Mark your calendars. On Feb. 22 a special election will fill the state assembly seat vacated by Chris Caruso who’s taken a job with the Malloy administration. A candidate forum will take place tonight (Tuesday) at the Lake Forest Clubhouse on Frenchtown Road. Connecticut’s 126th Assembly District includes parts of the North End and Upper East Side. Here’s your chance to hear from the candidates and ask them what kind of ride operation they’ll have if we get another snowstorm. Break out the dog sleds.
From the Lake Forest Association:
126th State Assembly District Special-Election, Candidates’ Forum, 7 PM, Tuesday, 02/08/11
Lake Forest Association will conduct a candidates’ forum on Tuesday, February 8, 7:00 PM at the Lake Forest Clubhouse, 424 Frenchtown Road, to which all of the official candidates contending to replace long-time Bridgeport State Representative Chris Caruso have been invited to participate …
The candidates contending to replace former State Representative Caruso are:
Former State Representative Bob Keeley (one-time representative of the 126th District); Rev. Charles Stallworth, Bridgeport Police Commission member, pastor of the East End Tabernacle Baptist Church, and member of the Bridgeport Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance; previous contender for the 126th District Seat, Bridgeport Police Officer Verna Kearney; Thomas Lombard; Mark Trojanowski; Joe Giaquinto; James Keyser; and 136th District Councilman Carlos Silva.
*Please plan to car-pool, due to the snow-related reduction in parking-space and other snow-related parking restrictions.
My Great Uncle Michael Daly, editorial page editor of the CT Post, quotes Democratic Town Chair Mario Testa in a column about the potential mayoral candidacy of Mary-Jane Foster:
“She’s a formidable candidate,” Testa said. “I don’t know if she will have the town committee endorsement. Mayor Finch has got the endorsement.”
He hemmed a bit. Hawed a little. “She does have a record as a business woman,” he said. “I would not discourage and I would not encourage her,” he said.
He paused a moment and then declared: “But, hey. This is democracy.”
Mario and the mayor don’t have the greatest relationship, but Mario really doesn’t have anyone else. Not yet, anyway. If Foster decides to segue from exploratory committee to candidate committee the mayoral race will not be so boring afterall. “This is democracy,” states Mario. If you talk privately to most of the rank and file members of the Democratic Town Committee they’ll tell you Foster would make a far better mayor than Finch. She’s smart and thoughtful and not infected with the narcissism that strangles his decision making. Finch wasn’t always this way. Perhaps it’s too much Pequonnock River water.
But they will also tell you that, for now, they’re sticking with Finch because his excessive admiration for himself hasn’t translated into full blown implosion. They have their job and legal work and consulting gigs controlled by hizzoner. Such courage, eh? But the notion that the DTC is unbeatable in a primary is a bunch of chicken droppings. They’ve been beaten before. And if they control so many votes why did they throw John Fabrizi under the bus in 2007? Because they didn’t think he could win.
Mary-Jane Foster and her husband Jack McGregor (full disclosure: I am his biographer) created an excitement in Bridgeport this city hadn’t seen in decades with the development of the Bridgeport Bluefish, and ballpark and arena at Harbor Yard. She no longer co-owns the team and the whisper campaign the Finch forces have started questions the economic viability of the fish. Amazing, the Finch people didn’t say a peep about that when Finch implored Foster for campaign donations, when he urged her to serve as his mayoral transition team chair in 2007. I want you, I need you, I love you, Finch said then.
Now that she’s a potential threat, differently story. But, ah, it’s democracy, isn’t it?
BRIDGEPORT — Former Mayor Joe Ganim brought his two sons along Monday afternoon for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemorative march in the city’s East End.
The former city leader, who was released from prison last year, used to attend the event every year. “It’s good to be back,” Ganim said.
When asked if he would ever consider another run for office, Ganim replied: “You never know what the future holds.”
“It’s always a pleasure to be back in Bridgeport, to be in the East End,” said the Easton resident, who received several rounds of applause throughout the day from the people at the march and following ceremony.
Ganim called the day’s events “inspiring.”
“That type of inspiration can lead in so many different directions,” he said, not ruling out a move back to Bridgeport in the future.
With one decision Chris Caruso has triggered a bunch of decisions for city pols. Accepting a gubernatorial appointment from Dan Malloy, and staying out of the mayoral sweepstakes, has unleashed political musical chairs.
Caruso, who waged close challenges for the mayoralty in 2003 and 2007, will take a position with the state economic development department working on urban issues. He resigned his state representative seat on Tuesday. A special election will take place in March to fill the vacancy.
Why did Caruso take the state job? At age 51, and living on a base salary of roughly $32,000, accepting the $72, 500 a year job sets up Caruso’s retirement years. He had served in the state legislature since 1991. Caruso supported Malloy in the Democratic primary over Ned Lamont.
Caruso says as a result of accepting the state job, he’ll not be a candidate for mayor this year. That decision knocks out an immediate threat to Mayor Bill Finch but opens up opportunities for others to capture a constituency not enamored with his first term. Former Finch administration official John Gomes is the only formally announced candidate. He had directed the city’s government-efficiency Citi-Stat Program before a falling out with Finch over direction of the department.
Mary-Jane Foster, a vice president at the University of Bridgeport and co-founder of the Bridgeport Bluefish, is conisdering a run and no doubt will be encouraged to get in by anti-Finch forces.
Former Mayor John Fabrizi would love his old job back, but Fabs has never been a self starter when it comes to campaign life. He’ll need a group of pols to put it together for him.
Former State Rep. Ernie Newton is looking to get back in the political action after returning home last year following completion of his public corruption sentence. Will he run for mayor or seek his old state senate seat occupied by Ed Gomes in 2012?
This Bridgeport Herald cartoon in 1938 zings a sleepy Pete Brewster, the city's Public Works director, for "Waiting Till The Sun Shines" for snow clearance.
It’s one of Bridgeport’s legendary lines: “God put the snow there…let Him take it away.” Bridgeport’s penny-pinching Socialist Mayor Jasper McLevy, 1933-57, received credit for the declaration following a snow storm in 1938. Jasper was cheap. Voters loved his frugality. Except during storms.
McLevy never uttered those words, but what’s the sense of having a good line if you cannot attribute it to someone? The genesis of the expression comes from Pete Brewster who served as McLevy’s director of Public Works. Several months after the storm, Brewster was taking a friendly beating from city scribes over beers at Billy Prince’s bar on State Street downtown. Each sip of beer pried another needle. The piling on unnerved Brewster. “Let the Guy who put the snow there take it away,” Brewster snapped.
And so it was done. Down through the years the comment morphed into a McLevy classic shared by thousands of city residents.
So I gave up the idea of a circus, and concluded he was from an asylum. But we never came to an asylum—so I was up a stump, as you may say.
I asked him how far we were from Hartford. He said he had never heard of the place; which I took to be a lie, but allowed it to go at that. At the end of an hour we saw a far-away town sleeping in a valley by a winding river; and beyond it on a hill, a vast gray fortress, with towers and turrets, the first I had ever seen out of a picture.
“Bridgeport?” said I, pointing.
“Camelot,” said he.
—Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, 1889.
In 1986 Bridgeport celebrated its 150th birthday. I had to come up with a title of a book to commemorate the city’s history. It seemed to me that with all the odd stuff that happens in the state’s largest city the title Only In Bridgeport was a fit. I mean the city had actually built a firehouse on private property. How did that happen? One of its mayors campaigned wearing a bullet proof vest. The FBI tried to sting the city’s top cop, but guess who got stung? Yup, wily Joe Walsh pinched the feds proffer.
The showmanship of P.T. Barnum, who made Bridgeport his home, became contagious. So, Only In Bridgeport was born, an illustrated history that tells of a small town’s drive to become a major industrial center and all the crazy stuff that happened before and after.
In 2011, Bridgeport celebrates its 175th birthday. I’ve completed a 25th anniversary update from the first printing with more images and more kooky stories.
On Thursday (Dec. 9) from 5 to 6:30 p.m. I’ll be signing copies of the book at Rainy Faye Bookstore, at Broad and John Streets downtown. Host Georgia Day will provide refreshments. Come on down and support an independent bookstore in downtown Bridgeport. And tell me your favorite only in Bridgeport stories.
Get a load of the love State Rep. Chris Caruso is receiving from members of the city’s legislative delegation that elected him leader for the General Assembly session that begins in January. Who says Caruso cannot get along with fellow pols? Caruso is seriously considering a mayoral run in 2011. Check out this news release:
REP. CARUSO IS ELECTED CHAIRMAN
OF BRIDGEPORT ’S LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION
Members of Bridgeport ’s legislative delegation have elected State Representative Christopher Caruso to chair their delegation.
Rep. Caruso, a veteran legislator and the dean of Bridgeport ’s legislative delegation, was re-elected to his 11th term this year in the Connecticut General Assembly.
“I deeply appreciate the support of my Bridgeport colleagues for electing me chairman of the Bridgeport delegation,” Rep. Caruso said. “By working together we will succeed in getting results for the citizens of Bridgeport .”
“This is going to be a very challenging year, particularly for legislators from the state’s largest cities like Bridgeport ,” Rep. Caruso said. “Despite a very difficult economy, we must ensure that the state budget is not balanced on the backs of Bridgeport ’s residents. It will also be important for Connecticut ’s municipalities to be able to consider revenue options other than relying on the property tax.”
“We feel like our delegation works well together,” Senator Edwin Gomes (D-Bridgeport) said. “And we felt that Representative Caruso was very experienced and very able to lead the delegation. His knowledge of the legislative process is beneficial to us.”
“It was my honor to nominate Chris for the position of Chair because of the fact that during my first two years he always offered to assist and was there whenever I called on him,” Rep. Ezequiel Santiago (D-Bridgeport) said. “He has the tenure and experience to allow the delegation to build on the progress we have made over the last two years.”
“As the senior member of our delegation, Representative Caruso has been a tireless supporter of our City of Bridgeport for many years at the State Capitol ,” Rep. Don Clemons (D-Bridgeport) said. “I am sure he will continue to work on the issues that affect us all.”
“Rep Caruso is an effective and dedicated public servant and his years of service prove I am not the only one that believes that,” Rep. Jack Hennessy (D-Bridgeport) said. “I therefore have no reservations and fully support Chris for Chair of the Bridgeport legislative delegation.
“Representative Caruso’s experience at the municipal and state level makes him very effective at getting legislation passed,” Rep. Auden Grogins (D-Bridgeport) said. “We are pleased that Chris has volunteered his time and service for this important position.”
Rep. Andres Ayala (D-Bridgeport) said, “Chris Caruso’s extensive experience in the legislature will serve our entire delegation well as chairman and will help promote our city in Hartford .”
“I’ve learned a great deal from Representative Caruso over the last two years, and I respect his ability to get things done,” Senator Anthony Musto (D-Trumbull/Bridgeport) said. “I look forward to his leadership for our delegation as we enter this difficult budget year.”
Rep. Caruso said the delegation will meet soon to begin building a legislative agenda for the city.
