Anti-Gun Mayor Convicted In Federal Court

Joseph Ganim (D), the mayor of Bridgeport, Conn., was found guilty of 16 of 21 charges on Wednesday, March 19, in a federal corruption trial. The jury handed down guilty verdicts on charges that included racketeering, extortion, bribery, mail fraud, and filing a false tax return. An MSNBC article said the prosecution had "painted Ganim as a greedy man who felt entitled to more than $500,000 in illegal benefits from his associates in return for steering millions of dollars in contracts to them and their clients." In an editorial posted to the New Haven Register’s website, the Connecticut paper charged, "For no other reason, Joe Ganim deserves a long time behind bars for wasting the court’s time with this trial."

Of course, Ganim is no stranger to wasting the time of courts, not to mention taxpayer dollars. He was, after all, the driving force behind Bridgeport’s doomed reckless lawsuit against the firearm industry, which was initially dismissed because the city lacked "...any statutory authorization to initiate...claims." And while Ganim insisted on wasting more tax money by appealing the dismissal, it met its final demise at the hands of the Connecticut Supreme Court in October 2001.

Perhaps Ganim wasted taxpayer dollars on his reckless lawsuit because he truly believed in the absurd notion that the firearm and ammunition industry should be held civilly liable for the unforeseeable criminal actions of others. Or, perhaps, he used the litigation in a desperate attempt to distract attention from his mounting legal troubles. Regardless of the reasons, justice was served when Ganim’s reckless suit was rejected. A second helping of justice was served this week with the handing down of 16 guilty verdicts. A third course, the sentencing, is scheduled for July 1, when Ganim could be sentenced to serve up to 126 years in prison, and ordered to pay as much as $500,000 in restitution and $4 million in fines. If Ganim receives the maximum sentence, his final serving will truly be his just "deserts."