Ganim should run on his cash, not ours

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim may be entitled to run for governor, but he’s not entitled to run for the office on public money.

He is excluded from the Citizens’ Election Program program — the so-called clean elections program — by virtue of his conviction by a jury in 2003 on 16 counts of corruption that occurred while he held elective office in Connecticut as the mayor of Bridgeport, the state’s most populous city.

He spent seven years in prison and in 2015 completed a remarkable cycle when he won reelection to the mayor’s office. Some 11,000 Bridgeport voters were unswayed by his past and that was enough to put him back in office.

Ganim now intends to run for governor, picking up where he left off before his conviction in 2003.

The Citizens’ Election Program is a voluntary one. Candidates who want to participate receive public money for their campaigns and must abide by rules governing contributions, spending and public disclosure.

The purpose of the program is, essentially, to keep the corrupting influence of special interest money out of Connecticut politics. Qualifying candidates can get about $1.3 million to spend in a primary and $6.5 million for a general election.

It was founded in 2010 after “... years of scandal, the perception of rampant corruption in state government...” according to a state report.

The idea was to remove the stigma that had spread across state politics, including the incidents in Bridgeport involving Ganim and, separately, former state Sen. Ernest Newton, who also went to prison for corruption. The program then was revised in 2013 to bar applicants who have been convicted of felonies related to any public office they were holding at the time. It’s often referred to as the “clean elections bill.”

Ganim earlier this year asked for the ban to be lifted. The State Elections Enforcement Commission rightly turned him down.

The mayor has appealed to federal court, arguing in part that the ban limits his political speech and public funds will elevate other candidates’ voices over his. He can’t go back to what once was.

Ganim’s law license was suspended after his conviction and shortly after getting out of prison, he applied in 2011 to get the license back. Though a local bar committee was willing to take him back, their decision was overturned in court. Ganim went to the state Supreme Court, which also said “no.”

“We further agree with the trial court that the defendant’s failure to either explain, or acknowledge any responsibility for his extensive criminal wrongdoing, or to express remorse for that wrongdoing, was a highly relevant consideration in the particular reinstatement proceeding in the present case,” the Supreme Court said.

The Citizens’ Election Program, shortcomings and all, is worth protecting. If Ganim wants to run for governor, it should be on his dime and on the dimes of people who think he should be governor. He should not be an exception to the intent of the clean election program.