Former state commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Harris is checking the primary petitions collected by Joe Ganim political operatives for irregularities. Meanwhile, now that the signature drive for governor is over, Ganim is picking up his fundraising pace as he faces the millions Democratic endorsed Ned Lamont will spend. Ganim had a big-ticket event Thursday night Downtown at Joseph’s Steakhouse. The maximum personal contribution to Ganim’s campaign allowed by state law is $3,500. The current fundraising quarter ends on Saturday.
From Neil Vigdor, Hartford Courant:
Ganim said Lamont’s campaign is welcome to inspect the signatures he collected as part of his record-setting petition drive.
“Look, if they’re gonna try to question or challenge … they’ve probably never seen 32,000 signatures before,” Ganim said. “I know they were shocked and taken aback. I think they recalculated the depth of support this grassroots campaign has. Maybe they should have spent six weeks going out and making voter contact.”
Lamont’s campaign manager Marc Bradley said Ganim should move beyond politics to the issues.
“Ned Lamont is spending every day criss-crossing the state talking to voters about his vision for Connecticut,” Bradley said. “Meanwhile, Joe’s still talking about signatures he filed two weeks ago. Where’s his plan? Is this it? This is a critical election. Connecticut deserves better.”
Full story here.
There are many similarities between a petition drive and an actual campaign.
Conclusion: Ganim has recent experience running a statewide campaign (he was competing against himself) while Lamont walked with little fanfare at Trumbull Gardens.
Things are different now.
Ganim has 30,000 signatures earned the hard way while Lamont has the support of a party system willing to nominate anyone willing to fund their own campaign.
Advantage: Ganim.
There are little similarities between a petition drive (especially state wide) and a GOTV operation.
It is one thing to stop someone and ask for his signature and another thing to commit to supporting you and THEN actually getting the to the polls to vote for you.
But keep telling your self it’s the same thing and then just expect these thousands of voters to show up at the polls.
Bob Walsh was born to legislate.
Joe Ganim was born to elevate, motivate and govern-ate.
The key to doing this is to get the state to throw out the petition or more importantly the petitioner.
The petitioner must get a letter of good standing from the registrar in the town they reside before circulating a petition. If they did not do so then throw the entire petition out.
Obviously, the petitioner must be a registered Democrat when they circulate the petition. If they signed up as a Democrat at the same time that they agreed to circulate petitions and there was a delay in entering the enrollment form the petition should be thrown out.
If there is a something wrong with the notarized signature on the back as to who was the circulator, throw the petition out.
Johnathan Harris is an excellent choice for the type of work.
Good luck, Johnathan.
I sold all my Ganim Signatures to Ned for $3 each, Mayor Joe Trump only wanted to pay $2 each on the last week, and only if the sheet was filled, plus free Pizza at Mario’s.
Political enthusiasts are urged to get Ganim’s autograph now because once he makes history for the second time in six weeks, its value will increase.
If Lamont is able to challenge some of the graveyard signatures, I don’t think he will have time to change the ballot. Ganim will pay $5 per vote how about you Lamont.
This could be the reason Ganim is surging in New Haven. Harp expecting a huge job with Ned Lamont? New Haven may have the last word on that!
On a break enjoying the 91 disgusting degrees an humidity.
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/New-Haven-Alders-to-Investigate-Pay-Increases-Handed-Out-by-Mayor-Harp-486075671.html
Charisma means having the ability to surge during an August primary. Not many can do that.
hey Stevie
Tell me. When did you see something like this happen in Bridgeport.
Not the raises, it happens all the time. But the Board of Alders having the audacity to question the mayor.
Talk to me when Bridgeport’s board begins to grow some and actually says something about it.
So far only lame gestures at platforms from the gubernatorial candidates… Lamont has no believable plan for getting the state — especially its urban centers on track — and he’s stupidly grasping at straws to eliminate the need to run a primary campaign against an underfunded candidate with a challenged background… What does this say for Lamont? LAME!… (Is Harris a paid Lamont Campaign employee? Is this a make-work project for him?…)
Connecticut is in big trouble… Hardly a bright spot at all among the gubernatorial candidates at this critical time… (Will Infosys come to Hartford if Lamont isn’t there to shepherd a few $hundred-million in tax-breaks/grants for them?? And those jobs are for Hartford residents?)
As always Jeff, nothing but questions and throwing rocks with no solutions. Who say you Jeff that will lead Connecticut from this abyss and how do they do that? Don’t bother Jeff that was rhetorical because I know that all you do is ask questions and throw rocks.
Don, please, leave Jeff alone, he’s a big time David Walker supporter but that ship is long gone. Jeff’s main complain is the Gold Coast, please.
Asking questions is easy. Making statements is much harder.
Here’s the juicy stuff: If you only ask questions, you will never be wrong!
*** $3,500. is an expensive steak & potatoes along with political talk over coffee & desert, no? *** Hey, you think maybe I can get a burger & a coke to go? ***
Supersize It!
*** ARE WE BLOGGERS ALLOWED TO BLOG ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE CURRENT “OIB TOPIC HEADING” WITHOUT BEING PENALIZED? *** EXAMPLE- “WORLD CUP FEVER”! HOW ABOUT NATIONAL CURRENT EVENTS, ETC.. ? *** RACE? *** WEATHER? *** WORLD POLITICS ***
We need an alternative outlet for our inspired thoughts, no?
alternativesame page outletThis is “somewhat” off topic but,to some degree, the question being posed of who would be better for Bridgeport leads us invariably to the Bridgeport Educational System. I am going to copy and paste an article I found about some work that has been done in the Camden,N.J. school system. Camden N.J. is a city very much like Bridgeport;an old mid-sized Northeast urban center that has declined across every socio-economic category. It is a lengthy read so be prepared to sit with it for quite a while if you decide to take it on. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/30/camden-superintendent-education-reform-paymon-rouhanifard-218940
A shooting last night at Tiagos,time to shut that place down,there’s been numerous incidents there.Politically connected or not,Joe Tiago’s bar is a huge problem downtown, among other things.
Harvey, CTPost reports that homicides are down from last year. However, what about some stats on 14 or 15 year old drivers stealing cars and high speed chases? How about drug busts where guns and drugs are found along with bodies that some thought were death by overdose? Where are those statistics and others that put a different light on the violence, the dangers and the environment facing parents with children in our community? Where are the hot spots? Where do police want eyes and ears from the public to report what they see? Time will tell.
John: The PD doesn’t really want citizen input in Bridgeport anymore. There is PD-media collaboration to sanitize the real situation in Bridgeport (as there always has been, albeit to am much lesser extent) and elsewhere in the state. The sensational stories that engender community awareness through the “grapevine” — the stories that must be covered because of their nature and pre-existing community awareness (such as murders, police-chase mayhem) are what we will see through the media… As you point out, the “low” crime “statistics” belie the fact that drug-dealing is obvious and prolific throughout Bridgeport, and drug houses/”speak-easy” ($party$ houses) are operating in the open, as “cottage industries,” with impunity, throughout the city, resulting in unprecedented numbers/rates of overdose deaths by illegal drug use, more than supplanting the deaths by “violent” crime, which have undergone a temporary, cyclical decline (probably coinciding with a temporary stability in the distribution of drug turf in the city) which, of course, will end as natural forces within the illegal drug market demand intensified drug-gang war…
Not to be too cynical (but to be more coldly-pragmatic); perhaps the “war on illegal drugs” is ,indeed, pointless, and needs to be replaced with the legalization/regulation/taxation of presently-illegal drugs, in conjunction with education and treatment options and related programs to address family-dysfunction related to substance abuse… After all, it would seem that it is corporate America — Diego, Purdue Pharma, et al. — that are really responsible for the vast majority of drug-abuse related deaths and family-dysfunction defining the present “drug problem” in the US… In the mean-time, the PD might address the public-safety/quality of life issues related to the “shooting galleries” speak-easies ruining neighborhood life throughout Bridgeport (e.g., Louisiana Avenue in Nob Hill) even as they address the continuing, “low-level” drug-turf-war and related, neighborhood shoot-outs and drive-by shootings occurring in neighborhoods, such as Lake Forest… (Just as they finally — after several years of severe, neighborhood problems — caught up with the source of the problematic activity in the Blackham School neighborhood this past week…)