When it comes to voting women play hard to get. Such teasers. That means they break late deciding the candidate of their choice.
Every time I was involved in a campaign it was inevitable, in the days before voting women I did not know trooped into headquarters with a barrage of questions: Where does Joe stand on this? What does Bill think about that?
Guys are much more predictable than female voters. Raise my taxes and I punch you in the nose. Women weigh a variety of issues: character, health care, day care, environment, child safety, education, equal wages, pro choice, pro life, pro this, pro that.
In Connecticut’s high-profile U.S. Senate race, polls show that the leading GOP candidates Linda McMahon and former Congressman Rob Simmons trail well behind Dem candidate Dick Blumenthal–who’s been something of a consumer warrior in his years as Connecticut attorney general–for the female vote.
I don’t think this race will be a cakewalk for Dick, he’ll have a battle, but meanwhile McMahon and Simmons are doing a pretty good job of slicing each other up on the way to a May party convention and expected August primary. The question is when do they draw fire on Dick? McMahon has an ocean full of dough to spend and Simmons is trying to counter that by highlighting McMahon’s years as wrestling marketeer and profiteer as nothing more than exploitation of women. He’s placed an arm lock on McMahon with the video below. Will Republican female voters not understand the difference between entertainment and the real world? Or will they see Simmons as the real opportunist exploiting their vote for his benefit?
Hey, this video marketed and distributed by the Simmons campaign reminds me of a City Council meeting.
News Release From Mayor Finch
Mayor Finch Invites Community Members to Serve on Search Panel for New Health Director
Mayor Bill Finch today announced the formation of a search committee which will review resumes and conduct interviews for the City’s new Health Director. William Quinn, formerly Director of Health in New Haven is serving as Acting Health Director for at least 90 days while a search for a new director is conducted.
“We want this effort to be as open and inclusive as possible,” said Mayor Finch. “We’re asking prominent members of the community, especially those whose constituencies are served most by the Health Department, to help us determine three or more finalists for the position.”
The Mayor has invited the following people to serve on the search committee:
Rev. Anthony L. Bennett, Pastor, Mt. Aery Baptist Church; Timothy Callahan, Health Director, City of Norwalk; Rev. Simon Castillo, Ph.D; Carmen Colon, Executive Director, Alpha Community Services; Leticia Colon, Community Relations/Public Relations for Optimus Health Care; Rick Cruz, St. Vincent’s Medical Center; Rev. Kenneth Ginyard, President of the Interfaith Ministerial Alliance; Wilhemina Jackson, a healthcare professional at Bridgeport Hospital and designee of Rev. Kenneth Moales, Sr., Pastor, Prayer Tabernacle Church of Love; Jack McCarthy, former Health Department Director; Marilyn Moore, Founder and CEO of the Witness Project; Lawrence Osborne, Labor Relations Director, City of Bridgeport; Gail Solis, Executive Director of the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce; Ludwig Spinelli, CEO, Optimus Health Care; Charles Tisdale, Executive Director of Action for Bridgeport Community Development, and Dr. Dennis Williams, physician. Ruben Felipe, Deputy Chief of Staff will represent the Mayor’s Office.
Jodi’s Jail Update
It’s getting so I must take down that ridiculous clock I’ve had up for several weeks. The good news is Governor Rell hasn’t scheduled a Bond Commission meeting for February so that gives the city even more time to persuade the state to stick her jail–where it belongs–in Hamden, site of the former boys’ juvenile detention facility.
Still waiting for that 42-person Finch Transition Committee’s report. Another Finch Flop!
Nice editorial in today’s Connecticut Post on the University of Bridgeport. Mayor Moonbeam is a real space shot on this issue. He’s Lost in Space!
Well Pat the spendthrift Crossin is at it again. He wants to spend $24 million for an addition on Black Rock School. Isn’t that great.
I have a question where is the city going to come up with its share of the $24 Million? Just in case he and other members of the BOE haven’t noticed there are other sections of the city besides Black Rock. The city has spent a ton of money in this tony neighborhood. Remodeled library, community center, defunct art gallery, $500K for a little league field (state grant) 2 years ago this league had less than 5 teams. Streetscape aka gateway money.
Enough is enough. There are other sections of the city.
The 3 high schools we have are all in disrepair and I would venture to say that Harding & Bassick are over 75 years old. Sure we are building specialized high schools but what about the majority of students that don’t qualify to attend the aqua culture school, the Science High School at 90 acres and now the other new High School that is soon to be built?
We changed some of the people on the BOE but we still in reality have the same dumb-asses.
News Release From Mayor Finch, “Mayor Finch Invites Community Members to Serve on Search Panel for New Health Director,” what a joke. Mayor Finch had every right to fire Dr. Evans as the Health Director.
Nancy Hadley post this reply on Feb 7, 2010 at 12:03 pm.
“Grace and respect has disappeared from City Hall. Dr. Evans, an accomplished Ob-Gyn from Griffin Hospital left the comforts of that health care environment to work tirelessly for the residents of Bridgeport for six years. She did so many wonderful and important things for those that didn’t have a voice. The effort to heighten the issues facing those with diabetes, pre-natal care concerns, the crisis in community health, and the search for a new Health Department building come to mind first. The list goes on and on. No matter what the politics, Dr. Evans deserved to leave with grace and respect. Her departure should have been announced. She should have had a respectable transition period in order that her good works would be carried on in a professional manner. Her staff should have had time to say good bye.” Thank you Ms. Hadley.
Now let’s go back to Mayor Finch’s press release, the mayor is now trying to pacify the black community by asking them cover his ass for the insult that he just gave the black community. Finch never sought their advice in getting rid of Dr. Evans but now he wants their help, get the HELL out of here.
Dr. Evans is a talented and committed individual who has earned the community’s respect.
We all must use this as a teachable moment and to be more proactive vs. reactive. Dr Evans has been without a contract since 2008. Supporters, including myself, should have been questioning why her contract hadn’t been renewed so that this situation would not have occurred.
We should participate in the process to determine who the next head of Public Health will be or else we are stuck with the decisions made for us.
If you read the press release carefully you will see it says “to help us determine three or more finalists for the position.”
This is nothing more than window dressing to name that white guy from New Haven the new health director.
Finch has enough juice with the majority of the members because they are city employees, relatives of city employees, recipients of City block grant money that all Finch needs to do is get enough votes for that New Haven guy to make him one of the three or four or five or ten finalists that Finch can then name him and claim it had the blessing of the minority community.
This isn’t just old school it will be taking people who agree to serve back to school.
So here’s a thought: what happens if Dr. Evans applies to get her old job back and the committee puts her in the top three candidates? Then what?
FROM WTNH:
State Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo spent Tuesday afternoon consulting with the party’s legal counsel.
The issue is whether or not the Democratic party itself should seek a legal clarification on whether Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is legally qualified to be Attorney General.
This is getting messier and messier. What should Sue do???
I believe she should seek a decision from a court. Otherwise, after she wins the Democratic primary, the Republicans surely will seek clarification of her status. Does anyone know what happens then? Does 2nd place step into the general election?
I believe Sue is dodging a definitive decision because she is fearful her tenure as the SOTS is not sufficient to the AG “active duty” clause. Saying it’s up to the voters is the easy way out.
If she doesn’t seek clarification then Nancy and the Dem Party must so that we do not look like a incompetent party, unworthy of governing.
town committee, it’s interesting that you cite the $500k Ellsworth Field money as an argument against spending more money in Black Rock. The person who sought this money might be interested to know he contributed to the local school losing out on funding.
And you say money was spent on the “defunct art gallery,” you mean the Black Rock arts center? Please explain.
Bridgeport Now. Spending $500,000 on a little league field is a waste of state money. A few years ago there were so few signed up for little league that they need to combine their playing schedule with PCLL. Money was and is tight and I think it could have been spent for better things.
I meant the Black Rock Arts center. We should have sold that building to a developer with a plan. Look it just seems and I say this with envy that a lot of money is spent in Black Rock while many of the other areas in the city do without. Our library was sold to a church and now they rent a storefront for the library.
As far as the schools go the dollar amount mentioned would mean that the city has to come up with $4 or $5 million to add 2 grades and do updates. Most of the neighborhood kids I am willing to bet do not attend Bridgeport High Schools when they leave Black Rock School. Speaking of the High Schools, Harding and Bassick are a disgrace. This is where the most vulnerable and most ignored kids attend. These are the kids that need the extra attention. We are building 2 new high schools for the more gifted kids plus they will be regional. We are forgetting the kids where we should be spending the most time and the most money.
*** What would you expect the poor 2-faced Mayor to do after stepping in it again? Ask for help, & what’s funny is he’s going to get it from those “concerned citizens” (lol) that just might be looking for something down the line? There are enough minorities in Bpt. always looking for something to end up justifying the means for Finch, why? Maybe the same reason they can never truly come together to support one of their own in a larger setting? Maybe before anyone becomes a member of this P/R committee, they should ask the Finch Admin. “exactly” the reason for letting Dr. Evans go? *** Don’t really know this Crossin fellow, just negative hearsay from when he served on the council, the insurance scam, also he’s all pro Black Rock & not too minority friendly. And that he’s politically sneaky when doing the admin’s dirty work? If any of these things are true, time will tell more than likely. But then again, if he lives in the 130th district, then he should be looking out for his district regardless! *** There always seems to be a message to the madness if you look hard enough. ***
town committee: you say spending $500,000 on the little league at Ellsworth field is a waste of state money and should be spent on better things? But the little league kids don’t have a bathroom, what should they do? And what about storage of equipment?
As for the Black Rock Arts Center, it is up for bids for developers. You implied the city spent money on that building, however the building is not climatized for winter or summer. So where was the money spent, if any?
As for your library, I know. I have been there. The city just got money for library upgrades which is expected to be released now or in March, per 1 mil of city budget.
And regarding Harding, I was filming there over the weekend and did see the bleachers run down. Obviously was not able to get in school, though CT Post reports there are rats running around. Don’t know about that.
I think we need to focus on getting money and making sure it is spent correctly and help all schools in the city.
Let me say this, though. I do like to read your comments, and have done so live on the weekly TV show “Bridgeport Now.”
Bridgeport. I spent many many years at Park City LL and when the season started we rented portolets because we could not afford anything else and never got city or state money. $500,000 is a lot of money. Look we have spent a ton of money city and state, building new schools which is great. We are building 2 regional high schools for science but we are forgetting about the kids that take a general course and will be trying to enter the workforce or the military when they get out of Harding & Bassick and for that matter Central. the specialized high school we should be building is one that gets the majority of kids on a path to employment as they are not going to college instead we are sending them out into the real world ill-prepared. While I am at it when is someone in power going to address a 68% dropout rate?
The black community is not falling for the phony Finch committee. It’s a scam like everything else under this mayor. He is just trying to cover up a move that hopefully will cost him the next election. The termination of Dr. Evans was the last straw. There is no fixing that now.
It’s a joke. Look at some of the people on the committee. Lud Spinelli and Leticia Colon from Optimus who, btw, took over the privatized school-based health centers 2 years ago. Leticia was on the City Council at the time and steered the money directly to her employer. Don’t be surprised if Optimus takes over WIC. Thank Iris Molina for that. She is on the Optimus board. Conflict of interest? Blatant! Jack McCarthy? Are you shitting me? He was terminated by Mayor Fabrizi for being an ineffective health director. Dr. Evans replaced him. Lawrence Osborne? Hasn’t he done enough damage? Ruben Felipe? I suppose he needs something to do. These people bring nothing to the table except take up space.
In all fairness, some of the other committee members are representative of the Bridgeport community and will have the best interests of the people in mind. It’s too bad this committee did not convene two years ago when the assault on Dr. Evans began. Check the city’s website under the adopted budgets and you’ll see evidence of the Finch assault on Dr. Evans and her Health Dept. Her department was cut dramatically, more than any other under Mayor Finch. The school-based clinics, dental hygiene, labs and administrative staff were all eliminated. This is not a mayor who cares about poor children and their families. This is a man who cares more about rewarding political cronies and the people they sleep with rather than serving the community.
“It’s getting so I must take down that ridiculous clock I’ve had up for several weeks …”
Why don’t you keep the clock and count the days since the City of Bridgeport and tax-delinquent Sal DiNardo have been in court?