Editor's note: This version corrects the district of former state Sen. Ernest Newton.

This week’s news that former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim, who spent seven years in prison for corruption, has raised more than $223,000 in a bid to get his old job back is the latest example of a depressingly familiar, twofold phenomenon.

1. Most politicians have enough chutzpah to sink a ship.

2. Many voters are either amazingly forgiving or just plain stupid.

This newspaper would like to believe that ex-inmates have paid their debt to society and therefore are entitled to resume normal lives upon release – but it’s hard to imagine why anyone who so callously violated the public trust should ever be allowed to hold office again.

Mr. Ganim was imprisoned in 2003 after being convicted on 16 charges of extortion, bribery and racketeering, stemming from having steered city contracts in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in expensive wine, custom clothes, cash and home improvements.

On Tuesday he told The Associated Press that supporters respect the fact he has owned up to his past errors.

“It shows me that people do understand that people can make mistakes, deal with them openly and honestly, and recommit themselves to helping others,” Mr. Ganim said. Most prominent of those now backing the convicted criminal is Bridgeport’s police union, apparently pleased by Mr. Ganim’s pledge to get tough on crime in Connecticut’s largest city.

Whether voters buy into this will become apparent July 21, when the Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee will endorse one of the five mayoral candidates ahead of a Sept. 16 primary.

If Mr. Ganim prevailed he would join a long line of officials and lawmakers in Connecticut and across the country who have run afoul of the law.

Waterbury may have the unwelcome distinction of being the Nutmeg State’s corruption capital.

John G. Rowland, who began his political career in 1980 in that city after his election to the state House of Representatives, went on to become a U.S. congressman and then governor before being forced to resign in 2004 during a corruption probe that led to his conviction and a 10-month prison sentence.

Last year, a decade after his release, Mr. Rowland was convicted of seven counts stemming from his role in an election fraud case, and subsequently sentenced to a 30-month term. He is out on a $250,000 bond pending appeal.

Ironically, in 1939 Mr. Rowland’s grandfather, Sherwood L. Rowland, then Waterbury’s city comptroller, uncovered corruption that led to the imprisonment of Lt. Gov. T. Frank Hayes, who doubled as Waterbury mayor.

Half a century later three of Waterbury’s mayors, including Edward D. Bergin Jr., Joseph J. Santopietro and Philip A. Giordano, all faced criminal charges ranging from bribery to child sex abuse. Mr. Giordano, convicted in 2003 of 14 counts connected to the abuse charges, is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison.

Elsewhere, one of the most celebrated (or infamous) politicians was Marion Barry, who served three terms as mayor of Washington, D.C., survived a drug arrest and jail sentence, and then came back to win a fourth term.

Evidently voters weren’t dissuaded by a surveillance video that showed Mr. Barry smoking crack and, as police hauled him away in handcuffs, referring to the female companion who cooperated with the investigation in a less-than-complimentary manner.

One of the most colorfully arrogant public officials/ex-cons was Edwin “Eddie” Edwards, who served four terms as Louisiana governor as well as eight years in prison for racketeering.

When the FBI raided his home in 1997 and found more than $400,000 in currency, Edwards said, “It is accepted for all debts, public and private. Most of the time, you can make a better deal with cash.”

Mr. Edwards also uttered one of the most memorable lines describing his perceived invulnerability during the 1983 gubernatorial race: “The only way I can lose this election is if I’m caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.”

Voters aren’t always willing to overlook a candidate’s criminal record .

Former Connecticut state Sen. Ernest E. “Ernie” Newton of Bridgeport was imprisoned on corruption charges in 2010, and then after his release was endorsed for the same office in 2012. Mr. Newton lost, though, in a primary.

And last November Providence voters finally shut the door on Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, who had been previously elected six times as the nation’s longest-serving mayor despite having been convicted of felony counts ranging from racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, bribery, mail fraud and witness tampering, as well as having used a fire log and lit cigarette to assault a man he accused of having an affair with his wife.

Addressing a crowd of supporters following the November defeat, Mr. Cianci said, “It’s kind of a bittersweet night tonight because this will be my last campaign.”

Following cries of “No!” he quickly added, “For this year.”