The people of Bridgeport owe much to the allied proponents of education-reform and charter-revision that are responsible for the July 5, 2011 Board of Education “coup” and the follow-up, charter-revision initiative. Those persons/entities particularly deserving of our thanks in this regard are: Mayor Bill Finch; Gov. Dannel Malloy; “education-reform” groups Excel Bridgeport and Students First; [...] Continue Reading…

Tuesday, Aug. 14, is the Democrat primary in Bridgeport. We encourage all registered voters to go out and vote for the best candidate. We, at the Fairfield County Independent, endorse Ed Gomes for the state Senate seat in the 23rd District. Among the three candidates fighting for the nomination in 23rd District, we believe Gomes [...] Continue Reading…

As a resident of the South End, I harbor mixed feelings every year when July comes around, and the Gathering of the Vibes rolls down my street and into Seaside Park. There are plenty of negatives. The park is fenced off more than a week in advance of the festival. When the campers arrive on [...] Continue Reading…

Among the agenda items for Bridgeport in 2012 are critical, generational choices that will determine future municipal governance, the direction of our public school system and our representation as a municipality in Hartford for years to come. The state elections for representation in the General Assembly present some clear, interesting choices for Bridgeport voters. While [...] Continue Reading…

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch has taken a good first step toward creating a commission to review the City Charter. It’s a paramount step that, if executed with genuine intent, can yield benefits and prosperity to the city and its residents. In all honesty, we would have preferred to see at least one person representing the [...] Continue Reading…

Ernie Newton officially returns to the Park City political stage on Saturday, Jan. 28, when he will declare his candidacy for the 23rd District state Senate seat, a position currently held by Sen. Ed Gomes, who has been in office since Newton departed for a federal penitentiary back in 2005. Newton had represented the 23rd [...] Continue Reading…

The firing of Bridgeport public schools Superintendent John Ramos should serve as vindication for former Board of Education members Sauda Baraka, Maria Pereira and Bobby Simmons. On Aug. 5, members Barbara Bellinger, Leticia Colon, Delores Fuller, Thomas Cuningham, Thomas Mulligan and Nereyda Robles voted to surrender the

We were witness to a Democratic primary full of candidates, issues and surprises. John Gomes was the first to enter the race. Early in 2010, he was very enthusiastic about the election and walking the streets in search of votes. He was followed by Charles Coviello and then Mary-Jane Foster. By late August, Gomes and [...] Continue Reading…

The events of recent weeks have dramatically impacted the upcoming Democratic primary for mayor in Bridgeport. To briefly recap, challenger Mary-Jane Foster was denied a spot on the ballot for mayor by Democratic Registrar of Voters Santa Ayala due to a technicality. The error was that Foster’s team submitted four candidates for a possible Board [...] Continue Reading…

Now that the nuking of the Bridgeport Board of Education is a matter of historical record, it’s a little surprising to us that no one in City Hall has sounded the alarm — at least publicly — about the implications of what took place. What took place was this: The state, responding to a dramatic [...] Continue Reading…