BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A protestor was arrested outside a gathering of Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim's supporters on Wednesday as the ongoing mayoral primary scandal continues.
“Today it might be me. Tomorrow it might be you,” remarked Joe Sokolovic, a member of the Bridgeport school board. He was arrested and charged with trespassing.
Sokolovic said he plans to fight it.
“Oh absolutely. I don’t even feel like I’m living in America anymore,” said Sokolovic.
It happened outside the Boca Oyster Bar at SteelPoint Harbor on Bridgeport’s East Side where just feet away, inside, Ganim held a gathering of supporters.
“That’s where Joe Ganim was having his fundraiser in a restaurant steps away, so I said Joe gotta go,” explained Sokolovic.
But that’s when Bridgeport Police said the other Joe had to go. Sokolovic refused to leave the harborwalk and was led away in handcuffs.
“I’m the only one that’s in handcuffs,” said Sokolovic.
FOX61 reached out to Steelpointe developer Robert Christophe for comment but did not hear back. FOX61 did however hear from the Ganim campaign, who told FOX61, “It is unfortunate that this incident took place and that any individual would stoop to this level to disrupt a local private Bridgeport business owner and their patrons.”
Steelpointe Harbor was built on land acquired from the city. Posted signs say the harbor walk is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. but it also says no events or assembly is allowed without prior written approval.
“Stand up for your First Amendment rights and never lose them,” said Sokolovic. “If you give them up too easily they’ll take them away forever.”
Sokolovic was the only one arrested but he wasn’t alone. He was part of a larger group protesting Mayor Ganim and what some believe was a stolen primary. The protest was organized by Leslie Caraballo, a former Ganim supporter, who removed her name from the ballot as a candidate for the board of education after seeing the surveillance video of what appears to be a city employee putting papers into an absentee ballot box outside the city’s government center.
“I don’t want to walk into a seat the wrong way,” said Caraballo. “When is enough enough? Where are we going to put our minds together and say alright, let’s have the FBI step in? Because right now, the way that I am feeling, everything is rigged."
Sokolovic said he spent about three hours locked up before he was released on a $1,000 bond.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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