Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim said during a Tuesday radio interview that he took responsibility for his supporters’ mishandling of absentee ballots ahead of the city’s Democratic primary election while maintaining he had no knowledge of the improprieties until they became public.
“It’s clear to me that taking ownership of what happened in this election – my campaign – taking ownership of it and … clearly acknowledge that wrongdoing, impropriety with ballots as the judge clearly articulates needs to be put on the table if it hasn’t and it’s being done here this morning with you,” Ganim told WICC’s Lisa Wexler.
Much of the roughly hour-long interview centered on the ongoing fallout of Bridgeport’s Sept. 12 Democratic primary, which a Superior Court judge later overturned citing video evidence of Ganim supporters apparently depositing multiple absentee ballots in city drop boxes in violation of state election laws governing who may handle an absentee ballot.
Judge William Clark’s ruling – and subsequent order that the city conduct a new primary on Jan. 23 – came after a several day trial on a lawsuit brought by John Gomes, a Democratic mayoral candidate who lost to Ganim by 251 votes only after absentee ballots were counted.
On Tuesday, Ganim told Wexler he had no plans to appeal Clark’s ruling and said he did not know of the apparent ballot-stuffing until the videos were publicly circulated and said his campaign staff was instructed not to handle ballots.
“To the campaign in general, everyone that worked on it, we call it the ‘do’s and don’ts,’ which is part of the paperwork you get – made very clear you can not touch a ballot,” Ganim said. “Applications are different but you can’t touch a ballot. So yes. And the expectations were that that was the way we were proceeding 100%.”
After acknowledging that his supporters violated those rules, Ganim also called on his rival Gomes to do the same, saying video evidence also depicted Gomes’ supporters violating the same absentee ballot rules.
“The hypocrisy and lack of candor and integrity of ignoring the same wrongdoing by a number of individuals with his shirts on, repeatedly going to the box and then claiming only the Ganim campaign, if you will, has irregularities in it, is not only disingenuous but needs to stop,” he said.
Despite the judge’s ruling ordering a new primary election, voters in Bridgeport nonetheless headed to the polls for a general election last month. Ganim won that election by an even slimmer margin against Gomes as well as Republican David Herz and petitioning candidate Lamond Daniels.
Only Ganim and Gomes will appear on the ballot during next month’s redo primary, which is expected to be followed by a second general election on Feb. 27.
During the Tuesday interview, Ganim called on Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas to “do more” to protect the integrity of elections and said he intended to send a letter to her office including a “strong ask,” inviting someone from the office to monitor his campaign through the election.
In a statement Tuesday, Tara Chozet, a spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary of the State said the role of the office was to administer elections, not supervise campaigns and their staff.
“It is both impractical and financially unfeasible, and the taxpayers of Connecticut have already spent too much for election oversight in one municipality,” Chozet said. “If Mayor Ganim is serious about his responsibility for the actions of his campaign staff, he should hire someone to educate and supervise those who work under his name to ensure they are acting according to the letter of the law.”
Wexler, whose interview also touched on the mayor’s personal life and his time in prison on federal corruption convictions, asked if Ganim wished to apologize for the misconduct by his campaign.
“I’m embarrassed and I’m sorry for what happened with the campaign, granted I had no knowledge of what was going on,” Ganim said, adding that his office installed the cameras that captured the misconduct. “But sure. I feel, as everyone else does that – you know, I’ve said it’s a black eye locally and it’s gone, some of the politics have taken it nationally.”
