One stinking week left! The tide of Tsunami Tuesday lands in seven days.
Yes, what I’m about to share with you is inside baseball, but in tight primaries inside baseball matters. Politics high and tight. Yup, get right in the batter’s kitchen. Savoy Street is one of those classic North End arteries with well manicured yards fronting cozy homes. If you point a squirt gun from Savoy Street and Madison Avenue you can reach the parking lot of Testo’s Restaurant, owned by the city’s Democratic Town Chair Mario Testa.
Bill Garrett, a liberal’s liberal, has lived on Savoy for about 30 years. For a good part of three decades he has fought the city’s establishment over a variety of land use and political issues as part of State Rep. Chris Caruso’s inner circle. Garrett loves giving Mario the needle and the lawn sign display on Savoy is a tribute to his twisted sense of humor. Mario many months ago decided to support Ned Lamont, and the millions he could spend on a campaign, for governor. If Lamont becomes governor Mario’s betting Bridgeport, and Mario’s peeps, will benefit. Say Stamford and Mario says screw Stamford. Mario blames Stamford pols for derailing a casino for the city 15 years ago. Talk about a long memory. It’s called Mario myopic vision. Dan Malloy was elected mayor of Stamford in 1995 and had nothing to do with the State Senate, especially just about every Fairfield County Gold Coast pol from Fairfield to Greenwich, voting against a city casino. It’s called guilt by association. Mario thinks he’s better off with Ned. Fair enough.
Guilt by association cuts both ways. Garrett and Caruso have no love for Mario, nor for Mayor Bill Finch who also supports Ned. They’ve decided to support Malloy for governor. It helps that most of Caruso’s union supporters also are behind Malloy. How personal is this? If you stand at Savoy and Madison looking east for just about as far as the eye can see nearly every yard on Savoy Street features a blue Malloy/Wyman sign. Nice to have loyal neighbors. For Bill Garrett, it gives new definition to bill board.
From SuBy:
BYSIEWICZ: NOMINATING PETITIONS FOR GENERAL ELECTION DUE TOMORROW
SECRETARY OF THE STATE REMINDS CANDIDATES OF AUGUST 4TH DEADLINE FOR THOSE SEEKING TO RUN AS PETITIONING CANDIDATES FOR NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION
HARTFORD: Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz today is reminding any candidate who seeks to petition his or her way onto the ballot for the November 2, 2010 General Election to turn in nominating petitions by Wednesday, August 4th at 4:00 PM. The nominating petitions are obtainable at the Secretary of the State’s Office at 30 Trinity Street in Hartford and must be delivered in person to the Secretary of the State’s office or Town Clerk’s offices in the towns where the petitions were collected.
“There are many candidates for various state and federal offices who are seeking to petition their way on to the general election ballot in November, but time is running out for the petitions to be collected and turned in,” said Secretary Bysiewicz, Connecticut’s top elections official. “It is crucial that any petitioning candidates for November turn in the required number of signatures by this Wednesday August 4th at 4:00 p.m. if they wish to appear on the ballot this November.”
Any candidate who wishes to petition their way onto the November 2nd General Election ballot must collect the number of signatures from registered Connecticut voters, in the district where he or she wishes to run, equivalent to one percent of the votes cast for that office in the last election. After they are turned in, the petitions are verified by Connecticut Town Clerks and if the candidate collects the sufficient number of petitions, he or she will be placed on the ballot as a petitioning candidate for the 2010 General Election.
August 10th my fellow Bridgeport Dems I urge you to vote for Ned Lamont, Glassman, Garcia, and Lembo yeah I know I’m splitting away at the end and voting Lembo but Mike J is a no-no. Want to talk about Lawn signs come over to Black Rock. One side of Black Rock is full of Lamont signs and when you cross Fairfield Ave and go to Grovers Ave and side streets all you see is Malloy signs kinda weird huh?
Quick question is Savoy in the Blackham precinct district? Lamont lost by huge margins against Joe L at Blackham. Malloy won Blackham in 2006.
Obama 33,976 and McCain 6,507 just look at the margin of victory wow this is a solid Democratic city. This is like a general election for Bridgeport reason why because this is a Democratic city from every side. More people will vote in this primary than the 2009 general election in Bridgeport!!!
donj–Get some sleep!
*** As mentioned before, many Lamont signs appear on some city-owned properties, however Malloy signs continue to be pulled from same. It’s getting nasty, no? ***
Well Lennie, nice to be back! Malloy beats Foley, Lamont loses (again) in the general. That’s why I’m for Malloy.
The Governor vetoed the little switch-a-roosie Dan tried to pull with doubling up in the 11th hour on the CEP funds. Nothing clean about that little maneuver.
Dan gets outspent 10 to 1 in the general election. Like it or not, Ned is the only one who can compete with Foley.
Ned wins primary. Ned is our next Governor.
I totally agree Bob Walsh!!! Ned Lamont for Gov.
You know what’s missing from this campaign–bumper stickers! Except for political events I’ve seen 1 Lamont and 1 Linda in the past month–that’s it!
“Bridgeport Now” Tue Aug 3 at 8pm Ch 88.
There is a movement to get more transparency and accountability in Bridgeport. So what our special guest tonight has to say is very relevant:
We are honored to have as guest, David Walker, who served as United States Comptroller General from 1998 to 2008, is now the President and CEO of The Peter G. Peterson, and is author of the book “Comeback America.”
He mentions in his book, among other things, the need for grassroots citizen watchdog organizations, which we now have in Bridgeport, one of which is called the Citizens Audit Committee of the BOE.
Note: Watch on the improved internet site soundviewtv.org. Our TV show web site is finally up, by the way: Bridgeportnow.net. Send comments.
donj how many times do we have to tell you that federal elections and state elections are two different critters? And one of the oddest critter anywhere in politics is the Bridgeport voter, white, black or brown.
It’s fine to be a yipper for your guy. It is more fascinating to knock on the side of the head of that voting critter around Bridgeport, and try to judge what that “thonking” sound means.
I think I agree with Grin Ripper: you need more sleep. You’ve been studying at school too hard.
“Yes, what I’m about to share with you is inside baseball, but in tight primaries inside baseball matters. Politics high and tight. Yup, get right in the batter’s kitchen.”
Yep Lennie, that’s inside baseball.
But Grasshopper, that’s not the whole story. The line-ups for these inside baseball teams are not limited to just the politicians, the armies of volunteer phone bank people or the households that allow the placement of a lawn sign.
The game also involves every registered party member. Many times the only connection these simple folk have to the process is their party registration. More often than not these everyday people are abused by the political players. Their votes are secured in advance and become the political capital of the players.
Mario, Big Wave Caruso, and soon to return to the line-up Rootin’-Tootin’ Newton all understand this and practice the art of vote hoarding. Check their histories; they all learned the game from pros of an earlier era.
But if once, just once, one of these simple folk rallies the neighborhood, change happens.
Street-level pols all fear some neighborhood activist coming to the forefront and challenging the status quo.
The late U.S. Rep. Stewart B. McKinney used to say the opponent he feared the most was a female League of Women Voters-type who had simple agenda for change. That was pretty insightful for a guy who had a district as varied as the then-Fourth Congressional District.
Stewart used to tell a story of a Chicago congressman who had a unique way of spending his taxpayer-funded office budget. He hired one secretary in Washington and paid an army of guys back in Chicago $100 per week to walk the streets and collect problems for him (the congressman) to resolve in DC. The congressman solved issues of Social Security, taxes, federal disability payments, any problem a voter had on the federal level.
It was all about keeping the voter happy in his mind. Sponsoring legislation was a waste of time for this congressman. Now, this philosophy didn’t advance the nation, but it gave the congressman job security and kept those nasty free-thinking neighborhood types on their front porches.
And don’t forget … when pols knock on your door … ask the question: “What’s in it for me?”
YES !!! (See, a learning moment.)
That’s the answer to the infamous question, “What’s in your wallet?” asked by elected officials seeking funding of their dreams and candidates seeking to become that lofty of animals, an elected official! (Gee, that sounds so much classier than ‘pol.’)
Lawn signs?
www .ctpost.com/news/article/Police-confirm-9-dead-in-Conn-warehouse-shooting-600554.php
Lennie, next week won’t be “stinky.” There is a chance it may be rainy or stormy. The tropical depression is now a tropical storm with a name. Keep an eye on Colin as you know how the weather can play a role in a close primary.
Just to affirm Brother Gilmore’s story, I have a little story involving Congressman McKinney.
Some poor lady from Clarence Street on the Lower East Side was being frozen out of her flat by a landlord who wouldn’t provide heat.
She had called City Hall, repeatedly. Someone gave her McKinney’s number. The staff was frozen out. The staffer got a hold my of partner at The Telegram, Anna Maria Virzi.
It was slow, it was Christmas, it sounded like a good story. I tagged. I drove. No partner of mine was going to Clarence Street in those days alone.
The woman checked out. Rental receipts etc. A good story. The publicity got her housing–and perhaps moved the landlord UP the condemnation list. He went on my list anyway. Which meant a thoughtful little inquiry every other week or so about his file in City Hall.
Before I left the flat, I asked the woman, who was Puerto Rican and didn’t speak English very well, where she heard of the congressman. “Oh here. On this bag,” she said pointing.
She had a McKinney for Congress bag with some clothes in it. She said someone was passing out stuff and she kept the plastic bag because it was good to keep sewing stuff in.
I talked to a McKinney staffer a couple days later about why they got involved. She answered along the lines that the congressman knew the city was jammed up and if they could help a problem, they like to do it. We help when we can.
Unstated, it was very good politics–even if it may not get that one vote, that one time.
Good will tends to build up.
Stewart, a Republican, tended to run better than he should have in a Democratic city, even in poor areas that are really Democratic. This story, I believe, is a small reason why.