For several years Lisa Miro has been something of a fixture in City Hall working in both the mayoral administrations of Bill Finch and Joe Ganim, most recently an $18 per hour seasonal employee for the city’s after-school Lighthouse program. Miro worked full time but, she says, not accorded the requisite wages and benefits. Former Mayor Tom Bucci, a labor law specialist, says she was terminated from her job out of retaliation after a grievance was filed. Miro says the reason cited by the city was her seasonal responsibilities had ended.
“The union filed a grievance 2 weeks ago and then Bucci served my lawsuit for back pay and benefits for working in a union position passed off as seasonal,” she texted OIB after breaking news of her termination in the OIB comments section under an item about Ganim’s Thursday night fundraiser for statewide office. She had been a Ganim supporter, volunteering for various campaign functions.
In the OIB comments section she wrote:
Hello OIB Patrons … yes, it’s me … a newly FIRED COB (city of Bridgeport) employee who did nothing but spend full time weeks working for Joe, endless hours of fundraising, not just recently, but since his FIRST phone call to me before he ran for mayor. I listened to his pitch this evening (via my home computer) and I am actually perplexed at the verbiage set forth. No disrespect to his followers, as I believed in him and stood by his side in hopes of helping the approximate 140k people who reside in this great city.
He says in video, “State of CT in need of change, unite with a vision, straighten out the mess, get house in order, and of course, the budget. Big population cities are the engine to drive” … really? Job creation? Really? HMMM … let’s think about this … let’s talk about Bridgeport’s vision on how to balance the budget and ultimately be the boiler plate to fix this beautiful state. Unfortunately, I can’t elaborate on what I know (due to me being fired today after standing up for what is right). but I will say this, I’ve never heard the mayor acknowledge (Public Facilities Director) John Ricci at any other fundraiser, not once, but twice. Ironically, it was Ricci who met me at Labor Relations TODAY and fired me. I didn’t want to leave my union full-time position to be a typist/secretary to (Richard) Paoletto at the WPCA. After filing a lawsuit a week ago (only to get what was promised and what the position demanded), and union finally filed a grievance, I was FIRED. Again, I can’t elaborate, but I am flabbergasted … I’m in shock. I worked so hard to help Tammy (Papa) with her Youth Services Dept. and made good things happen. My dedication meant NOTHING. I literally begged all of them to help me from being at risk of losing my home. NADA … only what I aforementioned … I have not stopped crying … I only did good for the COB.
Bucci told the CT Post “The city terminated her employment claiming her three month seasonal (position) had come to an end. Why did they wait 13 months and on the heels of a complaint being filed? It’s obvious retaliation.”
Woman For All Seasons!
She admits she did nothing.
She must feel that she is being Type Cast!
can you please be more direct instead of this cryptic posting.
Tales from The Crypt!
She was supposed to be a seasonal. She worked 4 Seasons.
She said that she did nothing…
She refused to take a job as a Typist.
Do I have to spell it out for you?
A typist for Richard Paoletto
.. Please..spell it out for us!
You don’t need spell check Frank. You got it!
Grin, if Ricci canned Miro, does that make her canned soup? If Bucci is on the case of canned soup, does he bring a can opener?
http://www.miromilkpowder.com/index.php?r=recipe/details&id=1
Just another ex-Kool- Aid drinker from the Ganim Team.
Take A number! NEXT!
Good for Ms. Miro. I hope this causes Ganim to be given a come uppance.
I used to see Lisa Miro at city hall events. This is what happens when you make a faustian(deal with the devil) with Testa,Ganim and Company. Welcome to the club who have been screwed by Testa,Ganim and Company. Make a deal with them but sooner or later you will be screwed.
Lisa
Did they make Richie promise to be a good boy and not harass you on the job (or off of it too)?
Can’t blame her for refusing to work with Richie Paoletto.No one wants to get sexually harrassed at the office..
Any individual accepting a patronage job should know that they must walk the straight and narrow, ask no questions, exercise no legal rights, work on fundraisers when told to–in other words you are owned. I know of a couple of employees hired under the patronage system who are qualified, and not overpaid, however, one independent move and you begin to collect unemployment benefits. Is it worth it! Some think so, John Ricci is a third-chance example. He’s been collecting tax-payers money to fund his jobs since 1983. In addition to that, he did have a legitimate job with the City of Bridgeport from which he retired, and the last 34 years he’s been riding on our dime. Is that called “triple-dipping,” help me out Andy.
Lisa the rules do not allow double dipping. Double dipping has been ignored since and maybe before Finch took office. The rule is if you accept another city job while retired your new salary is deducted from your pension monies. This has been ignored for years. Ricci should not even be here let alone collect more than 1 pension check from the city.
ivil service under puppet master Dave Dunn has been all but destroyed and he has had help from a Trumbull resident that is president of the board.
If you take a patronage job you have become a political whore and you have sold your sole to some shit head politician. When you get fired by this dirt bag politician , the same one that hired you tough shit.
Andy, don’t be a heel. It’s soul not sole. John Ricci put his pension into suspension thus being able to earn his new salary. He isn’t double dipping. He doesn’t receive a pension check on top of his salary. I think that on this issue you are double tripping.
Hey Grin, Ricci has a mouthpiece on the blog. First, you’re wrong, and if he disputes that tell him to come and play with those in the know, oops he never will, he’s a coward and a sneak.
Honey – I’m just write! He’s too busy working to play in this sandbox.
Let me ask you this with his pension in suspension does he collect all of it when he finally retires? Does he get a second pension from the city? if he does that would be an error. Thanks for the spelling lesson. I know on this subject I am right and you are tripping it is honorable to defend a friend,
Andy – It is my understanding that once the pension goes into suspension you get to build the pension up to the highest 3 years of earnings and collect
To your point he doesn’t get a second pension. You’re a Semper Fi kind of guy.
Thank you Andy, so noted.
Andy, I know you know what you’re talking about. I think I know know who grin is, and I admire him for defending his friend, but he doesn’t really know Ricci, a few phone calls and dinners does not a friend make. Ricci is a punk, trying to fit in all his life, sort of a wanna-a-be, trying to figure out who he wants to be. A parasite of sorts.
When did the rest of the city workers come under thye best 3 years to calculate their pensions. If he retired a number of years ago and his pension is in suspension ( which I don’t believe) how does he now benefit under new pension rules. I will tell you this he doesn’t and Grin you are helping him set the ground work.
Ask John Ricci about his complete lack of backbone in dealing with the community garden program.
I couldn’t have said it better Lisa, when you take a patronage job you can’t say NO and you certainly can’t rock the boat. It never ceases to amaze me when the Kool Aid fountain dries up it takes a New York second for the Kool Aid drinkers to become disillusioned with the hand that fed them. This sounds like a case of the Maria Pereira syndrome.
Lisa, very good, that is a teachable post about patronage job. There are many on OIB who truly don’t understand and who don’t except the idea of patronage jobs, well, it’s call “control,” just like ones employer in the private sector, they expect certain things from the employee for the benefits they receive.
I was recruited by my Council member at the time Mary Louise Bruce in 1990 to be a volunteer. That’s is what I did while learning from Mary, the late George Pipkin, then later from Chris Caruso and Lisa and I that couldn’t ask or except anything for my volunteer work including a free lunch while working the election polls during an election. I was on the plus side of never owning anything to the DTC and its chairman. My loyalty was to my district and to Mary Bruce and if anyone knew the both of us we would fuss and go after each other all the time.
Patronage jobs are the lifeline of politics at every level, local, state and the federal government.
If you choose to Live by the Sword, then you choose to Die by the Sword!
I think it’s because JG2 just saw the photo above – she makes him look like a little man….
(Smile)
He is a little man in more ways than 1
Joe Ganim IS a little man, Jennifer. Napoleon complex and all.
He is a little man
Ron what you describe above is what once was. You’re honorable, and a man of healthy pride. You helped and taught by example values once practiced. I remember well the way I was mentored and taught, by the same leaders that taught you. One of the reasons I sacrificed at least three months of my personal time and livelihood was to give it one more shot at helping new blood. I don’t know them as well as I should, but I took the chance. If I’m wrong, welllllllllll. You know the deal!
Union representation, civil service and human resource areas protect the worker, supposedly. But there seems to be an entire other layer for “political appointments” and/or acting, interim leadership positions. Would someone in the City care to put forth a complete and reliable picture of how all of that works together? How people continue to be hired during a hiring freeze? How easy is it to make statements about cuts or efficiency when there is no public posting of positions, hours, and payroll? Mayoral priority other than running for Governor? Will newly purchased single family property in Black Rock be opportunity for Mayor to move from Main Street apartment to new digs? Or just an investment for the future? Time will tell.
Bridgeport police chief Joseph Gaudett and retired fire chief Brian Rooney were allowed to retire and then sign new contracts which allowed them to receive both a pension and a salary. That let each chief receive in pension and salary over $200,000 a year at the expense of the residents of Bridgeport.
This leads one to wonder if both chief Perez and chief Thode are afforded this same opportunity, again at the expense of the residents of Bridgeport.
Don, hell yes, they both will do what Gaudett and Rooney did and the City’s Civil Service Director will do nothing and allow this to happen, This was NEVER done before it was Rooney who pushed the City to do this and open the flood gates to give away tax dollars.
Joe Ganim, like his pal in the White House, demands loyalty from his subordinates while not reciprocating. The man was convicted of racketeering, pimping off city contracts and taking bribes. he lost his
Icemse to practice law after the Honorable Barbara Bellis fpind he had lied on the witness stand during his criminal trial and had not expressed one iota of remorse for his behavior. How can snyone but the gullible trust this man?
Ganim’s days as an elected official are numbered. He’s all done.
I was a mayoral appointment way back. It was Len Paoletta. I’m glad Still had to deal with wave after wave of democratic patronage and work with a lot of back stabbing and many incompetent people many many years.
Whoa!
It ain’t as if it has changed. The mayor could balance the budget if the patronage jobs were eliminated from the municipal payroll. If the City Council did its due dilligence this would be an issue. Unfortunately for the people of the city of Bridgeport the CC is complacent, apathetic, lazy or just plain complicit in these hires.
Clean your own house, Joe. No one is going to vote for you as governor if you continue to run the city of Bridgeport into the ground.
Hi Lisa, It’s me, Tom Kelly. John Ricci is my friend for over twenty years. I will never deny my friendship with him or my friendship with you, for well over thirty years.
Tom Kelly, You are a class act.
Tom Kelly you are one of the best friends I have, and an even better person. My admiration for you will last until one of us dies. With that said, this is probably the first time in our friendship that I totally disagree with you, not because of your friendship with Ricci, but because you don’t know who you’re friends with. I’ve known John ricci since we were teenagers on the upper hollow area. He was a teenager always on the outside looking in because even then he was a wuss, a punk. He was so irrelevant that when I saw him again some twenty years later, I didn’t even know who he was. I mean, I couldn’t remember him, it was my sister who mentioned that he lived in the neighborhood. What he was then, he is now. He never changed, what you see in him as an individual never ceased to amaze me, but my respect and love for you trumped that. He’s pathetic, and no one, including you my friend could trust him.