In the peculiar business of Bridgeport politics few elections embody what has emerged for an expected August 11 primary for judge of probate, 22-year registered Republican in Massachusetts Mark Bradley challenging long-term Democratic incumbent Paul Ganim.
Bradley eschewed a Connecticut driver’s license and registering a vehicle in Bridgeport until late March and April of this year just weeks after forming his candidate committee for judge of probate.
Court documents and voter registration history show Bradley has regularly declared his permanent, fixed domicile in Massachusetts the place he frequents upon return. His business interests are there, his children reside in Massachusetts and court transcripts reveal, in a messy child custody and support case, he receives Massachusetts health benefits.
Curiously, while voting in Massachusetts as a registered Republican since 2004, Bradley has been voting in Bridgeport since 2018 as a registered Democrat coinciding with his brother Dennis winning a state senate seat, and subsequently convicted by a federal jury in March on six election fraud charges stemming from that race.
Mark Bradley has voted dually in Massachusetts and Connecticut in several election cycles including in 2018 on the same general election day, according to his voting history supplied by election officials.
Mark Bradley Bridgeport voting history above, Massachusetts voting history below.
By mountain ranges of law, a person cannot claim more than one residence for the purpose of voting contemporaneously multiple times. It’s one person one vote, not two residences and two votes.
The State Elections Enforcement Commission has launched an investigation of Mark Bradley and in fact has levied serious fines (as it did against his brother Dennis Bradley) for this type of behavior including a case against a person who held a primary residence in Massachusetts while voting in Connecticut.
The commission ruled individuals may own property in multiple states but “no individual may vote for candidates, or be registered to vote for candidates, at more than one location at a time.”
SEEC has civil authority to fine bad-apple campaigns and individuals. It can also refer potential criminal action to law enforcement agencies but has no authority to block or remove candidates from the ballot. That authority rests with local registrars and state judges.
There is history for Bridgeport registrars to disqualify local candidates based on non-residency. A case such as Mark Bradley, however, requires more investigative determination than, say, a candidate running for a State House seat while living outside of that district. That’s why so often these things go before a state court.
There’s a lot to unpack in this Mark Bradley situation: his residency, false circulation of petition sheets, even potential forgeries of signatures in his ballot-approval quest.
Now let’s get to the headline fronting this story: MAGA Mark Versus Park Avenue Paul.
Democrats outnumber Republicans in Massachusetts by roughly three to one. To be a Republican in that state for 22 years, as Mark Bradley has maintained, shows a deep commitment to that party, 10 of those years during the Trump-MAGA era so grouped together by Democrats to create a stark contrast.
As for Park Avenue Paul, that’s a marketing narrative associated with his law practice located at the Park and Capitol Avenues. Probate judges in Connecticut are allowed to practice law while serving court constituencies that include guardian and conservatorships, overseeing adoptions and estates, in Bridgeport’s situation serving the most vulnerable communities: young and old.
Ganim’s probate court is open 40 hours per week, assisted by staff.
Mark Bradley claims, if elected, he will robe himself in the probate court 40 hours per week. A large no-show leap from an ambitious lawyer with all the evidence rejecting his mock Bridgeport residency.
And Mark Bradley has help along the way from a rogues gallery of politicians, his convicted brother, of course; City Councilwoman Maria Pereira, defending multiple counts of election fraud, preying upon senior citizens, including forgery, receiving a tasty payday for leading the absentee-ballot harvesting charge on behalf of the Bradley campaign.
Another Mark Bradley backer, City Councilman Alfredo Castillo, charged four times separately by the state for extensive election fraud.
Now, you may assert, didn’t these people support Paul’s brother, Joe Ganim, for mayor.
During Joe Ganim’s return to the mayoralty in 2015, both Dennis Bradley and Maria Pereira ran on Ganim’s ticket for school board. Both won. It didn’t take long for the honeymoon to end. Ironically, Dennis Bradley and Pereira fought like the US and Iran; Pereira promising she’d never support anyone named Bradley again. That changed.
A few weeks ago, Pereira did something unconscionable to the good people of Success Village – who experienced unconscionable trauma, no heat, no hot water, millions in fees missing under Success board leader Ty Bird, recently raided by the feds – parading Mark Bradley as her candidate for probate judge.
Pereira has made herself a pariah among most of the Success community.
Why?
When Joe Ganim’s mayoral administration petitioned super-hero Judge Dale Radcliffe to jettison Ty Bird and the board in place of new management (the judge appointed Barry Knott who has courageously turned the place around) it was the Bradley Law Group, led by partners Dennis and Mark Bradley, who tried to keep Bird in power while receiving tens of thousands in legal fees at the expense of Success homeowners.
Mark Bradley is attempting a quacky, revisionist duck-walk. “I had nothing to do with that.” Yeah, right.
As for Castillo, he’s just like Pereira. Sometimes these people hold out for the highest bidder.
It helps to pay for his criminal defense fees.
Paul Ganim is a great judge of probate, why would we change?