UPDATE
: Oh, my, former State Rep. Bob Keeley is telling pols that he will be a candidate for the Feb. 22 special election to fill Chris Caruso’s vacated state representative seat. The Big Wave resigned to accepted a state job in the Malloy administration.
Keeley represented Connecticut’s 126th state assembly seat during his first tenure in the Connecticut Legislature 30 years ago or so. Back then he fended off a primary challenge by Caruso who then defeated Keeley in a 1990 primary. Keeley turned around the next cycle and defeated incumbent Gabe Biafore in an adjacent district primary. Keeley held that seat until he was defeated by Auden Grogins in a primary in 2008. A candidate doesn’t have to live in the district to run, but must move into the district if successful. Keeley’s had some sleight of hand when it comes to addresses over the years.
“In order to qualify to get on the ballot, petitioning candidates must turn in a number of signatures equivalent to 1% of the total number of voters who cast ballots for that seat in the previous election, and signatures must be from registered voters in the district,” says Secretary of the State Denise Merrill.
A petitioning candidate needs only a few dozen certified signatures or so to qualify for the ballot not receiving the party endorsement. City Councilman Carlos Silva says he’ll start the petition process on Monday in this compressed time line to qualify to run for Caruso’s former seat in a special election Feb. 22. Petitioning candidates must submit signatures by Jan. 18. Lots of names floating out there. And who’s on the short list for party endorsement? Will there be a party endorsement?.
The assembly district includes portions of the Upper East Side and North End. Who the hell wants to vote in February? Break out the sleds. If it snows, maybe voters can jump on one of the Public Works Department GPS trackers. Will the turnout hit 15 percent? How many ballots will the Registrar’s Office print? How many absentee ballots in this race?
I love the picture, Lennie. Lennie Grimaldi on his sled being pulled by his vicious pack of OIB bloggers to vote under someone else’s name.
I spoke with Mark Trojanowski over the phone and he stated he did in fact made a phone call to Mario Testa to let him know he is interested in running. I want Carlos Silva to know I am the real “Straight Shooter.” I said I’d help The Trojan Horse if he needs help with the petition. 80 certified signatures is “a cake walk” to me. So if he (Mark) says “yes, I need help,” I’ll there for a friend who is a stand-up person.
Former Governor Jodi Rell didn’t do anything for Bridgeport as she left office and Chris Caruso doesn’t have any regrets about his recent decision (buyer’s remorse is an inappropriate term).
(wink)
Local Eyes, it’s okay to have your own opinion. Opinions can be turned into facts when one finds answers to questions their opinions are based on. Why didn’t Rell do anything for Bridgeport? She did do lots of things for Bridgeport that Bridgeport Democrats have taken credit for. She could have and would have done more if only Bridgeport voters elected Republicans to speak up for them in Hartford. I asked Andres Ayala and Felipe Reinozo this question. Have you ever personally sat down with the Governor and spoken directly to her or the Lt. Governor? The answer was “no” and then I asked, why not? They couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me why. I knew why! Because they delegate their responsibilities to the majority leaders and the Bridgeport delegation leader. Have your eyes been seeing the press releases Lennie posts here? Go back and read again and you shall see that by the very words of the Bpt delegation members they went to their leader for advice and help. We don’t send leaders to Hartford, we send followers who pick a follower among them to lead them.
Having coffee in Mayor Finch’s office does not qualify as doing something for Bridgeport.
Since the first day I started blogging here (when was that Lennie?) I have been OIBitch-slapping all those who come here or are the named subject because they fit in one or more of the categories below. Any OIB poster or person named in Lennie’s topics who has shown any signs of being: gullible, misinformed, ignorant, a wise ass, a clown, a fake, a follower with no hope of being a leader, a deceiver and so on, have been OIBitch-slapped (some continuously) and never even realized what took place.
I have been OIBitch-slapping with just one finger–or what’s left of it. It’s 2011, times are tough and you know what they say about when times get tough. As of midnight I have decided to start OIBitch-slapping with both hands and all the energy I can put behind the OIBitch-slapping. I am not immune to OIBitch-slapping and anyone is free to try, but keep in mind I’m the Master OIBitch-slapper and I have honed my skills for years now. I can block an OIBitch-slapping attempt. My OIBitch-slapping has never been intended to harm anyone. The intended purpose is to awake the OIBitch-slapped; educate them; encourage them to think like a leader; stop trying to deceive or misinform the readers; among other positive purposes.
Congratulations to Local Eyes in becoming the first OIB poster to get OIBitch-slapped with both hands. Who wants to be or is going to be next?
Didn’t the kid in Arizona post persistent incoherent rants on some blogs?
Yes, indeed–just like you do.
yahooy, say “Ouch!”
Today on my Facebook status:
Action does speaks louder than words, but convincing words triggers action.
–Joel Gonzalez 1/10/2011
I went places during the campaign that you wouldn’t go without a police escort!
The hell with the optical scan ballots for the 126th Assembly special election, just make sure there are 8,500 absentees printed up.
Good observation and point well made. No OIBitch-slapping deserved here–just a light pat on the back. Local Eyes and yahooy did you learn something here? I did!
Breaking News:
www .ctpost.com/news/article/Reports-Body-found-in-burning-car-in-D-C-is-948220.php
And I’m the sick one!
Yes, I learned every time Joel Gonzalez goes to Washington D.C. the crime rate explodes. This has been corroborated by the D.C. police who are perplexed in their ways to stop your ever-expanding crime spree.
This (click on link) is a must read for OIB readers. One would think any Bridgeport pol who would like to know what Bridgeport residents are thinking or concerned about as far as the city is concerned would come visit OIB to post and read comments. Do we not socialize at OIB?
www .dariennewsonline.com/news/article/Government-leaders-using-social-media-to-reach-946792.php
Just a friendly reminder on Bob Keeley. Bob was in office when the 138th district was carved up like a Christmas turkey thus we have 2 state reps and 2 state senators.
When Bob primaried Gabe Biafore he did not live in the district, he used a North Ave address where the family travel agency was. We proved he did not live there nor did he move into the district when he beat Biafore.
I do not have a vote in this upcoming mess but I do like Bob Keeley and I do like Carlos Silva. Based on the long list of prospective candidates I have seen to date these are the 2 best. Time will tell and the full list of candidates should be out in a few days.
You know, come to think of it this will be the first time the Registrars of Voters and the Secretary of State will have a chance to redeem themselves since the 2010 Bridgeport Ballot Bungle. (We have to make sure this goes down in history like the Black Rock Train Wreck.)
Are our Democratic committee people up to the task? Do we have the candidates available to make this a comic enterprise?
Well, I say yes. Having Keeley around is a good start. There is work to do and nothing less than a full effort is warranted.
I am sure we are all willing to do our part to spread rumor, innuendo, and character assassination. Some of you confront lying just by getting up in the morning. Another ignoble hour awaits. We must all do our part.
Oh, if only the OIB campaign for Bill Finch for secretary of state had succeeded! Then our dreams surely would come true.
*** Anyone registered in Bpt can run, no? It’s not like the Elections Enforcement Comm. is going to do anything whether you presently live or claim to move later into the said district. Good luck to all, it’s all academic anyway! *** Back to Basics ***
Happy New Year Joel!
For a few days during the holidays I wondered where the regulars had gone. However, Joel, you have been posting at a truly prodigious rate in the past few days. Looking at the past five topics, Joel contributed:
Charley the Bum–five of 20 postings (25%)
Big Wave–10 of 57 postings (17.5%)
Special Election–8 of 15 postings (53%)
Congress St. Bridge–1 of 1 postings (100%)
Keeley Mushing–8 of 13 postings (61.5%)
Averaging the percentages (not the absolute numbers) would make it appear that half the postings on OIB come from a digitally compromised Republican who loves political life in Bridgeport.
Joel you are full of information and opinions but you might wear yourself out this municipal election year if you continue at this pace. Might it not be to your advantage for some postings to appear during a day or week and have people saying, “Wonder what Joel thinks about it?”
I hope Joel took his meds before heading over to the PD.
I hear you BEACON2! But I don’t hear you enough and I’d like to hear more from intelligent posters like you. I’m not sure how much time I will have to blog in the future. Why do you think they call me “Speedy?” You only counted the OIB comments and if you were to add the Facebook, other comments and observations I post you’d think I had several clones. For years I suffered from writer’s block, now I’m sure I’ve overcome that impediment. It has been a wish of mine to write books (fiction) and I’m ready to go, but not quite organized to start. I’m glad Lennie Grimaldi created OIB as it has been a place I like and it has allowed me to hone and sharpen my writing skills and overcome writer’s block. Let me be clear when I tell you that what I write on OIB is not fiction. I’ll stop posting on OIB when I or Lennie Grimaldi die.
Did anybody count the number of postings the kid in Arizona made?
To me a posting is something written that makes some kind of sense. A posting should have some logic behind it, but the logic shall not be twisted.
Here’s the $12 campaign Local Eyes used to influence the recent election in Bridgeport:
www .GovernorMalloy.com
Here’s how voters in Bridgeport found out about it:
BridgeportCTUSA@aol.com
John Stafstrom, Dennis Murphy and Lennie Grimaldi, take note.
Sadly, Chris is cutting deals all over the place with enemies and friends alike. Sad how you get out of the rat race and become the rat.
Word is that Caruso already cut a deal for a DTC endorsement for his handpicked replacement. This from a man who spent his entire career railing against the machine. Ain’t that ironic!
Uh-uh BPT 1, that’s not ironic, that’s timely!
Not true.
Having town committee as my nemesis is like going on vacation every day!
Local Eyes I have told you time and again not to blog without your aluminum foil helmet. If you have lost it, Waldbaum’s is having a sale on aluminum foil. Hurry before the storm hits.
*** ABs will probably make or break the final results for this special election, no? Expect the usual AB “smoke and mirrors act” with “no” violations call from the elections enforcement comm. if called. *** HERE WE GO! ***