nothin Ganim 2.0 Makes Clean-Politics Plea | New Haven Independent

Ganim 2.0 Makes Clean-Politics Plea

Harry Droz Photo

Gubernatorial hopeful Joe Ganim in the WNHH studio.

Joe Ganim brought a new clean-government argument to town: To limit the corrupting influence of big money in elections, he said, Connecticut should make it easier for convicted felons, including him, to qualify to run for state office with public dollars.

It was more than a theoretical argument. For Ganim, it was personal.

Ganim, Bridgeport’s mayor, is currently running for the 2018 Democratic nomination for governor. He’s looking to run clean” — to qualify to receive more than $1 million in a primary and $6.5 million in a general election in public matching money in return for limiting private and special-interest contributions under the Citizens Election Program.

But the the state has barred him from doing so because the Citizens Election Program is off-limits to convicted felons. And Ganim spent seven years in federal prison for accepting $500,000 in kickbacks as Bridgeport’s mayor. (After serving his time, he ran for mayor again in 2015, and won.)

Now Ganim has sued the state in federal court seeking to have that rule overturned so he can qualify. (Click here to read a story about that.)

We believe in second chances. We believe in the opportunity to rehabilitate,” Ganim said Thursday during an appearance on WNHH FM’s Dateline New Haven” program. He argued that widening the public-financing pool can bolster democracy by helping to take the element of fundraising, minimize it, eliminate it, and allow candidates who have good ideas to go our and talk about it.”

Ganim has been popping up regularly in New Haven since embarking on his gubernatorial quest. He’s been spotted at public gatherings like the recent city Democratic Party convention and private affairs at spots like the Greek Olive. He’s being helped by local political powerbroker the Rev. Boise Kimber, who also supported Ganim in his 2015 Bridgeport comeback election. (“We’ve been friends for years; he counseled me during my difficult times,” Ganim said.) Ganim said the bigger Connecticut cities like New Haven will be key to his gubernatorial campaign strategy, which will include a plan to bolster urban economies as a way to bring more jobs to the state. It is natural for us as cities to be on the same path.”

During the WNHH interview, Ganim said he’d be open to looking at new revenue options — such as tolls, legalized marijuana, taxing capital gains — to put the state on a sounder fiscal footing. He didn’t yet commit to any one option. He also said he’s developing a a plan to broaden and make more consistent the state’s strategy for luring not just large, but smaller and medium-sized employers to urban cores.

He also spoke at length about two hot-button issues sure to follow him on the campaign trail: immigration policy and political corruption.

We Believe In Redemption”

WNHH: You are challenging a rule in a federal lawsuit by the Citizen Election Program, our clean-money fund. You were barred from it. You are saying that is unconstitutional?

Ganim: The system is great. I’ve said, Please let me participate in the system.”

It’s an amendment [to the clean-elections law] that came years later, an amendment that I think flies in the face of the intent of the legislature. It’s supposed to bring people in so you can have a public funding system that takes the need to reach out to big donors out of the system. You want people in the system. You don’t want to take them out for any reason.

Tell me if I’ve got the two philosophical arguments right. On the one hand, we’re a second-chance state. Whether it’s voting rights or getting hired for a job, so many people have been spending time in jail — we had a period of high incarceration — that democracy loses, that our economy loses, if people don’t get a second chance once they’ve done their time.

The argument on the other side is: There’s a different bar for politicians when it comes to public money. If you’ve gone to jail for violating the public trust and have a record of misusing public money, you shouldn’t get the extra advantage of getting public money to run [for office again]. And the argument coming back is: It’s not an extra advantage. We get a wider selection of people to choose from.

Is that a fair way to characterize the debate? And how would you respond to that?

Generally, for listeners, let’s just say yeah.

So how do you respond to that? You violated the public trust. Why should we give you money to run again?

I would say that I’m somewhat of a unique case.… I’ve been given the honor of being reelected to run the state’s largest city. I’m a public official. The people of Bridgeport hopefully made the right decision. Hopefully the work I’ve done since getting reelected has moved the city forward. That I’ve been a good steward not only in terms of transparency but in the public trust of doing what a public official can do.

If you don’t want somebody who has a felony conviction to be in public office, you can actually bar their right to vote. [But] we in Connecticut have said, I believe rightfully so, We don’t want to bar someone. We believe in redemption.” My term. We believe in second chances. We believe in the opportunity to rehabilitate.” [When] we look at the criminal justice system, I like to believe certainly there’s a punitive aspect. But I think more importantly — this is just me talking, but I hope people agree — there is a rehabilitative aspect. We want to have a better society. You want to rehabilitate people.

Should that be the province of public finance? The argument being made by the proponents of that [rule] is that this is an extra benefit gift given to people with the public trust. Public money to run for office is different from regaining your right to vote.

No, no, no. I think the legislative history bears out: The point of [the clean elections law] was to create an atmosphere where elections could be … the avenue whereby they would take out the element of large donors having that one leg up…

… And have less corruption in government.

Right.

So the Catch-22 is: You get less corruption in government by allowing everyone to run, including someone who had in the past being convicted of corruption?

All people have to do at that point is vote against or vote for the candidate they want. All I’m saying is: A level playing field.

Take a guy like me. God forbid somebody wants to vote for me. They like me. My opponent gets $6 million [but Ganim doesn’t]. Wait a minute!

Can you turn around to your advantage the fact that you experienced the criminal justice system? When you ran for mayor again [after prison], one thing that was clear was that people responded to your point that people deserve a second chance after they’ve been in prison. Is that a theme you can pursue as a governor candidate? Is there a story you can tell about happened to you being in prison and coming back? 

Of course there is.

What is that story?

Everybody has things in their life. I haven’t walked into a room where somebody hasn’t done something wrong, small or big. My [mistakes] were not small; don’t get me wrong. [But] people understand the ability to accept responsibility, which I’ve done, and say, Wait a minute … You need to know what happened. I have a felony conviction. You know what? If that’s a non-starter, even if I have the best vision to put Connecticut back on track, it’s OK. If you have questions you want to ask me about it, I’m open to that. By the way, if you think at the end of this, just because of that alone that that’s a non-starter for you, that’s OK.”

It also gives me an opportunity to say: If you think after looking at all the candidates [Ganim has the best ideas] … maybe you do believe in second chances. Maybe you have done stuff in your life that you think a second chance [for] you or a family member that … Think about that.

Did you learn anything from that [prison] experience about the effect of money on politics? When you ran for mayor again, you ran on creating public financing [in Bridgeport], if I remember correctly …

Tried. We couldn’t get it going.

Is there anything you can say about the crimes that led you to end up in federal prison? When you were sitting in prison, what did you think about money and politics? And how does that affect what you do now?

There is a whole element of politics in the United States, I think people recognize, where you can take the element of fundraising, minimize it, eliminate it, and allow candidates who have good ideas to go our and talk about it … In this case it may allow three or four candidates on the Democratic side, three or four candidates on the Republican side, to run, to be viable candidates for the state’s highest office. Otherwise they might not be able to do it, because it’s hard.

The other thing I wanted to say about second chances: People say, Oh, it’s only in the urban centers where certain groups will be open to that.” I found [differently] in talking to individuals in small towns where you might think they’re going to give you a head fake when you start talking: OK. Nice talking to you.” A schoolteacher who taught sixth grade [at one such event said]: I wanted you to know that was actually inspiring, your willingness to come back after that, to take on whatever you took on, to make a contribution. I’d love you to talk to my sixth-grade class.” I thought, Wow. People can make a connection based on what I said.”

There are elements in people’s lives you don’t know anything about, I don’t anything about. People have gone through stuff. People pull me aside. They want to tell me something in their life that was as compelling to them as [my experience] was compelling to me, life-changing. The interesting human aspect of that. I’m not afraid to share.

Why do you think John Rowland went to jail for corruption, came out, and then committed crimes that got him in prison again? You knew Joe Ganim. What did you think?

It’s hard for me to get into anybody else’s mind. I do know that when I came back, I had no preconception about doing anything but put my life back together again.

You were willing to go into politics again, which is dangerous waters.

No question.

It puts you at risk of going back to jail again. You know the feds — they created a new corruption unit — will be watching everything you do.

As they should.

When I talk to other people who have gone to jail, the thought of going back to jail is horrifying to them. 

No question.

You talk about getting inside people’s heads. As a reporter, I try to put myself in the heads of the people I cover. I would never go into politics. I would never run for office.

Smart man.

But even though I believe I would never steal or do anything wrong, I’m convinced that if I were a mayor or something like that, I would end up in jail. Because I watch how difficult it is [to get things done].

Sometimes there’s out-and-out theft. There was a [Connecticut] mayor in the 1980s who actually wrote a note: Everybody’s making money in development; what about me? Leave the money in a newspaper. (That mayor was eventually found guilty of corruption charges at trial.) But there’s a whole other realm of taking a necktie or trying to solve a problem for your city where you honestly believe it’s going to be easier to get this building built or this flooding problem fixed if this guy just talked to that guy, and that guy happened to give you money but you think it’s fixing a problem. I consider politics a treacherous business.… And I’m wondering if your experience gave you a way to reflect on that, when you do or don’t take a present, or how you do and don’t fix a problem.

Yeah. Of course I do. I think [I am] even more attentive to those types of details, with all of that. And hopefully there are people that we’ve got in place in local government and that give advice to the campaign as we go forward. But you still do fundraising. We do it aboveboard, straightforward. Very conscious about all the elements of it.

They’ve put some systems in place that reduce who can contribute, the number of people … The opportunity to participate in the system is the best opportunity for all the candidates I believe … Regardless of how you feel about it, how do you give $6 million to one candidate and not another candidate?

Welcoming,” Not Sanctuary”

Paul Bass Photo

Ganim at last month’s New Haven Democratic convention.

Joe, one of the big [state] issues is sanctuary cities and sanctuary states. Donald Trump has promised to take federal money away from cities and states that don’t have policies to cooperate with federal law enforcement in detaining people who are undocumented and having policies like sanctuary [churches]. Would you allow the state to not receive federal money by continuing Gov. Malloy’s sanctuary policy?

I don’t think that the position by the federal government to say they’re going to take money away form other programs, state government, local government, is right. And I was with the mayor of Chicago a little over a week ago. He has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Chicago [against it].

We have taken a position that rather than be combative over terminology, we’ve declared Bridgeport as a welcoming city. Our City Council has done that.

Will your officers respond to detainer requests from the federal government if there’s a nonviolent person in the lock-up whom you would othewise release?

That … you give a really specific example.

That’s where the rubber meets the road.

I don’t know what the law is. Our chief has said: Nobody’s going to violate a law.

But that’s why Chicago and New Haven might lose money and other cities wouldn’t.

It’s not clear. It’s not clear to me what the terminology of sanctuary cities and where the rubber meets the road … Chicago declared itself a welcoming city as well.

So you’re saying you can be welcoming to immigrants without acting in ways that can jeopardize the money …

Nobody wants to jeopardize money. Because public money to serve the people of Bridgeport, the people of Connecticut, is very important. We have an obligation as public officials to do all that we can to provide the greatest degree of support we could. So to be reckless in terminology I don’t think makes good public policy.

There was a protest at the Fairfield train station. What was that all about? People from Fairfield came to Bridgeport to protest immigration policy?

There was someone who said, Make Bridgeport a sacntuary city.” And we said, Make Fairfield a sanctuary city!”

You actually went to Fairfield with a picket sign

Right. Because wait a minute: Either we’re in this together…. Let’s bridge the gap across this imaginary border. Let’s work with our surrounding towns. And that’s happening actually. Some of the individuals that were there are being supportive.

We actually welcomed the last Syrian refugee family that came into the United States, that came into Connecticut, into Bridgeport. I personally did that to let people know that despite the battle over terminology, despite that back and forth, this is a welcoming city. I went out of my way to meet them at the International Institute.

When did you family first come to the U.S.? Which generation?

My grandparents first came a little over a hundred years ago.

From?

My father’s parents, my grandparents on my father’s side, are from Lebanon. My mother’s are from Syria and Italy. So I have three ethnicities.

Click on or download the above audio file to hear the full interview with Joe Ganim, which included discussion of the state’s fiscal challenges, how to boost cities and his evolving campaign strategy.

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