Mary-Jane Foster says she’s not afraid of the boys Bill Finch and Joe Ganim. CT Post reporter Brian Lockhart shares this profile of the mayoral candidate.
“The boys.”
That is how Mary-Jane Foster derisively describes her two opponents in the Sept. 16 Democratic primary for mayor.
And the former actress has mastered the delivery of those two words.
Her gently mocking, exasperated tone of voice evokes a little Mayor Billy and a little ex-Mayor Joe in ill-fitting suits, playing at big city politics and calling each other names.
Full story here.
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The following are excerpts from a letter Max Medina wrote to the Connecticut Post:
“During the 16 years I served as an elected member of Bridgeport’s Board of Education I got a chance to work with both Joe and Bill. While mayor, Joe had a very special hiring system, which was never publicized until we on the Board of Education exposed it. At our behest, the then head of civil service for the city testified publicly that Joe would not authorize the filling of a position–even if it had been requested by the school system and there was money to pay for it–no matter how urgent the need–until he got the green light from Democratic Chairman Mario Testa.
“That testimony meant that if you wanted a job as a school custodian, cafeteria worker or security guard, no matter how qualified you may have been Joe would not allow you to be hired unless Mario first said ‘yes.’ We will never know how many decent families were denied a solid job with good pay and benefits just because they were not connected to the political establishment. What a tragedy.
“Is that the way you want our city to run? Aren’t you tired of ‘insiders’ greedily hoarding all the opportunities based on who they know, not what they know? Isn’t it time to blow Bridgeport’s political system and government wide open and give people a chance based on how hard they’ll work instead of how many absentee ballots they can generate?
“During my Finch years on the board, education was short-changed every single year. Each budget cycle would bring a new scheme by which to give the kids less–especially the so-called ‘in-kind services’ game. Have you ever tried going to Cumberland Farms and telling the cashier that you’ll provide him with in-kind services in exchange for a gallon of milk? No, only cash will do. After I left the board–he would not have tried it if I were still there–Bill, working with others, conspired to have the board declare itself ‘dysfunctional’ so that it could be disbanded in favor of a state-appointed board.
“That scheme was found to be illegal by the Connecticut Supreme Court. Not one to give up on a bad idea, Bill then had the city endure an expensive referendum to deny us the right to elect an independent board. That also failed miserably. With those actions Bill exposed our city to shame and humiliation.”
If Max Medina cared so much he would have stayed on and should have been involved, but once his children no longer attended school here, he gave up. He felt there was no need. He was another self-serving individual!