New Haven Independent

Perez reacted to a story on this web site about the Nov. 15 rally at City Hall and about a meeting at City Hall between the mayor and prominent local Latinos. Prominent Latino politicos from Hartford, Bridgeport, and Waterbury plan to attend, along with local Perez supporters of all races. Perez seeks to hold the board president’s position against a strong challenge from Alderman Carl Goldfield. Mayor John DeStefano supports Goldfield’s bid.

The Independent story stated that one of the debates in this race has to do with “identity politics” — with the feeling among some Perez supporters that Mayor John DeStefano should be supporting Perez because he’s the most prominent Latino politician in town, and because other major city offices are held by members of other racial and ethnic groups.

Perez insisted he and his supporters are motivated by a desire to enable the Board of Aldermen to question how the city administration runs the city. He said his supporters back him because he has done a good job in office and because he’s independent of the mayor, not because he’s Latino.

“People want someone who is going to keep people accountable,” Perez said. “I’ve got African-Americans saying the same thing. I’ve got rabbis saying the same thing. I’ve got Catholics who say the same thing.”

Longtime Supporter

Perez has been a supporter of Mayor DeStefano over the mayor’s 12 years in office. But he has found himself on the other side of the powerful mayor in the past two years on several issues, including a proposal to create a city registry for gay and lesbian couples (Perez opposed it); an illegal action by the mayor’s office to pay a legal consultant without alderman approval; and the need to spend more money on youth programs, a position DeStefano has since embraced.

Like DeStefano, and like just about everyone in any position of power in New Haven, Perez is a Democrat. He claimed DeStefano branded him an opponent and a critic simply because he raised questions rather than blindly following City Hall’s every order.

“Because we don’t have a viable opposition party, [independent scrutiny] has to come from the Democrats,” Perez said. “I disagree with my wife. It doesn’t mean I don’t love her or I’m her critic. That’s simplistic. He [the mayor] wants no dissension whatsoever. If you have it, you’ve got to go. That’s the old-style politics. That’s the way he grew up. I believe we can have disagreements and still get along.”

Mayor DeStefano said Sunday that he agrees with that last sentence. He argued that the fact that Perez has always supported him disproves his camp’s accusation about an intolerance of dissent: He’s supporting Goldfield, even though Perez has always been a supporter.

DeStefano also maintained that the idea for Goldfield to run came not from the mayor’s office, but from a new majority of the board that has united behind a progressive agenda that includes gay civil rights, greater regulation of absentee landlords and publicly financed elections.

“I’ve been supportive less of Carl [Goldfield] than of a group that is a majority of the board” and is behind Goldfield’s candidacy, DeStefano said. “The group has coalesced consistently around these progressive issues… These are the things that are important here.” The board majority, including Goldfield, differed with Perez not only on the gay registry issue, but on a new law requiring inspections of absentee-owned apartments. Perez said he opposed the proposal because it didn’t contain enough money to do the job right. Proponents said the city could handle the job and offer better protection to renters, especially immigrants fearful of calling the authorities on slumlords.

“It’s a misstatment to think it’s about me or identity politics,” DeStefano said of the board presidency race. “It’s about relationships” on the Board of Aldermen.

Identity Politics?

Perez was asked why Latino politicians in other cities as a group would come to New Haven to take a stand on a Board of Aldermen presidency if racial/ ethnic politics weren’t a factor.

Perez claimed it is the mayor’s fault if some people conclude that DeStefano opposes him because he’s Latino. Why’s that? Because the mayor doesn’t have good reasons to oppose him, he said.

Carl Goldfield, Perez’s challenger, disagreed.

“His campaign has taken on a tone of identity politics,” Goldfield said. “I’d be dishonest if I didn’t say I thought there was an element of it.” The comments he has heard about the Nov. 15 rally have had to do with Latino politicians feeling Mayor DeStefano has abandoned their community by not supporting Perez, Goldfield said.

“The facts will speak for themselves. We’ll see what kind of appeals are made at the demonstration.”

Goldfield and his supporters have said that they, not the mayor’s office, came up with the idea of challenging Perez for the board presidency. Goldfield has raised questions about administration policy from time to time, such as the details of the plan to bring Gateway Community College downtown and a proposal to build a mid-block garage near Church and Elm streets. His supporters said they want to make the board more policy-oriented and proactive.

Perez insisted that the mayor is behind the challenge. He said that his and Goldfield’s records don’t support the idea that Goldfield would make a more proactive board president.

The 30-member board votes for the new president at its first January meeting. If John DeStefano wins the 2006 gubernatorial election, the board president would become mayor.

Goldfield and Perez were able to work together this past week to move forward a proposal to spend more money on youth programs. Click here to read more.

Full disclosure: In his capacity as a private attorney, Alderman Goldfield did the legal work to incorporate The Online Journalism Project, which funds this web site.