Joseph Peter Ganim (born October 21, 1959) is an American Democratic politician and former attorney who is the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

He was elected mayor of the city six times, serving from 1991 to 2003, when he resigned after being convicted on federal felony corruption charges.

[5] During his campaign, Ganim accused Moran of making the city "a symbol of urban failure with a bankruptcy filing that drew national headlines.

[8][9] At the time Ganim took office, the city's dire financial straits caused it to be the only municipality in Connecticut to have its finances under the control of a state board.

The state board had ordered the city to raise its property taxes by 18 percent to close a $16 million budget shortfall for the 1991–92 fiscal year.

[5] Ganim also campaigned on a law and order platform, promising to hire a hundred new city police officers to combat crime.

[5][10] As mayor, Ganim began to clean up the city's East End, reducing the area's notorious crime rates, and reclaiming real estate from drug gangs.

[11] In 1992, the city removed a pile of construction debris (labeled "Mount Trashmore") that had been illegally dumped by a demolition business.

Ganim withdrew from the race in July 1994, less than a week before the Connecticut Democratic convention, after lagging in the polls, and endorsed John B. Larson, the State Senate president pro tem and the front-runner for the party's nomination.

[17] Under Ganim, the City of Bridgeport joined a number of U.S. cities (others included New Orleans, Miami, and Chicago) to file legal actions against the handgun industry, arguing that they were liable for product liability negligence in failing to use technology to make their products safer, leading to handgun violence.

[24] The award was conferred for Ganim's "Clean and Green program," which addressed urban decay and blight through a beautification campaign which saw the demolition of more than five buildings and the development of twelve new city parks.

[11][24][25] Ganim's term also saw the competition of demolition of Father Panik Village—a housing project notorious for drugs and violent crime; the final fifteen buildings were razed in 1993.

[27] Over six years, Ganim engaged in a shakedown of city contractors, accepting more than a half-million dollars;[28] he took bribes in the form of cash, food and wine, clothing, home renovations, and diamonds.

[31] Testimonials seeking leniency were filed with the court on Ganim's behalf, including one from Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York.

[31] On July 1, 2003, U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton sentenced Ganim to nine years in prison and about $300,000 in fines and restitution, in addition to $175,000 that he had previously stipulated that he owed.

[39] In September 2012, a three-judge panel of Connecticut Superior Court judges rejected the recommendation, writing that: "Allowing an applicant to be readmitted to the practice of law following a conviction on 16 counts of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud, bribery and filing false income tax returns without any apology, expression of remorse, or explanation, and with only a vague acceptance of an unspecified event, simply would set the bar for readmission too low in the state, and we are unwilling to do that.

"[40] Ganim appealed to the Connecticut Supreme Court in 2014, which unanimously ruled against his effort to have his law license restored.

[45][48] In September 2015, Ganim won the Democratic primary, making "a big step toward completing an improbable political comeback.

[2] He managed to persuade Edward Adams, a former FBI agent who helped convict Ganim on corruption charges, to support his campaign.

[53] On November 3, 2015, Ganim won election as mayor by a wide margin, defeating Mary Jane Foster (a Democrat running as an unaffiliated candidate) and Republican nominee Enrique Torres, a city councilman.

The subpoena revealed a federal grand jury in New Haven was investigating Ganim's administration for possible municipal corruption.

[62][63] In September 2020, the city's Personnel Director and Chief of Police were indicted for wire fraud and making false statements.

[64] The Connecticut State Election Enforcement Commission began an investigation into possible election-law violations in the 2019 Bridgeport Democratic mayoral primary, which Ganim narrowly won.

[66] In August 2022, a FOIC commissioner said that Bridgeport officials had "continually" engaged in an "ongoing pattern" of failing to comply with law.

[66] The report also found that city leaders had "inexplicably abandoned their own proposals" to clear the backlog and expedite processing.

[66] Ganim's administration contended that the high backlog was caused in part by the city's introduction of a new "user-friendly public portal" that facilitated the submission of more FOIA requests than before.

After a three-day trial,[68] in which surveillance video footage, showing two women stuffing white envelopes into outdoor absentee ballot drop boxes, was introduced into evidence, Judge William Clark invalidated the Democratic mayoral primary results, and ordered a new Democratic primary to be held.

[69][67] Gomes' lawyer tallied the submission of 1,253 absentee ballots, despite surveillance videos only showing 420 people using the boxes.