me is over the opinion of voters or their leaders in the East End. Community leaders seem to be in favor of the reform initiatives, but everything seems wishy-washy. What am I missing?
Andre Baker is just the credentialed individual any community in Bridgeport would run for office, and especially Board of Ed. But he is skeptical of the administration, which makes him a suspicious individual in the way politics works in Bridgeport.
The management of the education reform issue has thrown like-minded people in favor of changing the school system on opposite sides over the way things were done. Liberals are acting like conservatives and conservatives are acting like liberals.
Daft.
Those petition signatures shouldn’t be too tough if there are coordinated primaries around town. If the grumblers are out there, they are being pretty quiet up to this point.
Who has the belly for this fight?
The real crooks are Finch, Sherwood and the City hall gang. Ernie would fit in just fine. Ford is a waste time, but for some stupid reason he seems to get into Finch’s head (which is easy). Ford has placed some people in high-paying jobs in the past, who had some lawless backgrounds. Some things don’t change.
*** There has always been a fair share of “dysfunctional” political players from all 10 districts who have come and gone throughout the city from all political parties in Bpt. However, I cannot remember when there has been such a large useless group that has managed to stay in power with Mayoral election turnouts, etc. barely reaching 18% citywide! There is no doubt and you see it on the news, cartoons, movies and in elections across the country, we are in the century of the “ZOMBIE!” *** LORD HELP US ***