Mayor Bill Finch and Police Chief Joe Gaudett penned this commentary that appeared in the CT Post:
We were deeply disappointed with Thursday’s news coverage in the Connecticut Post about the bomb scare in the Margaret E. Morton Government Center.
A hand grenade was delivered to an office in a building full of city workers and visitors. That certainly does not have the feel of a “prank,” as the headline in the Post suggested it might be. We are certain that the Office of Internal Affairs employee who discovered the grenade did not see it as a harmless prank. Nor did the more than 150 employees who had to quickly evacuate.
We call the incident what it was: A crime.
Police continue to investigate and our hope is the person responsible will be held accountable. We would like to express gratitude to our police officers and firefighters along with the Connecticut State Police bomb squad. Their performance was exemplary.
Police still do not know the motive for the crime. Yet the Post thought it appropriate to reference two specific and ongoing OIA probes and seemingly wonder out loud if there might be a link, all without a shred of information to support it. The job of the news media is to report accurate, fair and substantiated facts. This article failed and slipped into front-page speculation.
This comes a week after the Post inaccurately tweeted that a 6-year-old child was shot in the city during an attempted robbery. It attributed the information to scanner chatter. That translates to mean, “We don’t know if this is accurate, but here you go anyway.” It was not true. In such a rush to be first, the Post got it wrong.
The public expects its government to act responsibly and in the public interest. The media–and ultimately voters–hold elected officials accountable. Who holds the Connecticut Post accountable when it fails in its responsibility to be unbiased, fair and accurate?
*** What else would you expect from the CT Post, a rag-tag newspaper that’s lost their way in the community and has to depend on rumors or hearsay to crack a story, no? Could be worse though, especially if they became gullible to everything that comes out of the Mayor’s office like WICC. *** YOUR INFORMATION’S RADIO ***
Connecticut Post just doing what it does best–irresponsible reporting.
“The public expects its government to act responsibly and in the public interest. The media–and ultimately voters–hold elected officials accountable.” That’s true.
And I do agree downplaying of anything like this, especially in today’s climate is irresponsible, and mean-spirited to those who had to encounter being threatened and terrorized.
But on the flip side, I don’t think Bridgeport has a right to get on a moral soapbox. Voters do hold elected officials accountable to the public. The same voters who ratified the City Charter hold elected officials accountable. And some of those elected officials are violating the Charter, and in turn are violating the voters and the public.
If any current elected official is actively violating the public by way of violating the Charter, they should do the right thing and step down. It’s that easy. No one person can serve two gods–it’s not possible. And the people of the City of Bridgeport saw that kind of conflict years ago and put the language in the Charter so they would be protected from someone else’s personal conflict. But it just continues … So now, people are having to go to Hartford, put in time and effort, and strain some relationships to try to make it happen–or to at least shed some light on the subject. And the City of Bridgeport stays quiet … not a word, not a peep … just a lot of fancy footwork to try to protect the status quo.
So as much as I agree the Post played down something very, very serious, I just as much disagree with the City of Bridgeport trying to sound like they have the market cornered on what is ethical, responsible, and moral–and how they are seemingly held to that degree. Truth is they are held to it, but they are refusing to abide by it.
Well said, AllforOne!!!
Maintaining the status quo means POWER keeping people in the dark, POWER limiting their ability to get answers about how governance is supposed to operate and POWER being unresponsive or getting on their ‘high horse’ when the opportunity presents itself to criticize.
Specifically POWER acts in these ways:
1) Claim “accountability” but provide no serious or regular evidence of same … failure to talk about budget surplus or deficits annually … no comment from Mayor or Finance on annual audit (or the CT POST) … find a scapegoat for anything that comes to your doorstep.
2) Failure of Mayor to provide Charter-directed monthly report of revenues, expenses and variances by fourth Friday of following month … continuing to be seriously late each month in terms of public or CC review … no Finance narrative on significant variances … Ex: September 2012, $3,600,000 becomes available across 64 Full Time Earned Pay department accounts with no comment from City employed or elected??? NARRATIVE IS IMPORTANT … What’s the story?
3) No public hearing on Capital Budget as Charter calls for annually with language indicating City solicitation of ideas from public … coming to Budget & Appropriations for $110 Million Tax Anticipation Note authority and having no paperwork describing past year activity in terms of interest costs, legal expense, marketing, etc. though you know it will be asked for?
4) One public budget hearing annually, but no feedback from “toothless” Council members on their sense of budget to constituents who ask questions and expect answers … because they have no real idea of what is going on, perhaps?
5) Ordinance(s) calling for behavior on City purchases annually and audits less often (as part of internal control function) that has been ignored for ten years … accountable, open, transparent? NOT!!!
These are a few of the “illegal,” unlawful, or failures to “follow the documents providing direction and authority” activities by Bridgeport leadership. I’m not a lawyer and one of them told me “illegal” connotes criminal to him. I am not saying the above rise to that individually. I just don’t know. But individually or collectively, they are purposeful by Finch and advisers. They are in your face to the public! And if someone like me keeps reporting the ‘abuse’ in person at public meetings recorded on TV, in emails to the City Council and letters to the CT Post, and on this blog, regularly, and no change occurs? No response? No excuses provided? What to do?
But who is the lawman, the sheriff, I can complain to? So much money being spent, without checks and balance mechanisms operating? Sloppy operation of public funds? Risks to retirement funds ignored? That’s the rub isn’t it? The Feds set the bar above mere ignorance of the law, or mere mismanagement of municipal resources it seems. But serious mismanagement is happening with our money and public resources!
So whom do you go to for redress when the game gets rigged:
1) with conflict of issue behavior,
2) ignoring and delaying public financial info,
3) refusing to evaluate public behavior of appointed officials such that the majority of your Boards and Commissions are staffed by people with expired terms, even one from 1997???
And so it goes … but public info is growing … and so is taxpayer awareness by citizens who perhaps can now see different governance behavior at the Public Schools with more, better and faster detailed info (especially financial) on their web site, with timely responses to requested info, and attention devoted to listening and responding to public comments by those with responsibility. That’s different for Bridgeport. (Unfortunately the continuing Board-level dissension is not different, perhaps unnecessary in its volume, and does nothing for the kids. But that is a topic for another posting or two!) Time will tell.
Is anyone surprised? The CT Post has been sh!tting on Bridgeport for years! They’re the reason why people in the ‘burbs think they’ll get shot the minute they cross the city border. I bet if this same “prank” happened in Fairfield or Westport government offices they’ll be making it up to be a homeland security crisis! It’s a damn shame the city’s only newspaper has it in for us.
Damn right! Evacuating the workers, calling in the bomb squad, and bomb-sniffing dogs searching every nook and cranny of the building hardly seems like a prank. That newspaper has lost all credibility as far as I’m concerned.
Dateline Bridgeport:
I stopped purchasing this rag, after the front-page rat story. I saved a lot money over the years. My hat’s off to Finch and Gaudett for kicking the CT Post to the curb.
Yellow journalism at its best!
<3 heads!
My my, the police chief and the mayor are upset with the CT Post. Tough!!! They are not upset with the Post when they write flowery reports on the city and its leaders that we all know are bullshit.
In today’s environment it is the norm for most papers to print the news people want to hear or to write stories reflecting the paper’s leadership political views.
The biggest problem today is our political leaders lack courage and pander to us for our votes. If you want a few examples here goes.
The police commission does absolutely nothing when it comes to the PD.
1. Has anyone questioned Gaudett on why police overtime is $3.5 million over budget?
2. Have they asked the chief why we only have 21 cops per shift on patrol?
3. Have they asked the chief why the PD does not respond to quality of life complaints?
Does the mayor tell us the truth when it comes to the budget and taxes? NO.
Does he tell us why his budget contains almost $5 million in ghost positions? NO.
Does he tell us about the screw-up handling the last snow storm? NO.
In today’s political atmosphere we are represented by cowards and not leaders.
In today’s atmosphere the guardians of information (CT Post and most other news outlets) are not doing their jobs and are not investigating information they receive.
A prank can be a crime. The article explained why the incident was taken seriously.
JML,
Please I beg of you, get a editor, you have important observations and facts that get lost.
PLEASE … LESS IS MORE.
This is not to say I disagree or contest you.
Peace and thanks, JML.
Black Rockin,
Introduce yourself to me someday or call and let me see where you are working against the tide.
Otherwise, I have to keep informing folks who are new to the scene and getting worried. Some are getting active, the only way to deal with the machine.
So if your only advice is editorial, for whatever reason, I kind of think of you as one of Emperor Nero’s critics who commented on his bowing technique while he fiddled as Rome burned! Got it?
Did you see the headline yesterday, “Detroit Mayor Dave Bing says Governor Rick Snyder will announce a state takeover on Friday.” How long will Bridgeport take to get there? Time will tell.
“… Yet the Post thought it appropriate to reference two specific and ongoing OIA probes and seemingly wonder out loud if there might be a link, all without a shred of information to support it.”
Does this mean the chief and the mayor feel it would be inappropriate for the investigators to consider the possibility the grenade and the ongoing OIA probes may be tied?
It was a toy grenade, just like the toy gun used by Mrs. Robles at the Health Department–harmless.
Unfortunately in today’s society our leaders are made up of people with no backbone. They are in politics to feather their own nests no matter how much of a whore it turns them into.
In part it’s our fault because we do not want to know the truth or if they do want to know they do not have the time to seek out the information.
Just look at Bridgeport. We have 19 council people who just don’t have the guts to stand up and say enough is enough. In my 40-plus years this council is the weakest and least intelligent I can remember. Can anyone tell me the last time the council as a whole said no to the mayor?
Boards and commissions are of the same makeup, people who just don’t have the guts to do the job they were appointed to. The last board I remember doing what they were supposed to do was the fire board where John O’Malley lead the fight to rid the department of the sick, lame and lazy. What happened to Mr. O’Malley? His term was not renewed.
When are the people of Bridgeport going to stand up and say I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!
Does the mayor have any comments on this one?
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Rising-sewer-fees-may-raise-stink-4318303.php
How to handle such a situation?
www .youtube.com/watch?v=wDpuNrA55-A
There’s a hole in downtown Bridgeport. The police are looking into it.