Democratic Registrar Sandi Ayala announced Thursday afternoon former Mayor Joe Ganim has qualified for the September 16 Democratic primary in an effort to regain his old job against Bill Finch. Mary-Jane Foster is awaiting word on her petition signatures, and that process will likely go into next week. About 1900 certified signatures are required. Meanwhile the campaigns of Foster and Finch issued dueling statements today with Foster calling Finch a dishonest congenital liar who “tried to take away our right to vote” while the Finch camp responded “the real story is about Joe Ganim, Mary-Jane Foster, and their backroom deal to help each other get on the Primary ballot.”
Statement from Foster:
“After eight long years of Mayor Finch and his cronies’ congenital lying to our people, he is now engaging in what is, effectively, fraud in the electorate. This is a mayor who lied about a $600 tax rebate, who continued to double dip in salary, who failed at a stealth conspiracy to takeover our schools, who tried to cover up an obstruction of crime information and statistics, and now puts up a straw man in the general election.
“Today we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. Why should we support someone who tried to take away our right to vote with his two-time failure at gaining control of the Board of Education?
“This is a man who is dishonest and desperate. Bridgeport deserves an honest choice for change.”
Statement from Finch Campaign Manager Maryli Secrest:
“Talk is cheap. We’re confident that Mayor Finch will win the Democratic Primary. When it comes to Democratic Primary petitions, the real story is about Joe Ganim, Mary-Jane Foster, and their backroom deal to help each other get on the Primary ballot.”
Foster and Ganim are awaiting word about qualifying for the September 16 Democratic primary to challenge Finch.
Secrest is full of it, plain and simple. She has no real evidence for the charges she is making. MJF does not need Ganim’s help to get on the ballot. Secrest is taking a statement from a Ganim canvasser and trying to magnify it. Secrest is a grade-A BS artist.
Mary-Jane will do well in the 132nd district, and since I live here I would say she’s doing an admirable job. Her supporters are working it. I’m supporting Joe, so I pretty much know what I’m talking about. By that I mean, I’m out there for Joe, I hear comments. I don’t know what to believe; Steve hit it when he said people lie. Not to be mean, sometimes just to get rid of us.
Maryli comparing MJF to Ganim: she should realize the difference between Bill and Joe is Bill hasn’t been convicted/incarcerated yet.
The City of Bridgeport has become a national laughing stock. Frankly, if people have the signatures to get on the ballot, REGARDLESS of how they got them, Mayor Finch SHOULD (but won’t) be magnanimous and be a leader concerned most for what the citizenry wants and not about hanging onto a job that if the electorate has interest in someone else he should be gracious and be concerned about the people, not himself. Ganim is a convicted criminal who stole from the people of the city. Anyone who supports him and gives him a chance to steal from them again is either ignorant (they don’t know about his past) or stupid (because they do). I don’t agree on hardly a single thing with MJ Foster, but I’ve known her a long time and she’s an honest and caring person. To me, Finch and Ganim are BOTH horrible. MJ Foster would at least be an honest and hard-working Mayor for the city and that’s more than I can see for the other two egocentric bozos.
Mayor Finch did not get in on the ballot/
The voters hate him because he has no talent/
He cannot balance budget/
He is only the green mayor because he secretly pays people off and they love it/
He is also the green mayor because he loves lettuce/
and he an secretly has a Moales fetish/
He hates the University of Bridgeport because he got fired/
And for another four years he will not be hired/
Every day he says Bridgeport is getting better/
Most people think this line is so stupid, they are like whatever/
Maryli,
Please tell us. What was the backroom deal?
I’ve been in the backrooms more than you have and I know of no such deal nor have I seen anything.
This is Finch simply spewing innuendo because he got caught playing hide-the-ballot-petitions with a Republican, Rich DeParle.
For a man who just a few hours ago was totally confident of winning the primary with no need for a Plan B, now he’s crying like a baby with his hand stuck in the cookie jar.
That’s the REAL story? That’s not even half a sentence. Flaccid.
The last two statements by “Merrily merrily merrily” have started with her stating “Talk is cheap.”
Question to Ms. Secrest: Then why do you keep talking?
Ha! Fab!
Pete, thanks for laugh, that was good!
Right on, Pete.
I wonder how Democratic Governor Dan Malloy feels now about the Democratic candidate he endorsed for Mayor playing games with the Republicans to get on the ballot?
I wonder how Democratic Attorney General George Jepsen feels now about the Democratic candidate he endorsed for Mayor playing games with the Republicans to get on the ballot?
I wonder how Democratic US Senator Dick Blumenthal feels now about the Democratic candidate he endorsed for Mayor playing games with the Republicans to get on the ballot?
I wonder how Democratic Congressman Jim Himes feels now about the Democratic candidate he endorsed for Mayor playing games with the Republicans to get on the ballot?
This is now a game Bill cannot afford to play.
Bob, you guys created a silly story and hope it grows legs? Anybody who is supporting Finch is thrilled if this were true. Those who are anti-Finch are voting for Ganim. What is the point? Finch is very confidant, he has all the endorsements and the money. Now he has a plan B. Foster and Ganim will run out of money way before the November election. The fact there is a perception of a plan B keeps the money flowing and that is probably why there was a leak. Thank you, Mary-Jane Foster.
I think medical science now uses the term “Genetic congenital Liar” and there is a picture of Joe Ganim next to the medical term. Again, Foster fails to address Joe Ganim and he really is her only roadblock. Three weeks to go. Boring!
Methinks thou dost protest too much.
Wicca, me thinks thou hast waited forever to use that quote. It does not apply here. Foster is not my candidate and if she thinks not going after Ganim is helping her, she was sadly mistaken. I say was because the ship has sailed. She is standing on the dock with Walsh, Moore, Gomes, Fardy, Mackey and Day. I am sorry about that, but I have been addressing this strategy since day 1. Bill Finch is the only candidate.
That of course is my opinion. 🙂 Steelpointe, Downtown, Schools, parks, pride and image building. No other candidate has a vision and they want to be the Mayor during the most exciting time in our recent history. That is what people will have to decide. This is certainly not a referendum on personality. 🙂
Bill Finch has the positive future narrative. Sell it! The other candidates just negative with gray clouds hanging over them.
Btw has anyone been down to Bass Pro? Looking real good! Longfellow School is looking good, Roosevelt school and Fields look amazing. Downtown is all fenced off. Three-plus developers working simultaneously. Newfield Park in the East End is looking great and the neighborhood is beaming. I think the local DTC is in trouble. Pleasure Beach is just the icing on the cake. I think Mayor Finch has a lot to be proud of and I think developers within a 100-mile radius would agree.
You are right of course. You are always right. My bad. What do I know? You are the expert.
Wicca, thank you for acknowledging the obvious. 🙂
He’s a liar, no need for a qualifying adjective. Finch lied about tax rebates, lied about the failed BOE takeover, lied about withholding police reports and public records from the media.
At this point it looks like the nomination is slipping from Finch’s grasp. Why else would he recruit a used-car salesman to run a cardboard campaign to ensure he gets on the general election ballot? A used-car salesman! How appropriate. Maybe DeParle will give Bill the job of selling extended warranties on the Edsels and De Sotos in his lot.
Bubba, so right.
Up On Bridgeport, get real, after all the drama the Mayor did show and Ganim as usual taking advantage of the minority community played his usual politics passing out anti-Finch material. Kudos to Mayor Finch for ultimately doing the right thing. I respect The contribution Rev. Lee has made. But to be honest, she is not just a Ganim supporter, she has been attached to him since day 1. To expect the Mayor to go into a political situation where the church elders are more enamored with a convicted felon than Mayor Finch is just ridiculous. I am impressed with the change of heart. Was Foster there also or was it just a Ganim lovefest?
The Holiday Inn was the most appropriate place to honor her.
The mayor only did the right thing after the local media got wind of the story and embarrassed the eternally shameless Bill Finch.
That may obviously be correct. However Kid, he ultimately did the right thing much to the chagrin of the press, McBride, Stallworth and Ganim. That was brilliant and totally knocked the wind out of Ganim’s narrative. I always give an individual up to the last minute to do the right thing. I think if McBride and Stallworth can embrace Joe Ganim, they can forgive Mayor Finch for a lapse in judgement. What do you think?
Great post, Bob Walsh! We need to focus on the state-federal relationship with Bridgeport. If Bridgeport were regarded with the deference and respect due the state’s largest and most neglected city, we’d be a bustling, productive place again.
We need a mayor who is willing to lead the electorate in a political rebellion that addresses the connivance of our federal and state delegations and leadership in regard to their determination to maintain a status quo–with Bridgeport at the bottom of the food chain.
Bill Finch has demonstrated he is more than wiling to the maintain the status quo on behalf of Stamford-Greenwich, et al. The endorsement of Finch by the Blumenthal-Murphy-Himes-Malloy-Jepson Gold Coast gang of five just confirms Bill’s complicity in their sabotage of Bridgeport. All we need to trigger a gag reflex to this relationship is the endorsement of Bill by Chris Bruhl and his “Charley McCarthy,” Paul Timpanelli.
Maryli–is your campaign’s deep-pocketed client not a congenital liar, and has not just been caught attempting to fraudulently impair the election process? If your response is a yes as to either or both, you should seriously consider going back to Wilton/Weston before the fallout impairs your career.
Finch A Congenital Liar?
Anything Finch can do, Ganim can do better:
Ganim lied to the jury when he denied any knowledge of fee-splitting deals and other incriminating evidence. Ganim claimed to have abused drugs as mayor in order to enter a drug treatment program and shave time off his sentence. He lost his license after a jury found him guilty in 2003 of running a City Hall racketeering conspiracy that extorted $800,000 or so from just about any developer or contractor of consequence who tried to work in Bridgeport. He came to be convicted of a four-year crime spree. During his bid to regain him law license, when asked by his lawyer if Ganim plans on running for mayor, Ganim responded ‘no.’ Ganim was found guilty of racketeering, extortion, bribery and mail fraud, among other felonies.
Under Ganim–The new contract gives the city’s teachers a 4.9 percent pay increase for the 1998-99 school year, and a 4.8 percent increase in 1999-2000. Currently, Bridgeport’s teachers are second from the bottom in pay among the state’s public school teachers.
Fiery deaths of eight of the nine people aboard were caused by the airport’s flawed design. Happened under Ganim but left for Finch to fix.
The Mayor has absolutely nothing to do with the negotiations with the teachers union. It is negotiated by the BBOE and its attorneys. Only the BBOE votes to approve the contract.
You continue to be a poor spy.
www .nytimes.com/1998/02/01/nyregion/teachers-strike-stirs-bitter-memories.html
Jack Reh, president of the Bridgeport Education Association, said he was hoping to redirect the anger felt by his union members toward the city, because of its rejection of the first arbitration.
In November, the city’s Common Council rejected the arbitration award, sending it into a second round of arbitration with a new panel. The second panel endorsed the original award, and Mr. Ganim has considered appealing it in court.
OK Maria–I guess the New York Times got it wrong (not). Good thing we have you to correct them (not, not).
BOE? Regarding airport tragedy. Seriously???
Yes, very seriously.
www .nytimes.com/1994/12/14/nyregion/flawed-airport-design-is-called-cause-of-8-deaths-in-crash.html
Investigators said “Had a safety area existed, the fatalities would not have occurred,” the safety board’s chairman, Jim Hall, said. “This is not the first, but the second accident that has occurred with an overrun into that fence. Our interest here is preventing a third.”
How many deaths could have been averted if Ganim did, in 1994, what Finch is doing now?
It took almost 30 years to negotiate an agreement with the town of Stratford to move Main Street. Ganim saved FINCH’s ass when he fiscally crashed and burned with his Air Show for Guenster House.
Ganim saved FINCH’s ass when he fiscally crashed and burned with his Air Show for Guenster House???
Ganim, Mister “I can’t pay my alimony or child support because I am broke,” saved Finch when Finch was having an air show in Stratford to support a charity in Bridgeport? You got any links to support this crazy talk or should we just take your word for it? Nothing personal, but people like to stretch the truth or ‘Pelto’ their facts around here.
Finch, Wood, et al. are very SHALLOW people.
www .ctpost.com/news/article/Politics-complicate-tribute-to-McBride-Lee-6430103.php
Have they No SHAME?
No, none at all.
Check out the new Ganim commercial.
www .dailymotion.com/video/x30nmbe_joe-ganim-for-mayor_news
jo1986, where is this commercial posted? Is it just an internet piece? Well done!
You can always tell when a campaign is in trouble when they start breaking out the cartoons! Steve–LOL!!!
Up On Bridgeport, it does not say who is responsible for this. The campaign in trouble would be???
Ganim is so selfish. He should have skipped the event knowing how important it was to Ms. McBride-Lee that Secretary of the State Denise Merrill be at her celebration.
Should Adam have used his political capital with Merrill to squash this event? People for Excellence in Government!
Mayor Finch went to the event and read the proclamation. Ms. McBride-Lee needs to understand that was serious respect considering her disrespect for Mayor Finch. Enough said on that. Mary-Jane couldn’t even get a quote in? Jeeesus!
I’m waiting for you to break into Aretha’s Anthem!
Steve, the only individuals who showed a lack or respect were Mayor Finch, Adam Wood and Denise Merrill. Mayor Finch came to the event out of nowhere because the press was already sniffing around and we exposed him with our fliers.
It must have killed him to attend the event and present a certificate of recognition to Reverend Lee.
Thanks to Mayor Finch, this entire incident made the front page of the CT Post and was featured above the fold.
Who needs to portray Finch negatively to voters? Finch and his handlers are such buffoons they do our work for us.
Disrespect, eh? You need to lay off the glue you’ve been sniffing, or the Ex-Lax, or whatever it is strangling up your mind.
Reverend McBride-Lee supports Joe Ganim for mayor. She has that right. It is no act of disrespect toward the mayor. If Mr. Finch feels “disrespected” he has only himself to blame.
I believe Joe was invited.
So Adam Wood requesting the event be cancelled because she is not a Finch supporter is not selfish in your eyes?
How about this: Everyone just acts like an adult. Wood does not engage in texts to cancel the event. Mayor Finch speaks because it’s his job. Ganim, Foster, Coviello, Daniels, Gardner, DeParle (he he), get to attend the event because it’s their right and Mary McBride-Lee is a City Councilwoman. How about that?
BOE SPY, Reverend Lee and Joe Ganim arrived at the event together, therefore she clearly wanted him to be present.
Not necessarily. Ganim could have waited in the parking lot like a creeper and walked in with her to make it appear that way.