Joseph Ganim served seven years in prison before his release in 2010.
Joseph Ganim, the former Bridgeport mayor who served seven years in prison for bribery, is weighing another run for the top office in Connecticut's largest city.
The DemocratsaidThursday on the "Chaz & AJin the Morning" radio show on WPLR-FM that he's setting up an exploratory committee for a comeback bid.
“Well, after talking to hundreds of people throughout the city and beyond,” Ganim told WPLR, “with my experience in the past of moving the city out of bankruptcy and bringing it forward on so many fronts, from cutting taxes to making the quality of our neighborhoods better, I’m going to move forward with filing an exploratory committee to potentially run again for mayor of our great city.”
Ganim was convicted of steering city contracts in exchange for wine, clothes, cash and home improvements. He served seven years in prison before his release in 2010.
Ganim has said he would make a better chief executive because of his past and has asked the Democratic Town Committee for support at the party's nominating convention this summer.
Democratic Mayor Bill Finch has urged Ganim to reconsider, saying talk of a comeback bid is scaring away potential investors.
In 2012, a three-judge panel deniedGanim’sapplication for readmission to the bar citing egregious misconduct that occurred while Ganim was in a position of public trust.
This report contains information from the Associated Press.
