Mayor Bill Finch has aligned Joe Ganim with the KKK and mobsters, called him a crook and a variety of other things. And in the days after his Democratic primary loss to Ganim, appears to have ratcheted up the negative attacks against the party nominee judging by interviews with news outlets over the weekend. Saying “The people of Bridgeport deserve better than Finch’s gutter politics,” Ganim’s spokesman Michael Giannotti says the name calling did not work in the primary and will not work in the general election. Finch last week became the first incumbent mayor in city history to lose a primary.
News release from Ganim campaign:
Former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim, the winner of last week’s Democratic primary, once again “extended the olive branch” to Mayor Finch, who he defeated in that primary, to “stand aside and support the official Democratic ticket.”
As the official Democratic Party Mayoral nominee, Ganim is also asking all former Finch allies to “follow the lead of Bridgeport’s voters. I am offering a welcoming hand to anyone who wishes to join our team,” said Ganim.
“The residents of this great city have spoken, and they have stated loud and clear, that it is a time for a change,” said Ganim, who was mayor from 1991-2003.
Ganim defeated Finch, the 2-term incumbent mayor by more than 400 votes in last week’s primary.
“We worked hard. We ran a clean campaign, and we listened,” said Ganim. “This election was not about the past, as my opponent tried to make it, but about the future.”
Just days after winning the primary, Ganim was back hitting the streets. “We won because we walked, we talked, and we listened … and we will win in November because of that same strategy.”
During his tenure as mayor, Ganim is credited with lowering crime (by implementing community policing, and bringing up staffing levels). He is also credited with bringing business and industry back to the city.
While Ganim ran an “upbeat, open, clean and transparent campaign,” his opponent did the opposite.
“The people of Bridgeport deserve better than Finch’s gutter politics,” said Ganim spokesman Michael J. Giannotti.
Giannotti said that “it (the gutter politics) didn’t work in the primary, and it will not work in November. Finch had to take this tactic because he didn’t have a record to run on. He tried to make it about Ganim’s past, but what he forgot is that he had a great record as mayor,” Giannotti said.
Giannotti added, “Taxes were down, the city was clean, crime was down … and businesses were moving into Bridgeport.
“Engaging in gutter politics is insulting to the residents of this great city. They saw right through what he was trying to do,” said Ganim.
Olive branch? Sounds more like knock out the competition to these jaded ears.
Businesses were moving into Bridgeport? Name two!
For the past five years at least, I have linked three words together as 21st required values for institutions that serve the public: OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE, and TRANSPARENT.
As Tyisha Toms and I campaign for City Council positions in the 130th we have added one last word of importance: HONEST to make a new acronym, OATH. Easy to remember. Difficult to produce institutionally, but can be done.
In the coming weeks look for each candidate still standing to explain what they will do to celebrate those values to the fullest of their ability and thereby change the culture, and hopefully the results of City governance. Will that happen? Time will tell.
It’s true, he did lower crime, plant some flowers, attract some businesses. He was also convicted of corruption. Only the most ignorant of voters will reelect this shameless crook.