Board of Education member Howard Gardner, whose petitioning effort to qualify for the September 16 Democratic primary for mayor faltered, says he will vote for Mary-Jane Foster.
“Of the candidates my views are most in line with Mary-Jane,” says Gardner who came up short of the 1900 certified signatures of Democratic electors for his name to appear on the ballot.
Gardner was elected to the school board in 2013 as part of a coalition challenge that defeated the endorsed candidates. He ran on Foster’s losing slate for City Council in the 132nd District when she challenged Mayor Bill Finch in 2011. Foster and Joe Ganim successfully petitioned onto the ballot to challenge party-endorsed Finch.
Even if Gardner had qualified for the primary the policy wonk would have faced an uphill battle gaining traction with limited funds.
Gardner says he learned two valuable lessons running for mayor, the need to raise money and fishing where the fish are when it comes to securing primary signatures. The most efficient signature drive is canvassing voters at their homes rather than parks, festivals and storefronts that leaves too much to chance to find a registered Democrat in the city.
Howard Gardner, thanks, I’ve never met you but my friend Donald Day speaks very highly of you and that’s good enough for me. You have a bright future ahead in the leadership of Bridgeport.
Way to go, Howard!
Great move, Mr. Gardner. A step toward regime change. As long as Stevie Auerbach continues bumping and grinding for Bill Finch, Foster’s support will increase.
Howard Gardner, you will owe me $100, as will Maria Pereira. Ron Mackey, how is it even possible you have not met Howard Gardner?
I am concerned that I agree with Donald Day.
Bridgeport Kid, thank you for always injecting me into the conversation.
I actually had breakfast across the street from Foster’s campaign. I always enjoy a respectful conversation with Gage. It is also great always running into Chris Caruso at Frutopia across the street. Their vegetable omelets are as awesome as their fruit drinks. But no grits, damnit!
It is a good thing Maria Pereira is off the blog or she would tell Howard a thing or two.
Now that Howard Gardner is supporting Foster, I am going to have to step up my game for Mayor Finch. I am sure the Ganim people are frantic with this new development.
Btw, isn’t Mayor Finch’s new ad a breath of fresh air? Long Island sound looks magnificent.
Omg, I had no idea Howard Gardner ran on Foster’s slate in 2011. I think it is nice that Foster will get his vote. A vote is a vote!
Steve, I just returned from out of town yesterday. What happened to Maria?
Quentin, I am saddened to say in an effort to gag her, the Ganim camp felt it was necessary to pay for an all-inclusive trip to Moscow. She will return for the election. She was getting pretty violent with anyone who wasn’t supporting Joe Ganim. I think when she knocked down that 98-year-old veteran, that was the final straw. They did take care of her though. She is not paying for anything and of course Russia has blocked out the internet so there will mot he any blogging. Sad, very sad.
Quentin,
Maria left in a huff, slamming the door on the way out.
She wanted Lennie to post something about the mayor’s kids attending a charter school. Lennie said candidate’s families are off-limits. She didn’t want to hear it and is denying us the pleasure of her company. Childishness.
So you’re saying the Ganim camp is taking away Maria’s right to free speech.
Maria left in a huff because we wouldn’t play freeze tag.
She left of her own volition.
She left of her own volition.
Quentin, our friend Maria had a disagreement with our host Lennie Grimaldi. Lennie made a judgement call Ms. Pereira found unacceptable. She is working very hard to get Mr. Ganim elected. She is not eating well or sleeping. She eats, drinks and sleeps Joe Ganim. Lennie Grimaldi refused to post a picture of the mayor’s son wearing a uniform from a charter school. Maria was of course being disrespectful to the privacy of the Finch family. Lennie took the moral high ground and refused to print the picture and the story. I personally agreed with Lennie Grimaldi and of course enjoyed ripping her apart.
Quentin, I actually spoke to Maria this afternoon while she was wasting her time at Ganim headquarters. 🙂 🙂 I begged her to come back on the blog. She refused and deleted her account. Everybody has their own drummer. I respect her decision and miss her Ganim stories daily. She has walked Nutmeg Road 880 times thinking the results will change. She also polices the Ganim signs as she believes people are stealing them. Andy Fardy denies it!!!
Quentin, of course my other post was for humor. I do not think Joe Ganim would ever take away her freedom of speech.
Is her drummer the one who used to play in Guns & Roses?
She should come back. We are a society of second chances. 🙂
I was joking about the speech thing also, kind of! 🙂
“Gardner says he learned two valuable lessons running for mayor, the need to raise money and fishing where the fish are when it comes to securing primary signatures. The most efficient signature drive is canvassing voters at their homes rather than parks, festivals and storefronts that leaves too much to chance to find a registered Democrat in the city.”
As Hector A. Diaz would say, “Pay attention.” Howard Gardner said he was going to vote for MJF. I believe he can only vote once. One vote, which will be neutralized when Maria Pereira registers a new voter for Joe Ganim.
A former IBM executive who has in the past petitioned his way on the ballot learned “two valuable lessons” my seven-year-old could have advised him on? It’s obvious Gardner has not been reading OIB where Lennie has made it clear MOM (money, oganization and message) is needed to have a chance at winning a political race. I’ve made it clear many times an “s” for strategy must be part of the formula–MOMS.
Didn’t know door-to-door canvasing was the most efficient method to acquire qualifying signatures? All you had to do is check the voters list against those on the petitions after you got home with the signatures and you would have found out very early your method sucks. A “policy wonk” says you, Lennie? Sounds more like a failed policy wonk, don’t you think? Keep in mind in 2011 Gardner was on the ballot and this time around MJF is alone with basically no slate. If she lost with a pretty good slate in a two-candidate race back in 2011, what logic would leave me convinced victory is more likely in 2015 than it was in 2011? It is possible for MJF to win and I’m not saying she can’t or won’t win. Just looking at the big picture here and refusing or failing to do just that usually leads to disappointing results. The moral of this story is Howard Gardner failed to catch enough signatures to qualify and is now fishing for Bluefish. Good luck!
Go back here and read my take on the KKK and the KKF:
onlyinbridgeport.com/wordpress/finch-campaign-hits-ganim-on-white-supremacist/#comment-95989
Howard Gardner is an honorable man, and he isn’t going away. His moral compass is off the wall, and his belief there is a better way is genuine. I look forward to working with Howard in the very near future.
I just read in the Conn. Post the Bridgeport police have arrested two men for the shooting in Trumbull Gardens. Good job, but let’s hope they have the right people and they get the others who were involved.
It goes without saying the other suspects will be brought to justice. The U.S. marshals are exceptionally good at tracking down fugitives. All of them will see their day in court and enjoy the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
This morning’s Daily Bugle features a story above the fold headlined “Mayoral race lacks diversity.” The primary ballot doesn’t lack diversity. Smokin’ Joe Ganim is of Lebanese descent. Bill Finch is Avian American.
The Finch campaign has made a ham-fisted, “subtle as a flying mallet” attempt to connect Joe Ganim with the Ku Klux Klan. It was, quite simply, an effort to deflect attention from the real issues plaguing Bridgeport’s melting-pot community. We live in a city of diversity. Diversity is one of our greatest strengths, a huge asset. The Finch re-election campaign is cynically using it to divide the community for political gain. Hypocritical for a mayor whose antipathy and disdain for the city’s minority communities is plain for all to see. The city’s black community in particular has suffered from the discriminatory policies of a police chief who is more concerned with his pension and keeping the mayor’s office happy and satisfied than public safety in low-income neighborhoods. (It was only after Joe Ganim opened a campaign office and “unofficial” police substation on Reservoir Avenue in the wake of the shooting at Trumbull Gardens that left one person dead and eight others wounded, Chief Gaudett saw fit to increase police presence at the housing project.)
Howard, you are a true gentleman. A few other lesson you learned but may not have articulated yet:
1) If you are serious about being mayor, your next campaign should begin … today.
2) Raising money has got to become a second nature to you. Start a PAC. Spread the wealth. Learn how to ask and keep on asking.
3) Momentum is yesterday’s headline.
4) Coalitions win. Start building your own … today.
5) There is a future for you in Bridgeport politics. You need to find it and more importantly you need to continue to be yourself.
Good luck in all your future political endeavors and start by contacting all your friends and family and telling them who you will be voting for on September 16th.