Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim has accepted full responsibility for the absentee ballot fraud in the September mayoral primary election. He maintains that he was not aware of the scheme before the videos were released.
Ganim appeared on WICC for a conversation with Lisa Wexler to talk about his career and the scandal that has plagued his campaign.
When asked if he accepted responsibility for the ballot stuffing incidents, Ganim said “absolutely.”
“It's clear to me that, you know, taking ownership of what happened during this election, my campaign, taking ownership of it, and now looking forward to clearly acknowledge that wrongdoing,” Ganim said.
He also called on challenger John Gomes to come clean about his own efforts to influence the election.
“I think Gomes has to acknowledge that, he has to say, I hope, at least what I've said, acknowledge that he's had wrongdoing in his campaign," Ganim said. "I go to the next step, and I said this from the beginning, I never claimed that there wasn't once I saw the video. He needs to acknowledge the hypocrisy of saying, 'Oh, we want clean elections.'”
When a complaint was filed against a Gomes campaign worker for dropping off absentee ballots, Gomes denied their wrongdoing.
He is expected to speak to media at 2 p.m. to announce ways in which he believes the city can protect itself against future fraud.
This story is developing.
