Bridgeport Rising? The New G.I. Joe?

Incorrigible policy wonk Jeff Kohut asserts in this commentary Bridgeport will rise under Joe Ganim. Kohut, 2011 petitioning candidate for mayor, was one of Ganim’s many campaign soldiers. Kohut maintains this time around Ganim will be a different Government Issued Joe.

Most people of normal intellect and emotions love a come-back story–unless it involves murderers, war criminals, sex predators, or the like. That is why I believe the story of Joe Ganim’s comeback–as the redeemed, fallen Golden-boy mayor of Bridgeport–will, by itself, provide a tailwind for the come-back story of Bridgeport.

What everyone has to realize in order dispel the dissonant ideas concerning the unlikely comeback stories of Joe Ganim and the City of Bridgeport–especially the marriage of the two–is both Joe Ganim and Bridgeport were channeled into situations of despair and degradation by the same set of destructive forces that have been operating on the latter for nearly six decades.

Indeed, the inductive presence of parasitic opportunism that has caused Bridgeport’s vitality and regenerative wherewithal to be transformed into the prosperity and comfort of suburban Fairfield County, were the self-same inductive forces operating on the vulnerable appetites and egos of the young, powerful leading players of Bridgeport politics during the greed-driven, freewheeling atmosphere of 1990s American society.

With the powerful forces representing the burgeoning economies and affluent populations of 1990s suburban Fairfield County (seeking to exploit the benefits of cheap, Bridgeport labor and devalued, exploitable Bridgeport land and infrastructure) competing, and at cross-purposes with the young, Bridgeport leadership attempting to navigate the hazards of piles of “easy” ’90s money seeking optimal conditions for safe, “guaranteed” growth opportunities (a la casinos, affordable housing development, suburb-serving box store locations, etc.), there were bound to be legal/moral/ethical casualties among those unprepared to swim in the political riptide created by the collision of these forces.

While these conditions/situations describe the regional and larger conditions of the world in which Bridgeport was cannibalistically exploited in the course of the “globalization” process during the latter half of the last century, they also describe the political conditions/situations that inductively seduced the young Joe Ganim and his inner circle during the time of his ill-fated ascension to political prominence.

Bridgeport, our country and the world have finally begun to assimilate the painful lessons of the aforementioned period. Joe Ganim has also begun to assimilate these lessons. But full appreciation of the pitfalls of ambition, greed, and ostentation are slow to come, and easily lost, which is why history so often repeats itself.

Will history keep repeating itself in Bridgeport? Will Joe Ganim once again fall prey to the competing forces that will be involved in the attempt to resurrect the Bridgeport economy?

This longtime observer and Bridgeport activist does not believe history will repeat itself in the emerging political era of the New Bridgeport led by the New Joe Ganim. Joe Ganim has been placed on a trajectory that is highly unlikely to be coincident with that of the nefarious forces that would seek to bring his administration into their orbit, and the New Bridgeport has been driven into Joe Ganim’s new trajectory via the electoral process that has given Joe Ganim access to redemption.

So this lifelong Bridgeporter and Ganim supporter, someone who clashed with the Old Joe Ganim, sees a new Joe Ganim who has embraced the process of assimilating the painful lessons learned in the Old Bridgeport and who will pursue redemption for himself, his city, and its people with a vengeance. The new Joe Ganim is far too intelligent and humbled by his post-Golden Boy travails to deny himself, his city and its people a second chance to shine and have a long-overdue “day in the sun.”

So I would say to all the disparate political camps in Bridgeport: let’s all stop vilifying each other. We have nothing to gain by maintaining anger and antipathy toward each other. We are all Bridgeporters, with homes and friends and families that depend upon our mutual concern, vigilance, and assistance in regard to each other’s well-being. In a related vein, we must do everything in our power to provide oversight, encouragement and assistance, with respect to resonating with the prescribed, legitimate functions of our leadership (whether we voted for them or not).

And, in regard to our newly-elected city leadership, in particular, in regard to Mayor-elect Joseph P. Ganim, I would say you must not forget (for even one second!) you have pursued and assumed the sacred duty of leading, and advocating on the behalf of the populace of a socioeconomically besieged city. You must never allow our best interests to be undermined by the powerful, wealthy communities that surround us, and you must fight to make Bridgeport “first among equals” in regard to Fairfield County/Connecticut municipalities. You must show the utmost gratitude to the people of Bridgeport (and the Almighty) for your most unlikely “second chance.”

Bridgeport Rising!