The City of Bridgeport skirted labor contract rules when they tried to temporarily replace alleged Bridgeport ballot stuffer Wanda Geter-Pataky while she was on administrative leave in 2023 with other non-union employees, according to a recent decision by the Board of Labor Relations.
Geter-Pataky was allegedly caught on camera stuffing hundreds of absentee ballots for Bridgeport’s 2023 Democratic primary race between Mayor Joe Ganim and John Gomes into a ballot drop box, sparking multiple investigations, a court-ordered redo of the Democrat primary, and making Bridgeport the national face of voter fraud.
Geter-Pataky, who served as vice chair for Bridgeport’s Democratic party and worked for Ganim’s campaign, also worked in Bridgeport City Hall as an “operations specialist,” which involved answering the phones and fielding questions from city departments and the public, according to the labor board’s decision.
Following the video release and subsequent media coverage of the alleged ballot stuffing, however, Geter-Pataky, a member of the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) union, was placed on paid administrative leave. The city then moved another employee from the LIUNA union into the position to fill in temporarily, but did not afford that employee the pay and benefits that came with that position under the NAGE contract.
According to email exchanges between Bridgeport Labor Relations Officer Jason Mckoy and NAGE attorney Richard Solazzo, the city argued that this was an “emergency staffing issue,” and not a matter of subcontracting work. NAGE and LIUNA both filed a grievance alleging the city had violated contract terms by subcontracting the operations specialist job and not awarding the employee the proper pay and benefits.
Shortly thereafter, the city returned the employee to her original position and assigned a seasonal employee identified as “Paulette,” who also did not have union representation, to the operations specialist position and then argued the union’s grievance could not be sustained because the LIUNA member was no longer working as the operations specialist.
Following a complaint filed with the state labor board, the city then entered a settlement agreement with NAGE in February of 2024, acknowledging the city had violated the contract by subcontracting the operation specialist job and that the position is part of the NAGE unit. The city made these acknowledgements in the settlement agreement in exchange for NAGE dropping their grievance.
By May of 2024, however, the city replaced Paulette with four security guards who were not part of any labor union. NAGE again filed a complaint with the state labor board.
Bridgeport argued the operations specialist position is a “mobile position,” in which they can use different employees to meet needs at various locations; that subcontracting Geter-Pataky’s position was due to an emergency, and, lastly, Geter-Pataky was still the city’s operations specialist at the time – arguments the labor board found “wholly frivolous.”
The labor board, in April of 2025, ruled in NAGE’s favor, finding the city had not only violated the settlement agreement with NAGE but had bargained in bad faith, and that the city was merely continuing actions they had previously admitted were in violation of the collective bargaining agreement.
“Although we might view those defenses more favorably under other circumstances, given the record in this case we find them wholly frivolous. The conduct at issue here is the same conduct which the City previously admitted was a violation of Articles 4 and 35.4 of the collective bargaining agreement,” the board wrote in their decision.
The city is ordered to cease and desist from not complying with the settlement agreement, repudiating the collective bargaining agreement, and cease refusing to discuss grievances; the city must also pay the union’s attorney fees.
Geter-Pataky has since been terminated from the city after an extended paid administrative leave and was arrested in February of 2025 on a long list of election fraud charges, including illegal possession of absentee ballots and conspiracy. She has plead not guilty to all charges. A campaign staffer for Mayor Ganim’s campaign, along with three city council members, were also arrested in the far-reaching absentee ballot scandal.
“The Office of the Chief State’s Attorney takes allegations of voter fraud seriously and I commend the Statewide Prosecution Bureau’s investigative efforts that resulted in these arrests,” Chief State’s Attorney Patrick J. Griffin said in a press release. “To protect the integrity of our voting process in Connecticut, it is important that our elections are fair and free from fraudulent activity and criminal intent. These prosecutions hopefully send the message that deters tampering with election results in the future in Connecticut.”
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What is interesting about this case is that the conduct of Geter-Pataky is remarkably consistent with claims of the Trump campaign after the 2020 Presidential election. The “2000 Mules” documentary had strong evidence of voter fraud which the pro-Democrat legacy media, unsurprisingly, ignored and worked to discredit. Connecticut even tried to squash the Bridgeport incident. It took a court order to rerun the primary. Democrats have dragged their feet and did everything possible to have the case disappear. It will be interesting to see how the trial progresses. I will be surprised if it goes very far. Democrats don’t want the bad press it could generate.