Foster and Finch team up in quest to beat Ganim; Finch facing the end of his reign

In a development that most would have deemed impossible only two weeks ago, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch has ended his campaign for a third team and thrown his support behind challenger Mary-Jane Foster.

Finch and Foster were once allies who became bitter enemies and ran against each other for mayor in 2011 and again in the Sept, 16 Democratic primary, but now are apparently allies again.

Finch made the announcement on the 16th floor at 10 Middle Street, flanked by his wife Sonya and Foster, who also addressed the 100 plus who gathered for the event.

Despite a bitter primary battle between Foster and former mayor Joe Ganim, most pundits expected to prevail, but Ganim pulled off the shocker. Even after his defeat, Finch vowed to press on saying, “I plan on accepting the Job Creation Party endorsement and running in the General Election on Nov. 3, 2015. Bridgeport, you still have an honest mayor who intends to keep the future bright for Bridgeport. “

The only problem was the Job Creation Party did not name Finch as their nominee and secretary of State Denise Merrill squashed the plan.

Merrill’s action left the sitting mayor with three options. He could sue the state, pursue a write-in candidacy or try and convince a candidate who had already qualified for the ballot to step aside. Finch frantically tried to have candidates who had qualified to roll over him, including Republican Rick Torres and Charlie Coviello of the New Movement Party, but no one was biting.

“I have coffee every morning at White’s Diner on Boston Avenue,” explained Coviello. “The mayor was sitting in there with one of his top supporters, Mark Trojanowski. They were waiting for me. I let them know that I wasn’t leaving the race for anybody.”

That led Finch to option four, dropping out of the race and endorsing Foster, obviously taking the lesser of two evils approach. Both sides say there is no deal in place but of course that is laughable.

Foster now has a serious chance of winning the election, which is amazing considering that she dropped out of the race last week. However, once Finch’s backup plan imploded, she rethought her position and jumped back into the fray.

Neither Finch nor Foster mentioned Ganim by name during Tuesday’s press conference, despite the fact that he is now the clear front runner to win in November. Rather, the new teammates stressed that they did not want to see a return to the past.

“We can go down the right road or the wrong road and Mary-Jane Foster is the right road,” said an emphatic Finch. “We cannot afford to turn back the clock.”

Drawing on her experience as an actress and a lawyer Foster said, “I’d like to thank Bill for his 25 years of public service. I can’t wait to see what Bill and Sonya are going to do next.”

Coviello laughed off the notion that there was no deal in place between the two camps.

“This is about one thing and one thing only,” said Coviello. “Bill Finch has eight years in and needs 10 for a city pension. This is all about two more years for Bill Finch.”

Coviello continued,” The Connecticut Post keeps calling this merger historic. What’s historic about it? It’s all about who’s in charge of the club, but the same people in the club who have looted this city for 30 years still want to be in charge. Two weeks ago it was Bill Finch; today it’s Mary-Jane Foster. The scenario hasn’t changed. It’s still ant-Finches versus anti-Ganims. Hopefully, voters who don’t like that choice will be pro-Coviello.”

Ganim looked at the measure politically and told the Banner that he thinks Foster is in for a surprise.

“Mary-Jane is just adding up the votes and thinks her votes plus Finches will beat me. She doesn’t realize she is also inheriting all of the Finch baggage. I won the primary. That gives me the endorsement of the voters and that’s the only endorsement I’m interested in.”