UPDATE, Finch and Ganim camps respond:
Joe Ganim: “Let’s build a future for Bridgeport that works for everyone.” Bill Finch: “Together, we’re making Bridgeport a city that works for everyone.” Who’s on the side of the angels for the soul of campaign slogans?
Nothing like a little gamesmanship in city politics. As their respective campaigns for mayor heat up, it appears you’ll be hearing a lot about a Bridgeport “that works for everyone” from both Joe Ganim and Bill Finch, a ubiquitous slogan that leaves no one out.
The slogan also aired last year in the launch of the city’s taxpayer-financed marketing campaign promoting the city featuring contractor Marshan Coleman who declares, “We’re building a city that works for everyone.” Coleman, by the way, owes $13,298 in back taxes dating back from 1999 to 2006.
Statement from Ganim campaign:
Since early March, Ganim has repeatedly stated in columns, articles and speeches that his campaign was about building a better Bridgeport for everyone. Now, three months later, Bill Finch has dishonestly unveiled the same slogan for his campaign in an ad just purchased in Only in Bridgeport.
“It’s sad that Bill Finch has felt the need to steal Joe Ganim’s campaign slogan about building a Bridgeport that works for everyone. As Mayor, Bill Finch has had eight years to build a better Bridgeport for everyone–but has clearly failed to do that.Bill Finch should ask the residents of Trumbull Gardens if they feel he has built a Bridgeport that works for everyone. Or how about asking our police–who have seen their ranks depleted under Bill Finch?
Or how about the taxpayers who are paying record high property taxes? Bill Finch was elected on the promise of lowering property taxes–but has raised them six of the past eight years. Does Bill Finch think taxpayers feel he has built a better Bridgeport for them?
Bill Finch can steal all the campaign slogans he wants–but voters know that they are not better off under Bill Finch as Mayor.”
Statement from FinchCampaign Manager Maryli Secrest
:
This is ludicrous. Convicted felon Joe Ganim will say anything to get ahead. When Ganim got caught using city funds to pay for his own massive life insurance policy, he wrote a fake letter to convince opponents he had cancelled it but later admitted to keeping it for more than a year. When all the evidence showed that Ganim had steered contracts in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, he denounced his accomplices and denied everything. He only recently admitted that the jury did “get it right” when he was convicted on 16 felony charges. Ganim was denied reinstatement to the Connecticut bar in part because of his false testimony. Ganim may have even faked a drug addiction to get out of prison faster. Now, Ganim is lying to get back in office; his own announcement speech said that he “led our city away from the brink of default and did not raise your taxes,” when he actually raised taxes 7% in his first year. Even with the evidence in front of him, Ganim can’t be trusted to tell the truth and can’t be trusted to lead Bridgeport.
And what of the slogans of other Democratic candidates for mayor?
Mary-Jane Foster: “Because Bridgeport Deserves Better.”
Howard Gardner: “A brighter future for a great city will only happen with new leadership.”
Charlie Coviello: “Let’s take a stand and take our city back.”
Slogans don’t mean anything, they are just words. We have one guy who is a crook and a liar and the other is a jerk and a liar. They can both take their slogans and stick them where the sun don’t shine.
I have a slogan!
INCH BY INCH THE FEDS WILL GET FINCH!
You’re right, Andy. We need to ask, “What do you intend to do to get Bridgeport back where it needs to be? What is your PLAN? Explain how your PLAN is going to be implemented. Give us some specifics about your PLAN.”
All of this BS–“Bridgeport Better Every Day,” “A Bridgeport that works for everyone,” “Stop the Corruption!” Stupid. Meaningless. Turnoff. Heard it before.
The more I hear this BS in the absence of any sort of viable, comprehensive, turnaround plan–with an onus put on the state and federal government to do their part–the more I become convinced the candidates behind the slogans are absolutely full of it and have no intention of doing what it takes to make us prosperous again. Politicians. No substance. Go away, please.
This is getting Bitter every day.
Would you believe the contractor featured in the city campaign videos owes the city $13,298 dating back from 1999 to 2006? I have to ask if this person is getting a pass. His vehicles have not been booted or towed. His tax liens have not been auctioned off and what is the interest owed on these back taxes or are there back penalties that have gone away? It never stops with this administration.
Coleman said, “People are going to now think someone did something for me. That’s not the case. They’re (the taxes) still there. I still owe them to the city.”
This is a slap in the face of every city resident who had their vehicle towed or booted while Finch has been mayor. I’ve talked to people who have had money taken out of their bank account even though their taxes had been paid. Is their now any doubt to any reasonable person, Mayor Finch needs to find himself another job because he doesn’t have the best interest of Bridgeport residents at heart?
Donald Day, the city does not take money out of your bank account. However, people you talk to are most likely talking about money they owe the IRS.
No Steven, I know exactly what I’m talking about because it was a friend and it was taken out of their account before the fire department credit union changed over to GEEFCU. $100 was taken.
Okay. I didn’t know the city could do that without a court order. I do know the IRS can do it because they did it to me. 🙂
“Together we are rebuilding Bridgeport, The Park city, the Jewel on the Sound. Always moving forward!”
REBUILDING
THE PARK CITY
MOVING FORWARD
TOGETHER
Mayor Finch, you may use this!
🙂
Finch–hard to believe–is making even Joe Ganim look better every day.
I do not see Parks
I do not see new schools
I do not see Downtown development
I do not see Steelpointe
Repeat, Bridgeport sucks, it was better 25 years ago.
I do not see Pleasure Beach
Repeat, Bridgeport Sucks, It was better 25 years ago.
Not.
Twenty-five years ago my home had a similar value, the schools were performing better academically, I did not want for parkland and taxes were much lower.
It’s about managing people and resources and the machine has not done that well or for the common good over time. In the meantime it has silenced many. Some have moved out, including former Mayors. Some have dropped out in frustration and a feeling they do not count. And some know how to get recognized when they need something and settle for a title, a job, or some crumbs from the table.
What will happen on 9/16? Time will tell.
The population in Bridgeport is growing. Education was not better. Mr. Lee, people your age in Black Rock really have no need for a park. There was less culture and downtown was dead. Steelpointe was in legal battles and this was the reality. I do not know where you were but you were not in Bridgeport complaining about transparency, politics and corruption. Honestly, Mayors have moved out and some move back to an apartment just to run. Most of his supporters would call him a carpetbagger if they weren’t so mesmerized by the crowning glory of Bridgeport giving hope to all convicts that they can at least run for Mayor if nothing else.
The only difference between Ganim and Finch is Finch hasn’t gotten caught yet.
Jeff, why does Bridgeport need to be a “beggar” city and rely on the state and federal governments to bail us out when Rick Torres has a plan for us to do it ourselves?
Will somebody on OIB please step up and help Steve Auerbach in supporting Mayor Bill Finch? It’s getting too hard to take Steve seriously because he is the only person speaking for Mayor Finch.
Ron, thank you for your heartfelt concern. I have no problem standing alone. I think Finch supporters stopped posting four years ago when Mary-Jane Foster supporters hijacked the blog. Let’s face it, most people do not like to hang out where they are outsiders. I am not most people. After July 11th, I am certain someone else will pick up the baton. You will miss me for a few!
Steve, please tell me which sites are Bill Finch’s so we can check those out and see for ourselves and hear the wonderful things Mayor Finch is doing because I’m still waiting for his promise of a $600 rebate to us. What a liar, Finch was telling lies when he first ran for mayor and he hasn’t stopped.
Ron, we used the $600 rebate four years ago. Every candidate has their pros and cons. Ron, do you really need a website to see the wonderful things he is doing or can you just drive around? There is absolutely nothing the Mayor can do to make you happy. So you concentrate on your candidate and give the reasons why she deserves to win. Will it stop the re-val? Will the kids get a message you can be a convict and run for Mayor, you can get a city bail out and tell the taxpayers it wasn’t a big deal or you can look to the future with development and hope our taxes go down and our population goes up and the decaying neighborhoods gentrified. I am hopeful.
Thank you for your admission, Mr. Auerbach. Every candidate has their pros and cons. It just happens Bill Finch is the biggest conman to ever run for mayor.
Steve, I’m supporting honesty. I’m supporting Mary-Jane Foster.
Ron, you are supporting a very fine candidate. Four years ago I supported Foster.
Is it July 11th yet?
Yes Jim, July 11 came and went. It is the day after the primary and it will be okay. A nurse will be with you in a moment to loosen the jacket.
Ron, I think Mayor Finch did a great job on his Urban Renewal Plan for the West End of Bridgeport and when he refurbished the Old Black Rock Bank and Trust building, it looked great!
Not to mention the driveway in Stratford and how he saved those 500 jobs at Sikorsky!
The Knowlton St. Park where drug dealers can now have access to waterfront property!
Bass Pro where the State Bond commission handed out 35 Million Dollars just to rent some retail space. That’s right, rent!
Look hard at Mayor Finch’s projects, not one of them shows a return on his tax investments!
This city is technically bankrupt!
Ron, we could get Steve a brain then he would have two things to play with and thus could leave the blog alone.
I just returned home from a fundraiser. I just checked OIB to see Finch’s campaign ad. Mayor Finch, if you are truly the innovator and out-of-the-box thinker you claim to be, you wouldn’t need to steal Joe Ganim’s campaign message. We have been using literature with Joe’s message for two weeks. You, Mayor Finch, have absolutely no shame.
Maria, you went to a Mary-Jane Foster fundraiser? Good for you!!!
Joe Ganim’s response is calm, professional and factual. Mayor Finch’s response just comes across as a nasty and vicious attack. Personally, I hope they continue to respond this way. Most voters will become tired and weary of it. It will continue to alienate minority voters and those who have a history, or if they have a family member with a history.
Joe Ganim was Mayor for 12 years and raised taxes in year one after inheriting a city facing bankruptcy. He did not raise taxes over the last 10 years he served in office.
Mayor Finch promised homeowners a $600 rebate if elected Mayor and never gave a $1 rebate to homeowners. The revaluation raised my 1,500 square foot condominium taxes by over $2,000 per year during his watch.
Wasn’t Mayor Finch on the City Council when this insurance policy was purchased?
It’s a boy! Mayor Finch’s campaign color scheme looks like it is better suited for a baby shower.
Funny! 🙂
Quentin, what is Rick Torres’ plan? Where is he going to get the revenue to allow corporations to set up shop via competitive tax and relocation/infrastructure/labor incentives? It will cost huge money in city services/infrastructure/labor incentives to accommodate all the development we need. Where is that money supposed to come from? Residential taxpayers?
Only the state and federal government can incentivize companies to come to Bridgeport.
Quentin, my reply got truncated somehow. I will complete it at another time. Sorry!
It’s easy. Mayor Finch’s slogan is present tense and emphasizes all that is happening now.
Ganim’s slogan is future tense and depends on things that aren’t even in the pipeline.
Finch is ahead of the curve; Ganim is behind it.
Calling on the League of Women Voters to set up a DEBATE, let the candidates speak their minds.
Super silliness. Who stole my campaign slogan?
Grow up kids, and start acting like adults, like Mary-Jane Foster does.
Politics and blogging are about sensationalism. Here’s why I’m writing: OIB is the winner’s circle. This is not a place for retired city councilmen to air their dirty laundry. This is not tidewater. This is the big time. Do you have what it takes to stay here?
And stop dissing the OIB blogosphere by insisting they act like adults.
Local Eyes,
Respectfully, and beyond ‘political sensationalism,’ I find blogging to be a way to reach out to an interested audience (the majority of whom do not post) who thirst for facts, and the comparison and contrast of facts with statements whether in the form of opinions or official writings like City Charter or various reports, and finally a narrative that rings true. That type of narrative was “owned” by newspapers with featured columnists in the past. No longer. Columnists are gone, or have been found to be producers of conflated stories, and worse. Trust goes away. Investigative reporters are overtasked perhaps, or too thinly arranged on the regional landscape. Or are they compromised because the newsprint business model is under severe stress?
There is room for many offerings, including education. (I tip my hat to those who have expressed an appreciation and general agreement with what I attempt to offer.) Of course, when you are in a classroom where people are acting out, you have to remember at times that everything will pass, thus, time will tell.
I think you’re pinch-hitting for the strikeout-prone Bob Walsh.
Don’t be modest–you have replaced investigative reporting and have a fan club to prove it. As the internet and smartphones move us toward statement-based conversation, opinions will continue to gain traction over facts as questions become increasingly obsolete.
Bob Walsh, I agree 100 percent. Besides, the slogan is not the ticket and I agree with Andy Fardy.
Regarding Mr. Colemen. A star is born! It is sad this back tax issue is an issue at all. I do not think the Mayor needed to vet the man for back taxes. He owes it, pay up. I do have a very interesting question. If he has $13,000 in back taxes for motor vehicles the next issue is are they registered??? Other than his tax issue he does a great job representing the minority business success stories in Bridgeport. I have fallen behind in taxes. I have been booted I paid the debt with interest, it was my problem. Again, I do not think it was the advertiser’s responsibility to look into his past. I do not think a motion picture studio is concerned if Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are bisexuals or have children of different colors. I do not think parents and the studio cares if Iron Man, Robert Downing used drugs. Let’s address the real issues in the city. The minority businessman owing back taxes is just not what this election is about. OR IS IT??? Together we are making Bridgeport work for everyone and we deserve better than this crap! If this is the stuff Ganim is coming up with I just cannot wait for Ganim to explain his representation of a white supremacist selling guns and grenades to the Ku Klux Klan. I didn’t believe it was true but a teacher of color was talking about this in the teacher’s break room and I didn’t say a word!!! I do not believe this or why would anyone suggest this is this true???
Steve,
Four years ago there was a vicious rumor in the black community about Foster being associated with the KKK. Now the rumor is about Joe.
You cannot be this stupid. Who does it leave left to be the cause of these disgusting rumors? No one’s left but your boy Mayor Bill Finch.
Bob, the problem is Bill Finch was not presented favorably in the survey. Bob, methinks thou dost protest too much. Omg, figures! Seriously, Joe and Bill were crucified in the survey.
Bob, he is!
Steve Auerbach states: “I didn’t believe it was true.” If you didn’t think/believe it was true then why are you repeating the info on OIB? I can tell you why, you are running out of ways to attempt to make Joe Ganim look bad. Guess what Mr. Auerbach, it’s not working.
It’s all about the campaign slogans now. Come November it will be all about who stole whose campaign signs from front lawns. This is petty bullshit the Finch campaign is throwing, the mayor doesn’t have a record of accomplishment.
I can’t name anybody who has a fantastic record of accomplishment over the past seven years, but Mayor Finch is turning the corner in Bridgeport.
Jeff,
Let’s start by cutting spending. And maybe someday an administration can show the residents a real completed budget so we can see exactly where the spending is going. Let me see the budget, I bet I could cut a million dollars in 10 minutes.
Quentin,
You are right about the ability to find a million. But it is not only on the spending side. When a Department, in this case Lighthouse/Youth Services has fee income amounting to $850,000 by their own PowerPoint presentation and that number is not accounted for in the City budget, the administration is playing fast and loose with numbers.
When I go to the City Clerk’s office to make copies of agendas, minutes, State Single Audit or Federal Single Audit (the latter two are completed at time of external audit but for some reason are not posted on the Finance Director website annually along with the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report CAFR), etc. I write out a check that is cashed by the City and shows up in the monthly financial report as income or revenue. Why is this not shown for Lighthouse fees for youth services paid by some parents to register and maintain their children in programs? And since there seem to be sliding scale fees and perhaps scholarships, shouldn’t those rules be public for all to see?
Mr. Dreher, keep looking, we are only scratching the surface. Time will tell.
Remind me, how many times did Ganim raise his salary while Mayor? And also, isn’t Ganim the only Democrat candidate for Mayor in Bpt in 2015 who didn’t vote for Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012? Give me a break.
Moran made $52,000. Pathetic!!! How many times did he raise his salary? I think the Mayor of the largest city in the state should be earning well over a hundred thousand, no? It’s the outrageous insurance policy that concerned me. Come back Bridgeport, do we have that bet or not at Dolphin’s Cove?
We have that bet.
REMEMBER THE SNOWSTORM OF THE CENTURY? REMEMBER BEING STUCK AT HOME FOR A WEEK? REMEMBER THIS ADMINISTRATION’S ANSWER TO ALL THE QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS? NOTHING, NOT A WORD! THEY JUST SAT THERE! DID NOT SAY ONE WORD! REMEMBER! REMEMBER!