The Connecticut Post endorsement isn’t just your typical here’s why you should vote for Mary-Jane Foster. It’s essentially a full page ad in Sunday’s hard copy edition featuring a potent header “Move the city ahead with Mayor Foster” that also includes a blow up graphic of her ballot spot on Row G. There’s not a lot of time for the Foster campaign to leverage this endorsement on the campaign trail but it can certainly lit drop the page to undecided households in parts of the city, bolstered by phone calls.
Mayor Bill Finch’s political operatives, some of whom are now working for Foster, are meowing “Where were they for the primary?” The Post’s primary endorsement of Finch, who had an ink-stained relationship with the newspaper during his eight years, certainly lacked in passion. Whether the front page, or the editorial page, the newspaper as a whole kicked up its scrutiny of Joe Ganim’s past in the general election. Most of Ganim’s core support is immovable at this point two days from the election. Some of them are not CT Post readers. And, in fact, many Ganim supporters that do read the paper are very protective of the former mayor from stories they believe are piling on.
The endorsement also has a shout out to Rick Torres supporters suggesting they are throwing their vote away for the Republican candidate so vote for him for City Council where he also has a ballot spot.
An endorsement like this will not necessarily change minds, but what it can do is possibly play with undecided voters and there’s still some of them left, even two days out as Ganim continues his quest for redemption. While Foster had a good day on the Post’s editorial page, Ganim had a response: a positive ad note on the front page of the newspaper.
From the Connecticut Post Editorial Page:
In the confounding swirl of history, candidates, improbable developments and issues that have emerged in Bridgeport’s 2015 mayoral election, one choice for voters is clear: they can choose to keep moving their city into the future, or return to some gauzy notion of grand times in the 1990s.
Our suggestion is that the city continue to move forward and elect Mary-Jane Foster, the candidate best equipped to do that, in Tuesday’s mayoral election.
She is an honest, straightforward, industrious person with a record of accomplishment. Whatever the condition today of the Bridgeport Bluefish independent baseball team, its arrival here in 1998 was a turning point in Bridgeport’s history. Foster was one of the Bluefish co-founders.
There is no point in belaboring the criminal history of former Mayor Joseph P. Ganim. There’s no one who’s not aware of it. The fact is, Ganim had his time in the mayor’s office–fully 12 years’ worth of time. He had the opportunity to make his mark, and he did.
In the 12 years since Ganim’s departure, the city has moved on in many ways. Progress with development, most notably the visible work at the SteelPointe Harbor site and a percolating downtown, has gone a long way toward removing some of the tarnish from the city’s reputation.
On the one hand, Mary-Jane Foster is a new face. But do not confuse that “new face” with inexperience, naivete or an unfamiliarity with the way things work in Bridgeport and Hartford. If hardball is what is required from a Mayor Foster, there’s no reason to believe it won’t be forthcoming. And while she may present a figure of privilege to those who don’t know her, she has lived through difficult times, starting with her father’s abandonment of the family when she was a child.
It would be nice, of course, if every candidate for mayor came to the contest with experience in running large organizations and handling multimillion-dollar budgets. The fact is, though, no mayor of Bridgeport in recent history has come into office with such qualifications. Foster may, in fact, come the closest, given her experience with the Bluefish and her current status as a vice president of the University of Bridgeport.
Republican Enrique Torres is, of course, a factor in the election. He is a popular figure in the Black Rock section of the city, which is also Foster’s home base. Torres, though, seems realistic enough about his chances that he is also on the ballot to retain his seat on the City Council. As the only Republican on the 20-member council, he has been an effective minority voice. That’s where he should continue.
Foster faces an uphill fight. And just one of the obstacles is her position on the ballot.
See below.
She is on Line G, the seventh of nine lines on the ballot. Take the time to find her name. All voters interested in moving the city into the future–Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated–should put the power of their votes behind Mary-Jane Foster on Tuesday.
No kidding.
Don’t worry, Rick Torres will still be the mayor of Black Rock.
Didn’t the fireman’s union endorse Finch?
THE BRIDGEPORT POLITICIAN’S “KISS OF DEATH,” THE CONNECTICUT POST ENDORSEMENT!
Why is this no surprise? The Post has completely disregarded Torres and has been hitting Ganim over the head day-in, day-out, relentlessly. The editorial even states, “There is no point in belaboring the criminal history of former Mayor Joseph P. Ganim. There’s no one who’s not aware of it.” So why does The Post continue relentlessly to report it over and over?
In the end, it really doesn’t matter. Look where all the endorsements got Finch. Including The Post’s back in the primary.
The only media source that has been offering comprehensive and balanced coverage has been OIB. Kudos, Lennie.
Out of Towner’s Choice for Mayor!
So can anyone tell me how many people on the Editorial Board of the CT Post live and vote in Bridgeport? After kicking Joe Ganim’s ass on the front page of this yellow rag for weeks at a time, did we think the Post was going to endorse Joe?
The no-slate Mary-Jane is the out-of-towner’s final choice for Mayor, the so-called Business community’s plan B.
Stop playing where’s Waldo! Vote row A.
Save yourselves the trouble, I will recap for you: The CT Post has finally come out in support of what we have been saying all along, Mary-Jane Foster will make a wonderful Mayor, who will continue moving the city forward, continuing the work Finch had begun. She is an honest woman who knows how to bring business to town and has attracted the support of thousands of supporters in the past weeks. With the help of Mayor Finch’s endorsement, she will stop Ganim in his tracks and keep the positive image of Bridgeport moving forward. There, I know you would have had a hard time pulling that together. Now the counterpoint:
The CT Post has been running hit ads on Joe Ganim, for his 16 felonies that led to spending seven years in federal prison on racketeering charges. While Ganim is still extremely popular throughout the city for his real and perceived successes in his twelve years as Bridgeport’s Mayor, he has the backing of a very cunning political organization, known for King-making throughout the State of Connecticut. It would be nearly impossible for Ganim to have received the support, monetary or otherwise, of only people unconnected to his previous pay-to-play scheming. The eyes of the Nation are on this election in the State already coined “Corrupticut.”
When the Bridgeport Democratic organization was forced to take a leave of absence of its long-time leader, a city bonding lawyer stepped in to fill the void and started making alliances. These alliances gained the attention of a solid portion of Bridgeport’s business community, who supported outgoing Mayor Bill Finch. This fracturing was not seen favorably by the other half of Bridgeport’s power structure. So they were more than happy to see Joe Ganim return with the name recognition to unseat the sitting mayor in a close primary. With a vote of only 14,000 or so residents out of a city of some 60,000 registered voters, it is seen as an indictment of voter apathy and voter turnout of closely maintained supporters. The same two sides of the Democratic party do not make major efforts if at all to increase voter participation during off years, because low voter turnout can be steered far more effectively for outcome in the ballot booth. This year’s alternative candidate for the second half of the Democratic power structure in Bridgeport is the otherwise singular Mary-Jane Foster. In taking the endorsement of vanquished mayoral primary candidate Bill Finch, Foster effectively kissed the ring of the Bridgeport political establishment and received their working apparatus in support of what would otherwise have been a sidebar running as an independent had Finch not lost the primary. They have done a sizable job of bolstering Foster’s image, though it is unknown what level the self-termed Independent Democrat will really be able to gain relegated to row G and far from the reflexively pulled Democratic top line. After a good showing in 2011 against Bill Finch in a primary, which Finch won, her support in the 2015 Democratic mayoral primary fell to under 1500 votes out of the field of 14,000 or so votes cast.
Republican mayoral candidate Rick Enrique Torres is not a stranger to running for office as a Republican in a highly Democratic voter field. In 2003, as a relatively unknown candidate, though having the support of the Republican town committee, Torres gained 8211 votes against the Democrat John Fabrizi’s 11,816. A 41% showing in a town where the ratio of Democrats to Republicans should have him coming in at only 7.6%. Since 2003, the mayoral race was not well-attended in Bridgeport, dropping from just under 20,999 voters to only 12,000 and 13,000 in the next two elections for Mayor under Bill Finch. Torres slipped into the high 30 percentile against the incumbent Finch in the 2007 race, still a strong showing in a Democratic town. Torres skipped the 2011 race, in which the Republican candidate Michael Garrett posted the same 1500 or so vote level as Foster’s primary performance this year, and was beaten soundly by Finch. This year, 2015, Torres is back and in his best position yet for possibly becoming the next Mayor of Bridgeport. He is coming off a two-year run as a city counselor in Bridgeport, where he has said the first half was not very productive, though he did extensive studying of Bridgeport’s Budget and procedural practices. He has had bi-partisan success with the passage of a largely symbolic “Transparency Resolution,” in which it asks that city counselors have open access to department records withing the city bureaucracy. He has put a resolution through the council to close the city coal plant that is seen as a potential health risk to Bridgeport residents, especially in the South End. He has strongly advocated for stopping the tax abatements given to large corporations wishing to have a footprint in Bridgeport, saying the benefit to taxpayers in jobs and other amenities does not outweigh the loss of its prime taxable land for up to 30-40 year periods. Something which he and Ganim agree on. Torres wants to do the 2016 tax reval, which is a State mandate every five years and has been postponed for two extra years under the Finch administration, claiming it is “morally wrong” to leave some residents paying 2 to 7 times more in tax than they will under re-evaluations. He claims to be able to offset these tax changes with properly taxing Bridgeport’s waterfront properties and corporations that pay very little for prime land. He is an outside contender, with a groundswell of support as evidenced from his last two mayoral runs. With greater name recognition and a hard campaigning season, as well as a divided Democratic vote, he hopes to upset the power structure in Bridgeport, turn its focus upside down, and give open access to government to the residents of Bridgeport. The flies in the ointment, such as immobilizing cars by the sheriff’s department for as little as $100 owed in car taxes or foreclosure proceedings for $600 WPCA bills are also in his sights. He has run a populist campaign of ideas against entrenched money-providing interests from both sides of Bridgeport’s political machine. As a newer, famous Bridgeporter has been branding, in his quest for financial transparency in Bridgeport government says, “Time will tell.” That time is soon. This coming Tuesday Nov. 3rd, 2015.
Raymond, now you’re concerned with how the Post is treating Joe Ganim? C’mon, man.
I am pleased. Nothing else to say.
I’m sure you’re frothing at the mouth, Steven; just vibrating with orgasmic intensity.
Kid, who endorsed Rick. If he dropped out today in support of Foster, his humiliating defeat would be commendable. The Republicans will not waste their vote and not one Bridgeporter will accept the Republicans’ goal of turning Ganim into the poster boy for corruption. People are just not that stupid.
?????????
Only you have blind faith, Steven. Your candidate sold out to the machine to scratch an ego itch.
Bridgeport Kid, one day when you think clearly, you will explain why you think Mary-Jane Foster sold out to the machine. She was not endorsed by the machine. She has no use for Mario Testa. What is your thought process other than vain attempts to malign Mary-Jane Foster? There is only one candidate on this blog who has not picked a candidate. That is donj. I do not think he will waste his vote. Schmooze him!
Steve, Derek Brown has endorsed Rick Torres and that should be enough to get Torres elected.
That’s right, Ron. Same as you going around saying “Who the fuck do you think you’re voting for, punk?”
Rick Torres has greater name recognition than Mary-Jane Finchster. If he loses he will be gracious and congratulate the winner. If Ms. Finchster loses, she will be a sore loser. It’s not a stretch to see her filing legal challenges in Superior Court.
But that’s all supposition. No one knows who will be the next mayor of the Park City. Only thing that is absolute is Finch is being turned out to pasture.
The Post endorsement doesn’t matter. They have been biased from day one. The people matter and the people want Joe Ganim.
smoker, the Post’s coverage of Joe during the primary was often favorable. To his credit, Joe created story lines in public safety that appealed to reporters and to voters. Plus, Finch did not have a great relationship with the paper. Plus, Finch did an awful lot to pump up Joe by going after him too hard, too soon.
You nailed it, Lennie!!!
city hall smoker, no offense, unless I am totally deluded, I thought Ganim received amazing positive coverage throughout the primary. His comeback story made great news. Now it is tired and people are realistic. People will vote accordingly. If Ganim wins, he wins. It isn’t as though Foster does not have an amazing team that doesn’t know what needs to be done. They do and Mary-Jane Foster will move this city forward.
The CT Post has forgotten what responsible journalism is. I would like information from my newspaper, not to have their editorial position shoved down my throat.
I know the editorial page does not need to be impartial, but this takes it over the top of acceptable editorial comment in my view.
I feel the Post has failed the citizens of Bridgeport by not covering all the mayoral candidates impartially and more equally. They have done extremely little to cover the city council races, etc. The paper chooses to use their space to do this versus something that would be responsible journalism, like cover the city council candidates.
S. Wilk you’ll never know how right on you are. If the Post covered the actions and non-actions of Council members we would see a better caliber of members. When I began serving in 1983, every word, every vote we cast, was under a microscope, and we were more aware of why we were there. We were outed in a NY second if we messed up or didn’t do what we were elected to do. I doubt a discussion or debate on issues rarely happens. Sometimes I wonder if some of them are aware of Council rules and practices, let alone the City Charter. The CT Post could change this if they assigned a reporter to cover the CC.
I don’t remember anyone complaining about the CT Post when they were writing about Finch or how Ken Dixon attacked Finch.
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Dewey Wins!!!
WHO CARES??? There are the numb-nut dumbasses who endorsed Finch/Wood three times, each time half-assedly. They have no credibility.
Boo hoo.
For what it’s worth, which ain’t much, the Post endorsed Finchie for the primary; fat lot of good it did. Now the editorial board is endorsing an actor? John Stafstrom must be picking up Michael J. Daly’s bar tab over at Testo’s.
I have never seen Stafstrom or Mike Daley at Testo’s. Where do you come up with this crap? Did you really believe Torres had a shot? Just continue to bash Foster. Black Rock does read the Post and the endorsement does mean everything. I understand now there is a huge Republican for Foster movement. Dude, you are done!
Endorsements don’t mean shit. You missed the sarcasm in my post, but that’s not surprising. You miss many things. The Post endorsed Foster but made it clear in a story by Brian Lockhart she has more than a few mountains to climb.
The endorsement of MJF is both welcomed and expected in my book. The Post began telegraphing the Foster endorsement long ago. I saw Michael Daly’s column last Sunday about Joe Ganim as kind of a consolation prize.
Journalistically, I offer two observations:
1) The strength and argument of the endorsement is particularly impressive. This is not a lukewarm endorsement.
2) The Post broke its usual layout conventions to use a sample ballot and take square aim at the biggest problem: finding MJF’s name on the ballot. The Post’s layout makes this whole page a visual primer on how to vote for MJF as well as an opinion of why Bridgeporters should do so. I think it was Mr. Diaz in comments on this blog a couple of weeks ago who summarized the Foster problem when he asked with a bit of justified snark, “Is Row G even on the same ballot?” The Foster campaign wisely began its #VoteRowG hashtag on Twitter and Facebook soon after that. The Post editorial’s layout could alleviate this voter education problem significantly.
Mr. Davidoff, first thank you for the shout-out. Second, while this may be a solution to the problem of finding MJF on the ballot, it does nothing to let the voters know who she is, which in my opinion is a much bigger obstacle for her than her position. Had she been on the top line this would still be the case. What she should have done was run for Senator herself or for State rep or even Council. To the majority of Bridgeporters she is still an outsider aligned with everything they voted against in the Primary. As for the Puerto Rican Community, her running on any other line than the DEMOCRATIC one makes her an Independent and in Puerto Rico that party stands for something totally different than here.
The Connecticut Post is desperate to remain relevant as major, journalist institutions bite the dust at an increasing rate as the news/information media sector, the Fourth Estate, if you will, continues to reshuffle as media options/news sources continue to proliferate. The Post, as an independent media outlet, used to be very well-regarded. But in recent years, they have continued to lose readership and respect since their series of corporate takeovers began a decade ago. They have lost the most ground with the Hearst organization, which doesn’t know if it wants to be considered liberal or conservative, or militant and proactive versus passive/objective. They are all over the place with their reporting, in the unfocused sense, and as a result, they are losing all little niche section they would seek to capture.
Of late, with their political reporting,with a few notable exceptions (Ken Dixon), they have been inept and off-base. Just look at the Malloy endorsement, followed by their embarrassing (more to the Post than to Malloy) scolding of Malloy’s continued lying about the huge, state budget deficit during the months, weeks and days leading up to the gubernatorial election last year. RIDICULOUS! SHAMEFUL!
The Post panders to powerful, wealthy, special interests in 19th-Century fashion. They love the connected, money-driven, robber-baron types and they have no problem marginalizing the rest of us in the process. But they aren’t even consistent in whom they support in this regard, anybody will do, as long as they’re BCFC and/or BRBC inspected and certified, such as are the cases of Bill Finch and Mary-Jane Foster.
In considering the Post’s overall record with political endorsements in recent history, especially of local candidates, they’re on a losing roll. If I were running for office, I would dread their endorsement as much as I would dread the endorsement of Dan Malloy.
Jeff, they’re pathetically predictable.
Save our city, right now.
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It’s not YOUR city, bub. You live in Trumbull, hardly a thriving metropolis.
Ganim seems to have a lot of supporters in some quarters in Trumbull.
Like it or not, Joe Ganim is a poster boy for municipal corruption and he has only himself to blame. Now he thinks a shallow “I made a mistake” will make it all better. Come Wednesday we will know whether the voters agree.
The voters he will be paying will agree. The drug addicts and alcoholics rounded up and given rides to the polling places will agree.
I for one will be glad when this is all over, whoever wins the election. All the back and forth, “So’s your old man” commentary is growing old and stale. It’s sort of like watching Jerry Springer’s guests snarl and spew and fight. Forty-eight hours to go, tick tick.
Torres is the right person for a reset of Bridgeport government and a clean look at the books. It is appalling to see Jim Himes kissing ass in Bridgeport. Supposed to be a Federal Representative, looking to secure his next Bridgeport vote. Why don’t you see if you can get the kids a schoolbook to start, Jimmy?
PC, Rick Torres has to find out which Rick Torres he is. Is he the Democrat Rick Torres or the Republican Rick Torres? Is he running to be the mayor or is he running to be the city councilman from the 130th district, or is he the guy who calls into Rush Limbaugh and gets his talking points from? Wow, I’m tired, Rick makes you dizzy trying to find the real Rick Torres, the true Republican in this race.
Ron,
Move to Cincinnati Ohio, you really need to see what a hard-right Republican looks like. Ohio is easy to find, it’s high in the middle and round on both ends.
I think finding row G is not as difficult as asking people to vote for someone with a write-in vote. Yet in Waterbury CT it happened and Mary-Jane Foster will have well over 7000. Row G.
abcdef GGGGGGGGG.
In Waterbury it happened with a seasoned politician who had won numerous elections for a number of different seats and whose name was prominently displayed on trucks and bags all over the city. You would find it hard to go into any neighborhood in Waterbury and find someone who didn’t know JARJURA. TAKE A TEST TODAY, next time you’re around five people ask them if the know MJF. You’ll get a response similar to Tuesday night’s.
I have tried to be fair and not use underhanded tactics in conversations on this blog. Because Torres has run an honest campaign of ideas and we do not want to or need to stoop to deceptive tactics. But if I wanted to brand anything other than a clear campaign of ideas, I would have been saying row “G” is for Ganim all along. That may not be true, to the extent Foster takes some of the Bridgeport establishment vote with her. But she cannot possibly gain enough votes to win the election. In the final analysis, there is a voting bloc that reads literature and will pick whom they like and then there is an entirely unknown sizable bloc that is the everyday voting public. She may as well hand out snowballs for Halloween as think they know who she is or will vote line G. Torres is line B. Nothing but a great and positive name-recognition response from the people on the street. In fact, I know many town Democratic families whom I have not seen in years who are voting Torres. He will quite probably win a very close election.
So the Post endorsed Finch twice? No surprise there.