Ganim: Practicing law ‘a privilege’
BRIDGEPORT — Mayor Joe Ganim this week sought to reassure residents that his effort to get his law license back should not be interpreted as an indication Bridgeport’s chief executive has a different career priority.
“Regaining my law license is a separate matter from being the mayor or running for another term,” Ganim, who in the spring launched his 2023 reelection bid, told Hearst Connecticut Media.
He further clarified his intent would be to again take up law at some point in the future after serving as mayor.
But Ganim in the past has given voters a reason to doubt whether his heart was still into running Bridgeport. He initially served as mayor in the 1990s until toppled in 2003 by a corruption scandal, then waged a successful comeback in 2015.
In spring 2017, just over a year after voters granted him that second chance and also while raising money for a 2019 reelection bid, Ganim was preparing to launch his ultimately failed 2018 gubernatorial bid. Ganim was trounced in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary by Ned Lamont, and other local Democratic officials and activists at the time said his decision to seek higher office had left him vulnerable for his 2019 reelection.
He went on to win the 2019 race for another fouryear term, but only after a close primary victory over challenger state Sen. Marilyn Moore.
“The privilege to practice law has always been an important part of my life and that of my family,” Ganim further explained in his statement to Hearst Connecticut Thursday, referring to the fact his father, two uncles and his brothers are attorneys. His late sister had also practiced law.
This is the second attempt for Ganim, a Democrat, to regain the right to practice law. He was disbarred after his conviction in 2003 for running a pay-to-play operation in City Hall. He served seven years of a 9-year federal prison term, and in 2015 convinced voters to grant him a second chance.
In September 2012 a threejudge panel rejected Ganim’s initial application stating he had shown no remorse for his crimes. He had to wait five years to reapply, and he did so in February 2021. This past Monday the Standing Committee on Recommendations for Admission to the Bar scheduled an Aug. 8 hearing on Ganim’s latest application for reinstatement.
“It is always my intent to help people,” Ganim said. “Being mayor of the state’s largest city allows me the opportunity to better the lives of many. And practicing law again will also allow me to assist individuals in need of representation.”
In his application, Ganim states he intends to practice general law “with a concentration on pro bono representation of indigent individuals and families.”
Several Bridgeport mayors have been attorneys, including Thomas Bucci, who ran the city in the late 1980s and continues to practice, often representing current or former municipal employees.
Although Ganim has moonlighted as a professor at the University of Bridgeport, Bucci said the job of mayor is a time-consuming one.
“You can’t carry on a (law) practice and be mayor at the same time. You can’t,” Bucci said.
He added that whatever
Ganim’s career intentions, he understands the simple desire to get back something that was earned, then lost.
“I don’t fault him for asking for readmission. He feels that he has paid his penalty — his debt to society,” Bucci said. “He would like to have what he went to law school for . ... I can’t tell you what’s on his mind — whether it’s symbolic or he plans to practice again. (But) it gives you options if and when you leave politics.”
Retired Superior Court Judge Carmen Lopez is a local activist, member of the Democratic Town Committee and a potential Ganim opponent in 2023. Lopez, a frequent Ganim critic, said whether the mayor’s goal is to again be a practicing attorney, regaining his law license would enable him to, in the eyes of some, further repair his image for whatever future plans he has.
“He is a man of ambition, so much so that he came back after prison, convinced many people in the city he should (again) be mayor, then turned around and wanted to be governor. So he is a man that is searching for higher things and having a license says a lot in this case,” Lopez said. “It means a bunch of people believe him, trust him that he has the character to be an attorney . ... Having your law degree is having more than he has now.”
City Council President Aidee Nieves has at times been a close Ganim ally, but a sometime critic as well. He campaigned to reelect her last year, but she was also endorsed by the Bridgeport Generation Now civic group which has often been at odds with the mayor.
“He’s pursued his law license before. I don’t think that stops his interest in being mayor,” Nieves said.
Nieves also said, having regained enough voters’ confidence in 2015 and been reelected in 2019, she believes Ganim rightfully feels the need to “restore” that part of his life that remains out of reach because of his prior crimes.