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All Joe, All the Time
As jury selection nears, Ganim takes to airways
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Business New Haven
7/8/2002
By: BNH
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BRIDGEPORT - In spite of - or perhaps because of - his federal racketeering indictment, Mayor Joseph P. Ganim is back on the airwaves, burnishing his image by touting what he characterizes as a record of progress as chief executive of the state's largest municipality.
Ganim recently launched a series of ads on WICC (600 AM), a Bridgeport radio station. The mayor, who speaks during the radio spots, said he is using previously raised campaign money to pay for the ads.
The ads were be aired over a span of several weeks, Ganim said. In a published report he declined to say how much was being spent for the air time, but added there are no plans for television ads.
As of the latest campaign finance report filed with state officials in April, the mayor had $131,866 in contributions. Ganim is not presently running for any office, and his mayoral term does not expire until the end of 2003.
“The important thing is to communicate the positive things going on in the city,” the mayor told the Connecticut Post about the ads. “We have had success in public safety and the good things going on at the arena [at Harbor Yard].”
Still, WICC's 1,000-watt signal can be heard throughout much of greater New Haven, raising questions about whether Ganim was in fact hoping to reach prospective jurors in his upcoming criminal trial. Ganim faces charges of racketeering, bribery and extortion in a trial expected to begin in January at U.S. District Court in New Haven.
Ganim denied the ads are an attempt to influence the New Haven jury pool. He said the ads are designed only to “highlight progress in the city.
“I talk about the reduction in the mill rate, that crime is down and the past work we have done. We just want to get our message out,” Ganim told the Post.
During the late 1990s, millions in city taxpayer money was spent on television and radio ads touting the city, and Ganim was usually the featured spokesman in the ads.
Although city officials insisted those television ads were intended to boost the city's image, the spots, which aired statewide, were widely viewed as a way to increase Ganim's name recognition as he geared up to run for governor.
Ganim's indictment last October placed a severe, if not permanent, damper on those ambitions.
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