From activist to insider
Retired judge Carmen Lopez joins Democratic Town Committee
BRIDGEPORT — Retired state Superior Court Judge Carmen Lopez is not an elected official or on the municipal payroll, but has had a significant influence on municipal government this past decade.
And now she is going from outspoken outsider to insider, joining the moversand-shakers on the Democratic Town Committee who are often the targets of her disdain.
“I didn’t ‘sell out’ to anything,” Lopez said Wednesday. “People, when they sell out, there are deals made or jobs that are promised or positions. I’m not seeking any position, certainly not any financial payment.”
Having spent the past several years as an activist battling current Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration and that of his predecessor, Bill Finch, over multiple issues that impact Bridgeport residents, Lopez was offered a seat on the 90person town committee and accepted.
“Perhaps at this point in time in the year 2022, perhaps it’s time to have my opinions heard within the tent that all those decisionmakers sit in,” she said.
The committee, run for years by Chairman Mario Testa, another of Lopez’s frequent targets, endorses candidates for the state legislature, mayor, City Council and school board. Members are nominated every two years and, as was the case Tuesday, typically there are some challengers who force lowattendance primary elections.
In fact a reform slate of candidates, including a leader of the good government Generation Now civic group that has frequently opposed Ganim and Testa, lost Tuesday.
There was no such drama in the Black Rock political district where Lopez and her husband, Judge Dale Radcliffe, live. She was asked by local Democratic leader and close Ganim aide Daniel Roach if she would join the town committee, agreed, and will attend her first meeting next week at Testa’s restaurant, Testo’s.
“I’ve always had a decent relationship with Judge
Lopez,” Roach said of why, despite her being at odds with Ganim, he approached her when a vacancy opened on the Black Rock contingent of the town committee. “Even though we don’t agree on everything all the time, there is a certain amount of mutual respect there, I believe.”
He added, “She is outspoken, but nobody can deny that she is a prominent person on the political scene.”
Lopez, who was on the town committee years ago before becoming a judge, retired from the bench in 2008. She has since, either directly or working behindthe-scenes, helped thwart the Finch-supported state takeover of Bridgeport’s Board of Education in 2012; contributed to the Ganim administration’s decision in 2018 to scrap then-new automated downtown parking meters; fought for changes in how the city penalizes households that have fallen behind on their sewer use fees; taken on various zoning issues, including Hartford HealthCare’s effort to install a rooftop sign at St. Vincent’s Medical Center; and most recently challenged the restrictions the mayor’s media policy imposes on department heads.
“Many people encouraged me to accept the invitation (from Roach),” Lopez said. “He said he has room for all opinions so would welcome somebody who thinks differently on things. (And) he has always treated me with respect.”
Asked if he approached Ganim and Testa before extending the invitation to Lopez, Roach said, “I notified folks, but it wasn’t a question of asking for permission. And nobody had an issue with it.”
Lopez is also sometimes mentioned as a potential mayoral candidate. With Ganim expected to seek reelection in 2023, she said Wednesday, “It humbles me that people think I could do that job. I’m committed to the city and maybe this time will be different for me and I’ll really consider it.”
And that will be one of the areas where she and Roach will agree to disagree.
“I’ll be supporting him (Ganim),” Roach said.