City Council President Tom McCarthy Saturday night was inducted into the Notre Dame High School Alumni Hall of Fame recognizing “individuals who have through their performance, conduct, and achievement, brought credit and honor to themselves and the Notre Dame community.”
The annual event serves as a major fundraiser for the high school that salutes alumni for community leadership, education and athletics. McCarthy graduated in 1992. McCarthy says “I’m excited to be recognized by my alma mater, Notre Dame High School, by being put into the Alumni Hall of Fame. I have to give full credit to my parents for making sure that a good education was a foundation for who I am today.”
McCarthy bio:
Tom McCarthy was elected the Bridgeport City Council President in December 2007 after serving for six years as a City Councilman representing the 133rd District. Tom is a full-time labor and employment attorney having received his Juris Doctorate from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, OH. He graduated with a degree in Political Science from Fairfield University.
As the Bridgeport City Council President, Tom has led the City Council during a time of great development. The long dormant SteelPointe project is now being built, featuring the Bass Pro Shops as the anchor tenant. The result of this is Bridgeport is now a destination point for businesses and developers. Tom has spearheaded efforts to reduce the city budget and stabilize city taxes while bringing a higher level of transparency and accountability to the city budgeting process. As co-chair of the Council Ordinance Committee, Tom managed the process that created the first Small and Minority Business Contracting Ordinance in Bridgeport. This has opened up new work opportunities for local and minority businesses in Bridgeport.
For his work on the Council, Tom was recognized in 2008 by the national newspaper, The Irish Echo, as a ‘Top 40 Under 40’ in the United States. The Bridgeport Regional Business Council awarded Tom their Regional Elected Official Impact Award in 2009. The Central Connecticut Coastal YMCA honored Tom with its Public Servant Award in 2010. In 2012, Tom was presented with the Bridgeport Elks Distinguished Citizen Award and the Disability Resource Center of Fairfield County Community Partner Award. In 2013, Tom was named “40 under 40” by the Fairfield County Business Journal. In 2015, Tom was named to the Notre Dame High School Alumni Hall of Fame.
In 2014, Tom was elected to the National League of Cities Board of Directors in his role as City Council President. In addition to his work on the City Council, Tom serves as a Board Member of the United Way of Coastal Fairfield County. He is the Vice President of the Barnum Museum Board of Directors and a Board Member of the Barnum Festival Foundation. Tom also serves as a member of the Bridgeport Airport Commission. The American Council of Young Political Leaders chose Tom to be a lifetime member and sent him as a delegation member on a goodwill trip with the U.S. State Department to Japan.
I guess you have to be a slug to get this nomination and McCarthy qualifies. I was wondering, on the day of the ceremony how are they going to get McCarthy’s head out of Finch’s ass?
Andrew–I frequently read your comments and have come to the conclusion you are truly a ruthless, mean-spirited individual. You never have a kind word for anyone.
Don’t read my comments and don’t care what you think. If telling the truth is mean-spirited, tough. Live on in your dream world.
Did Brett Broesder write the bio? It seems Tom McCarthy is getting better every day in such reports.
Where is the evidence McCarthy’s labor relations work for the City of Bridgeport would merit such acclaim?
Where is the proof of open, accountable and transparent governance process under McCarthy on the City Council as he claims? Taxes have increased. The Council neither reviews nor debates critical City issues, and the Committee system for the Council tables critical issues without settling them and serves no stewardship role on monitoring the actual spending of operating and capital dollars.
Simply put: NDHS needs funds, and has needed them for years. Tom McCarthy can perhaps as an honoree put more people in the seats at the dinner and hopefully checks in the envelope to assist the school than another graduate of his vintage. A practical conclusion for the school. Hyperbolic promotional letter accepted. Perhaps there will be some humorous stories, told by Tom on how Bill, Adam, Andy and he are making the City better, day by day? Time will tell.
Congrats is due to Tom. He is a smart man and no doubt loves the city. His decision to blindly follow Bill Finch and to be his puppet will hurt him if he has other political aspirations in the future. I just wish he would take a stand on his own from time to time, stand up to Finch for once in his life.
Tom McCarthy, congratulations on this honor bestowed on you. This award is for your achievements that have no political attachment. Only a kind word is necessary for such an achievement.
Steve, read the above right up. No political attachment??? Really.
Andy, Andy, Andy, can you just let the man enjoy a moment bestowed upon him from his school? Do you have to suck the joy out of this? Do you always have to crap on other people’s good fortune?
Tom McCarthy has hurt many many citizens of Bridgeport with the way he has led the council of lemmings. Look at the illegal charity donations made under his leadership. The list goes on and on. Steve, a guy screws people year after year and an out-of-town high school needs to award so award and we are to forget his past. You should pair up with Godiva.
Notre Dame High School must be desperate to place McCarthy on a pedestal. Perhaps it is better to allow him his day in the sun now while he is still on the city council and not yet indicted for misappropriation of funds.
These honors often come after someone makes a donation. Wouldn’t it be interesting if McCarthy directed City funds from the ‘other services’ line item in Legislative Services to Notre Dame?
Listen, I’m not a huge fan of McCarthy’s either, but he doesn’t deserve some of the things said about him in this thread. His resume speaks for itself, he works hard trying to make Bpt better. Like I said above, his biggest mistake was aligning himself so closely with Finch. Finch has taken him down some wrong roads, one of the biggest for me was when Tom said he didn’t remember the cost of Manny’s driveway coming up at any airport commission meetings. That clearly was Finch telling him to deny deny deny, trying to cover his own a**. That is when I knew Tom was done.
Harvey, I agree, his big mistake was aligning himself with the Finch administration. It was his choice and he did it to advance his political career. I saw it happen first-hand as my court case will demonstrate. He lacks a ‘moral compass’ and will do anything to be somebody. A classic example of Lord Acton’s theory on power and corruption.
The true story on McCarthy is he really wanted to be a state senator. The deal was cut that the DTC would name someone from Trumbull (Musto) just to keep Trumbull quiet. In two years McCarthy was to run and would be the next senator from Bridgeport but Musto screwed up the plans by winning the election.
I have said this so often I’m boring myself. Tom, who is a decent person, should take inventory now while he’s still in control of his political destiny. You can’t serve two masters; make a choice before it’s made for you. I’ve seen this happened so many times before, in different scenarios, but it always turns out the same. I’m disappointed that those who are close to Tom and understand the consequences of him losing everything, aren’t expressing honesty by giving him insight that perhaps he can’t or refuses to see. Politics is a hard game and takes no prisoners when the tide turns.
Just so people know, Tom McCarthy’s salary since 2009 has gone up $23,579. How much have your taxes gone up since 2009?