Ganim prepares to open reelection campaign HQ
BRIDGEPORT — As they took their seats Thursday evening around the dining tables, attendees at the Democratic Town Committee fundraiser were greeted with a reminder of another election-year obligation: Fliers announcing Monday’s opening of Mayor Joe Ganim’s campaign offices.
Technically the location — 910 Broad St. — will be Ganim’s second downtown headquarters. The nearby government center at 999 Broad St., where the mayor
and the municipal employees who double as his reelection staff work, will be the unofficial hub of the effort to win Ganim another four-year term.
“This party, this Democratic Party, needs to take a good look at the hard work and accomplishments we’ve been able to succeed at the last three-and-a-half years,” the mayor told Thursday’s crowd in party chairman Mario Testa’s North End restaurant.
With fellow Democrats state Sen. Marilyn Moore, who has built a political career without Testa’s support, and state Rep. Charlie Stallworth, a Ganim ally-turned-critic, seeking to take over the mayor’s office, the night’s theme was “unity leads to victory.”
“Remember, what we started needs to continue for the people of the city,” Ganim concluded in a brief speech that likely served as a preview of what he will say at Monday night’s headquarters opening. “As a united Democratic Party, let’s go out and get the job done.”
Diners paid $50 to $1,000 and many were the same faces who have been called upon again and again over the past few years to support not just the town committee and Ganim’s mayoralty, but the latter’s unsuccessful 2018 bid for governor
Ganim, who over the past couple years has raised around $300,000 for reelection, just hosted his own pricey fundraiser in early April at Brewport that drew numerous municipal employees.
One city staffer at Testa’s dinner acknowledged that showing up and writing checks is expected of the men and women Ganim —sometimes with the consultation of the party chairman — hires to help run Connecticut’s largest city.
Nancy Wyman, the lieutenant governor-turned-state Democratic chairman, made a brief appearance Thursday, but was careful to steer clear of local mayoral politics and personalities in her own pro-party speech to the crowd. The only thing Wyman endorsed about Ganim was the facial hair he has started to grow.
Gov. Ned Lamont was also invited to the Bridgeport town committee’s fundraiser, but did not attend. Lamont soundly defeated Ganim in last summer’s gubernatorial primary, then won November’s general election with significant voter turnout in Bridgeport.
Moore endorsed Lamont in the primary and has been touting a close relationship with the new governor as she runs for mayor.
Moore and Stallworth were obviously absent from the festivities, but state Rep. Chris Rosario was present, and seated next to Ganim and the mayor’s parents at the head table.
Rosario has quickly emerged as a leader in Bridgeport’s legislative delegation and is very influential in the Hispanic community. As such, he would be a valuable ally in this year’s mayoral contest. And though he has sometimes been critical of Ganim, Rosario on Thursday gave no indication that he might get behind Moore or Stallworth.
“We have no better partners (at the state Capitol in Hartford) than our mayor and chairman,” Rosario told the crowd.
Rosario worked in ex-Mayor Bill Finch’s administration. And after Ganim ousted Finch in the 2015 Democratic primary and won that November’s general election, he fired Rosario as .part of a purge of Finch aides.
But Rosario and Ganim recently worked together to elect Antonio Felipe, the son of another Finch-era staffer, to the legislature, and to try to bring a casino to Bridgeport.
With some of his other proposed economic developments — a new ice skating attraction and renovated downtown theaters — stalled, Ganim on Thursday night focused on the possibility of making Bridgeport a gambling destination. He went so far as to tell the crowd a casino was “on the horizon” even though his and Rosario’s efforts to broker a last-minute deal in Hartford fell apart earlier this month.
However Lamont has said he supports a Bridgeport casino.
And, as further proof that a Bridgeport casino is far from dead, A. Robert Zeff made a rare appearance at Thursday’s fundraiser. Zeff owns Shoreline Star, a parimutuel betting facility, former greyhound racing track and a possible site for a new casino.
Zeff has been trying to bring a casino to town since the early 1990s. He walked around Testa’s dining room Thursday, meeting and greeting various city officials and personalities, Ganim included.