Bridgeport’s 2015 mayoral campaign could easily be the latest entry into Looney Tunes, a campy brew of chutzpah, animation, sensation and frustration (Bill Finch) driven by Joe Ganim. Beep Beep!
From CT Post scribe Brian Lockhart:
It was further proof of Ganim’s ability to outwit Finch, observers say.
But like the cartoon Road Runner outwitting Wile E. Coyote’s traps, Ganim has dodged and weaved the political equivalent of dropped anvils, falling boulders and exploding dynamite on his comeback route …
“It seems like his whole strategy is, ‘How do I get under Bill’s skin?’ ” said Gage Frank, campaign coordinator for Mary-Jane Foster, who placed third in the Democratic primary on Sept. 16, but may run in the November election as an independent. “They’re always one step ahead of (Finch) and (the mayor’s campaign is) constantly trying to pick up the pieces.”
Plenty can still happen in the remaining four weeks before Election Day. But here are some of the successful strategies Ganim and his campaign have so far used to outmaneuver the competition.
Full story here.
Ganim was at the transfer station this week shaking hands and talking to the workers on line. From what I am told he got an excellent reception.
Was Finch/Wood there? Or does he even know where the transfer station is?
Too bad he didn’t stay there. Trash is as trash does.
Someday soon someone is going to put Joe Ganim on the defensive.
Readers of OIB will recognize at least three words that have been prominent in my writing of the past five years: OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE and TRANSPARENT.
I have raised the lack of observance of those important community values again and again within the context of failures that corrupt our civic structure, what political scientists call checks and balances. I have been specific when the incumbent at the time of his Charter commissioning told the chosen members about how accountable a leader he was. That was a target I found easy to provide alternative evidence against. Even today, fiscal accountability is at such a low level in the City, no one talks in specifics. But tax bills are paid in real, genuine, very specific as to amount, dollars! Is not one worried about accountability?
The Primary winner has had months to look at the incumbent’s handling of finances on many fronts. Reducing budgets as he has suggested before submitting to the CC would be a step forward, but how will he or other candidates for the office of Mayor practice OPEN and TRANSPARENT values in the fiscal arena? Is it a subject worthy of discussion in the next month? Looking at priorities, discussing how they will be supported and the costs involved is also a step forward as long as HONEST presentation of all values at each stage of a plan, program or pursuit is included.
How do we begin to TRUST again? How do we VERIFY the facts as presented? One or more Mayoral candidates need to keep those questions, and especially their answers in front of the voters as they ask for support, don’t they? Time will tell.