Mayor Joe Ganim braved the snow on I-95 to appear Thursday on Dateline New Haven hosted by OIB friend Paul Bass, editor of the New Haven Independent. On a day like this how could you not kick off the interview without reminiscing about Bridgeport’s Socialist Mayor Jasper McLevy who served from 1933-57 and was credited with the phrase, “God put the snow there, let Him take it away.” Not exactly the way it happened. For background on that see here. Ganim chatted about the snow, McLevy, climate change, storm preparation, city and state finances, casino revenue, tolls, Downtown development and his run for governor, the reason he was booked on the show.
If any audio issue with video you can also listen here.
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“Hello, I’m Joseph P. Ganim. Fourteen years ago the Department of Justice prosecuted me for a pay-to-play scheme I ran out of Bridgeport City Hall. It was great, stays at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan, cases of French wine that retails at $500.00 a bottle, custom tailored shirts, cold hard cash, home repairs… It was great. I went to prison, lost my license to practice law, couldn’t earn enough money as a paralegal to support an extravigant lifestyle. So I sought my old job as mayor of Bridgeport. The people there love me, especially after I paid them twenty bucks each for their votes.
“I’m not a perfect candidate, far from it. A Superior Court judge declined to reinstate my law license because I lack ‘good moral character. Buying votes in a statewide election will be exoensive. I may have to call J.G. Wentworth (877-CASH NOW) for an advance.”
Derek, good post there was another OIB topic about a Joe Ganim radio interview:
‘If He Wins The Governor’s Office You Know This Is A Movie’
January 3rd, 2018
As we see Joe Ganim loves a camera and a microphone. Danny DeVito would be the perfect actor to play Ganim in the movie. In fact here’s a rehearsal and it’s hard to tell if this is Joe Ganim or Danny DeVito, you tell me?
Watch “How Danny DeVito or Joe Ganim Eats An Egg on Broadway | Acting Class” on YouTube
https://youtu.be/xzlVvhbrx7k
It was certainly a softball interview with Paul Bass the interviewer having done research on Jasper McLevy (and the God will remove it snow story), and the late breaking “rapid transit” State Police stop that seems to focus on whether a verbal warning is adequate for an 87 mph speeding stop, a Ganim privilege once again that provides no echoes of accountability to his home town, Bridgeport. (Let us assume that the leased vehicle with PA plates is an expense of a campaign committee, thought that is not stated, what about the driver, a trained public safety officer being compensated at that point as Bridgeport officer on regular time, overtime or as driver for the campaign?)
Joe touted some accomplishments of his first term as to the creation of the Internal Service Fund that places our medical expenses in a self-insurance fund, but that year in and year out is an additional debt payment, never getting back to a balance. And while taking credit for the police MERS actuarial liability its cost in more than $80 Million for money borrowed, plus interest and bears an unmentioned risk that has beset his own Plan A pension obligation bond from 2000. WE ARE CURRENTLY SCHEDULED FOR $17 mILLION INCREASING BY 5% ANNUALLY FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE. THAT IS EXTRA EXPENSE FOR PLAN A IN ADDITION TO $30 Million annual bond repay through 2029. Tell the whole story Joe, please. It’s the real story that you have not told.
And when Paul was questioning on “raising taxes” did any of his research uncover the Ganim 2015 poster STOP RAISING TAXES??? And when the revaluation lowered property owner values but not necessarily their tax rate or actual taxes being paid, how does this indicate that “cities are the engine to drive the CT economy, or revive it”? Where are his metrics on job creation efforts and results for any program he has pushed in the past two yeaars?
Paul and Joe, have either of you done any research on the story of public education in Bridgeport? Joe, have you done the research, and stay away from those elected to the BOE who have to serve the youth of the City? Do you really sit down with all those responsible, as equals in the work and listen respectfully and weigh the probable results? Where is your transparency? Time will tell.
Little Joe Ganim:
“I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go
I’m filling the cracks that ran through the door
And kept my mind from wandering
Where it will go
And it really doesn’t matter if I’m wrong I’m right
Where I belong I’m right
Where I belong…”
In Joe Ganim’s Apology at East End Baptist Church on Jan. 1, 2015 nowhere does Ganim address his nine years in prison for his federal corruption conviction in 2003 for steering city contracts in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in wine, custom clothes, cash and home improvements. Ok, I can understand that he wouldn’t talk about those crimes directly because Ganim never pleaded guilty so I guess that we are suppose think that he was framed. Ganim goes down memory lane of what he did as mayor then half way into his apology on the video he said that “then something happen, “I made some errors in judgment,” “I got involved in the wrong things and I broke the law. I breached the trust so many had placed in me. And for that, and all that we’ve lost, I’m truly story.”
So did Ganim commit those crimes or didn’t he and what’s the apology for if you can call that an apology? Say it ain’t so Joe.