It’s December of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, and State Marshal Kenneth Lombardi cannot find the Mayor of Bridgeport. In a sworn affidavit filed in Superior Court in January 2021, Lombardi detailed the difficulties he faced in attempting to serve Ganim with a notice for a deposition in the civil case challenging then Acting Police Chief Rebeca Garcia’s qualifications.

Mr. Lombardi attempted to serve Mayor Ganim on Dec. 7th, 8th, 11th, 17th, 18th, and the 27th and could not find him at City Hall, nor at any of his known home addresses. He even attempted to call him:

“According to the affidavit, Lombardi next called a phone number that was supposed to be the mayor’s. A man answered, but when Lombardi stated his business, he said the man told him he had the wrong number and hung up.

“The voice sounded much like Joseph Ganim to both myself and my brother Edward Lombardi who was present with me. Additionally, the phone number matched the number he indicated was his on the legal voting record,” Lombardi stated in the affidavit.”

“Marshal details many attempts to serve Bridgeport Mayor Ganim with court paperwork,” Daniel Tepfer, The Connecticut Post, Jan. 17, 2021

Not being able to locate the city’s chief executive during a global health emergency should be the nail in the coffin for Ganim’s re-election campaign. Unfortunately, Ganim continues to insulate himself from accountability and scrutiny by taking a page out of every authoritarian’s playbook: declaring himself a candidate 16 months before the election, spending taxpayer dollars on his own self-promotion, and running around town popping up at every community event pretending to be Mayor.

But pretending to be Mayor and the actual day-to-day management of the largest city in Connecticut are two completely different skill sets. One requires unflappable narcissism while the other requires a grueling daily schedule of managing the city’s workforce; overseeing the city’s departments; ushering important policies, programs, and initiatives through Boards and Commissions and City Council; and administering our more than $600 million budget. 

So what better way to shine a bright light on Ganim’s campaign propaganda that the city has made “tremendous progress” under his leadership, than to look at the cold, hard facts of his time in office. 

On February 28th 2023, we submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for Mayor Joe Ganim’s daily schedule and calendar, including all events and meetings, from March 1st, 2020 to March 1st, 2023. Here’s what we found:

2020: From March 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2020, while the city was on lockdown due to the Covid 19 virus, Ganim had 43 days with no administrative Nor Department head meetings. 

Ganim held only 6 meetings with Department heads, only 1 meeting with the Superintendent of Schools, and only 1 meeting with the Chief of Police AJ Perez – and that was on the day before the FBI announced Perez’s arrest on conspiracy charges. Interestingly, in 2020 he was able to meet with Howard Saffan, operator of the Amphitheater, on 5 separate occasions. 

The March, May, June, August, September, October, and November’s “Departmental Performance Monthly Meeting” were all canceled. As was a December 15th meeting titled “Department Goals Update.”

2021: From January 1st, 2021 to December 31st, 2021, Ganim had 78 days with no Administrative meetings

Looking at this public record, it’s no wonder that in January, as the 3rd wave of COVID infections and deaths hit the country, Ganim’s public health director Lisa Morrissey quit abruptly. He had a particularly egregious stretch of 19 days of no meetings in July and August, during the same period that cities were grappling with vaccine rollout and vaccine hesitancy.  

And while he starts the year off with bi-weekly Department Head meetings, by August they stop. From August 24th, 2021 to December 20th, 2021, Ganim held zero meetings with his department heads. 

In 2021, he had zero meetings with Superintendent Testani and zero meetings with then Acting Chief of Police, Rebeca Garcia. 

2022: From January 1st, 2022 to December 31, 2022 Ganim had 104 days with no Administrative meetings 

By 2022, he held just 3 Department Head meetings all year. One in April to discuss the Sound on Sound concert logistics and the other two not until December. The department head meetings he scheduled for February, April, May, June, July, August, October, and December were all canceled. Again, he held zero meetings with the Superintendent and Acting Police Chief, Rebeca Garcia. 

Ganim’s Job Performance Has Gotten Worse

2020 through 2022 was arguably one of the most challenging periods that the country has experienced in the last 100 years. While the pandemic devastated communities, the murder of George Floyd shook our nation to its core. We needed Mayor Ganim to be present and fully engaged. Our public health needed him, our public school students needed him, our public safety needed him, and more.  

We understand that COVID disrupted a lot of day-to-day operations everywhere. But one would think that the further away we got from the COVID-19 emergency, the more present Ganim would be in governing our city. The data tells us a different story, however. His job performance actually got worse. How do you have less department head meetings in 2022 than you did in 2020 during the height of the pandemic?

On March 31st, 2022 Ganim declared that he was running for re-election. Looking at his terrible attendance record, you might ask, “why?” Why would someone who does not show up for the job want it again so badly? Is it because he can’t get his law license back? Or is it because he is at his best when performing the role of mayor, not actually running City Hall?

Whatever it is, Bridgeport voters are tired of Ganim’s pretending.