More than five months later than expected and without the traditional pomp and circumstance Mayor Joe Ganim on Wednesday received the oath of office from his father, with his mother in attendance, for the eighth time.
In the mayor’s second floor office in the Margaret Morton Government Center a contingent of officials and dignitaries attended the belated ceremony following the maddening, extended, court-delayed mayoral cycle.
It all started in 1991 when Ganim, then 32 years old, defeated Republican Mary Moran the last GOP member to win the mayoralty. Ganim’s run lasted more than a decade stopped in the spring of 2003 by a federal corruption probe that led to a seven-year involuntary vacation.
Ganim made a remarkable return to office defeating incumbent Bill Finch in a Democratic primary in 2015. He won another four-year term in 2019. If Ganim fills out this four-year term retroactive to December 1, 2023 his second tenure in length of service will surpass the first and place him very close to Socialist Jasper McLevy’s 24-year run for chief executive longest service.