The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
More diversity sought for Bridgeport City Hall
BRIDGEPORT — As he tries to force a Democratic gubernatorial primary, Mayor Joe Ganim has taken advantage of the criticism that the top of his party’s ticket — Ned Lamont and running mate Susan Bysiewicz — is too white.
Gathering primary petition signatures from the urban voters he needs to beat Lamont, Ganim said party leaders’ nomination last week of the Greenwich businessman and Bysiewicz was “not inclusive and insensitive to the diversity of Connecticut.”
So does Ganim’s City Hall reflect the diversity of Connecticut’s largest city?
The returned mayor — Ganim ran Bridgeport from 1991 to 2003 and was reelected in 2015 — has hired blacks and Hispanics for important, high-paid positions like chief administrative officer and her deputy, police chief and the health, budget, grants and labor relations directors.
“Talk about policy-makers and people with large spheres of influence,” Ganim said. “I’m well-served and appreciative of diversity. And whenever there’s an opportunity, I like to be aware of that opportunity for advancement, whether ethnic- or gender-based.”
Some prominent voices in the minority community want more people of color in top spots, and particularly in the mayor’s office.
Christine Bartlett-Josie, who is black and was hired in late 2016 as the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, was gradually shifted to two other departments before resigning this year. Her departure left the four remaining top spots in Ganim’s suite — chief of staff, two aides and director of communications — occupied by three white men and a woman who said she is part Native American.
State Rep. Ezequiel Santiago, who works for the city as a special projects manager in the public facilities department, said Ganim has employed some very qualified African Americans and Hispanics — “not figureheads” — for important jobs.
“You can definitely point to people and say some names,” said Santiago. “But not enough, in my opinion.”
Several other department heads, including those running the public facilities, economic development, finance, legal and fire departments, are white, as are a couple Ganim aides not stationed in the mayor’s suite.
“If you’re going to talk about a diverse ticket, your upper level staff should reflect the city,” said state Rep. Chris Rosario. “He does have some top positions that are diverse. I don’t think that’s the case in his mayoral (office).”
While the key advisers working in his suite are white, Ganim does have African-American or Hispanic women as the executive office manager, clerical assistant, receptionist and as a communications specialist
“The inner office could use a little bit more diversity,” said Council President Aidee Nieves, suggesting Bartlett-Josie’s vacancy be filled with a minority hire who could act as a neighborhood liaison. “The inner circle, it could use a little more color.”
“I still think he (Ganim) has a ways to go,” said community leader Ralph Ford. “We got black folks all up and down City Hall, but not in decision-making situations . ... We have to be at the table when decisions are made.” Ganim argued that the chief administrative officer is an extension of his office. That job is occupied by a black woman, Kimberly Staley.
John Gomes, a black man, is the deputy chief administrative officer, which is also an influential post.
“There are some key people in a diverse administration with key roles to play, most emphatically Kim,” the mayor said. “Everything goes through the CAO’s office.” Staley is like a second-in-command to Ganim, overseeing departments and initiatives.
Ganim’s hiring practices were under the microscope long before he tapped into the anger about the 2018 Democratic ticket.
Ganim was convicted of running a pay-to-play operation in City Hall in 2003. When he launched a successful primary three years ago against then-Democratic incumbent Mayor Bill Finch, Ganim, despite hailing from a wealthy suburban family, found voters sympathetic to his second chance bid in Bridgeport’s minority neighborhoods.
Just two months after he was sworn in, some prominent African-American leaders who aided in that victory, including Ford, pressured the returned mayor to make more diverse appointments to key positions, including his own office.
By that September Ganim appointed Maritza Bond as health director after laying off Finch’s black health chief. And by December 2016 he had promoted Staley from deputy CAO to CAO and brought Bartlett-Josie aboard.
However after a few months Bartlett-Josie, who had a reputation for being outspoken, was moved from the mayor’s suite to a vacancy in the small minority business office, and then to public facilities. A seasoned Democratic political hand, Bartlett-Josie left Bridgeport last winter to manage Shawn Wooden of Hartford’s campaign for state treasurer.
Bartlett-Josie in an interview last week said Ganim’s “door was always open to me” but “I think others (in the administration) certainly wish I was sidelined.” She believes that was in part because she speaks her mind, and because, unlike many other Ganim staffers, Bartlett-Josie did not want to get involved in his gubernatorial race.
Ford liked Bartlett-Josie: “Christine is not going to sit on the outside. She sits at the table when decisions are being made.”
Bartlett-Josie said of Ganim’s City Hall: “The overall administration, there’s diversity there. The mayor’s office in particular is all white. But the overall departments, he’s (Ganim) pretty good on that. I think he’s done a pretty good job. I really do.”
Councilman Alfredo Castillo said the mayor has tried hard to hire qualified people of color in management and middle management.
“At the end of the day he’s the only candidate who really relates to us,” Castillo said of Ganim. “That’s why he won when he went against Bill Finch. People related to him — his second chance. He identifies with us. The minorities identify with him.”