The political action committee Better Bridgeport, formerly known as Citizens Working For a Better Bridgeport, chaired by Jeanine Oburchay is inviting all potential candidates for City Council and Board of Education to fill out a questionnaire and return it by June 30. Candidates should E-mail betterbpt@gmail.com and specify whether you need the school board or council questionnaire, according to committee member John Marshall Lee.
More from Lee:
Better Bridgeport will review each questionnaire received by June 30 and invite selected candidates to a follow-up interview in mid-July. Endorsements of candidates in the primaries and in the general election may be issued by the group. Endorsements will be announced in August via official press releases and may come with some financial and field support to endorsed candidates. Individuals wishing to advance the cause of better governance in the City may donate to Better Bridgeport online at www.betterbpt.com. We are a thrifty group. Each dollar you donate will advance the cause of better governance in Bridgeport.
In August Better Bridgeport expects to co-sponsor with other civic-minded groups, public forums to showcase endorsed candidates and to allow citizens to ask questions and be heard. In addition John Marshall Lee will be holding informational sessions on City financial operations that “good governance” candidates are welcome to attend. The first one to be held is on Monday, June 26, 2017 at 5:30 PM. For more details on the Monday meeting, please call 203-259-9642.
Change the name, change the people running the group but nothing else had changed, this is still a Black Rock run organization that is basically all white.
Just curious, how do you know this?
Jennifer, this is from the website:
You can seek the endorsement of the Better Bridgeport political committee by contacting us for our candidate questionnaire. We will review all questionnaires received and invite select candidates to an interview by members of the committee.
Who are these committees members and who gave them the power to say who should run or not run for office and why are they any better than the DTC? I notice the groups that they list as friends but what do they have to do with these selections committees?
Oh, I see Ron. It’s a PAC, so they’re saying if a candidate wants their endorsement and $$ – sop. It’s been a couple of years since I participated, usually the general members approve the application criteria and those who have contributed to the PAC are on the vetting committee. It could have changed. I don’t think the PAC publishes a list of their members.
Jennifer, I’m back to my original point this is still a Black Rock run organization that is basically all white. If a candidate from the East End or the East Side for example if they want support of Better Bridgeport then they must follow the direction of John Marshall Lee?
Ron,
with all due respect it is a POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, not a governmental agency.
I don’t think that’s quite correct, it appears JML is just collecting the paperwork for the PAC.
Just helping with communications, Ron. The group is not all white, nor is it limited to Black Rock membership. Actual participants interested in better governance for Bridgeport currently list residents in six of the City districts. Thank you for once again weighing into an area by guessing rather than coming out and learning. You might have learned a lot at the Generation Now gathering. Time will tell.
JML Mackey does not want to learn anything it would be to much work. He would rather carp on the block mention white people ten wait for his twin to respond
Better Bridgeport / Citizens Working For a Better Bridgeport is mainly a Black Rock, white organization, they might have a few blacks and Hispanics in the group as token members. They want black and Hispanics candidates to kiss the ring of John Marshall Lee and those from Black Rock so that can get the organization support, they are sellouts if they do. Why would someone want to empower John Marshall Lee? Sounds like a new version of Mario Testa.
Ron,
Because you do not come out of your closet to meet new people, hear new ideas, and sense change in the City, you make judgements and statements about me and others that have no truth in fact.
For instance, Ron, at best my work of recent years, recorded regularly on OIB has been to report on financial facts and the way they are connected to City results, in one form or another. What power does a reporter have? A good reporter has personal integrity which is put on the line with every written word. So where is my “empowerment”? Where is the “ring” that you mention (or do you have ringing in your ears when I post)? I continue to be impressed with the great number of people who are learning and willing to step into the real “ring” of political challenge. The DTC does not look to find qualified candidates unless you mean folks who are not required to know much of anything, and are likewise routinely kept in the dark too often after winning. My definition of qualified would start with “independence” in contrast to loyalty, family “financial security” that is not looking for a job for someone that leverages at critical times an apparent conflict of interest, “curiosity” for asking questions and expecting good answers that may set out a new set of questions (there is a lot to learn), “respect” for themselves and for those they are running to represent, and a dedication to “public service” as their ultimate goal. Those are a few of my qualifications.Is this the equation that Mario preached in his kitchen or has in the 1983 edition of DTC rules? Are you still reading me? What do you think? Time will tell.
Ron the best thing that black and Puerto Rican candidates can do is stay away from you and your do nothing racial statements. Ron the world does not revolve around the “black community” if it did it would be stopped in place. You have nothing nice to say about JML because he unlike you is a doer.
Politics is not about the most qualified person, it’s about 50℅ plus 1, it’s about who gets the most and that’s done by identifying your votes and getting them to the polls.
Ron,
You are correct. Political wins are exactly what you are talking about regarding election day. Are you saying anything about politics other than election day. There used to be party platforms that have concerned some folks with issues. Do these things matter locally? If a party leader peels off a pile of greenbacks for distribution to those who get into cars, pledging to vote the “party line” even when there is not lever today, and then have to ask which line is their party line at a Democratic primary where all lines are Democrats? Is this voter caricature to be celebrated, or is that person a victim of a dead system?
So, winners need campaign workers with cars, and perhaps some below the radar inducements to vote a certain line? But the people of the City do not need qualified candidates, because this does not matter. Is that your final post to this topic? Time will tell.