New Haven Independent

This past year, for the first time in decades, the presidency of the Board of Aldermen represented the city’s most important election, for several reasons. With Mayor John DeStefano running for governor, the board president is next in line for the job; in the meantime, he will need to fill a power vacuum while DeStefano runs around the state campaigning. The board president will oversee difficult negotiations over the biggest development in the city’s history, a proposed new cancer center at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

And this race pitted two factions in an almost evenly divided board against each other. One side (Goldfield’s) saw this as a race about bringing in a new team with fresh ideas about how to govern better. The other side (Perez’s) saw the race as an effort by City Hall to stifle dissent.

In the end, the race turned on one alderman, Drew King of Dixwell, who stuck with Goldfield for the last 53 hours and six minutes after continually switching sides. Don’t be surprised if King’s neighborhood receives new sidewalks or a new park.

Goldfield’s side got a taste of the challenges ahead in the speeches Perez’s supporters made on the floor prior to the vote. To unify the board and succeed in making good policy, Goldfield will need to prove he’ll be inclusive as well as independent of the mayor.

Dwight Alderwoman Joyce Chen roused the largely pro-Perez crowd inside the aldermanic chambers with a lengthy tribute to Perez’s leadership. She recounted how, when she was originally elected as a Green, Democrats shunned her rather than work with her — except for Perez. She also noted how Perez started running afoul of the DeStefano administration this past year when he questioned an illegal government contract with an outside law firm.

“Jorge was the one who stood up for independence of this board,” Chen said. “Taxpayers deserve to have somebody who would not be in anybody’s pocket. This vote tonight is a vote about integrity. The people who voted for us — are we going to be their representatives? Or are we going to be somebody’s else’s representatives?”

Immediately after the vote, Goldfield led the board in applause for Perez’s years of service as president. Then Goldfield, who although a supporter of the mayor has parted with the administration on ethics and development issues in the past, vowed to be the leader Perez’s supporters said they want.

“I can assure you,” Goldfield said, “I want this board to be an independent voice.”

“There are so many goals we have in common,” he said. He listed two issues on which he and Perez have joined forces in recent weeks: A $1 million fund for youth programs, originally a Perez idea. And an effort to make New Haven the first city with publicly financed mayoral elections, which Goldfield, the measure’s original champion, said would “bring fresh, underrepresented voices” into the political process.

Whether those measures pass in coming months will prove an early test of Goldfield’s leadership. The Yale-New Haven Hospital controversy will test his negotiation skills. And whether the Goldfield-led board takes on some of the DeStefano administration’s ethical lapses will serve as a gauge of its independence.

For his part, Perez (shown here at Sunday’s inauguration) said after the vote deposing him that he doesn’t necessarily see himself playing the role of critic. He doesn’t necessarily see his upcoming role as one of leading dissidents. “I see myself as alderman of the Fifth Ward,” he said, one who will judge each issue as it comes before him.

One Goldfield supporter, East Rock Alderman Ed Mattison, appealed to his colleagues to put the sore feelings of the race behind them and focus on making good policy. “We need to overlook the slights,” Mattison said. “If people want to find reasons to be angry, they always will.”

Here’s how the Goldfield-Perez vote broke down:

For Goldfield: Shalek, Clark, Addonizio, Mattison, Rhodeen, Jolly, Rivera, DePino, Jones, King, Shah, Silverman, Lehtonen, Rawls-Ivy, Goldfield, Edmonds-Sepulveda.

For Perez: Chen, James, Jackson-Brooks, Perez, Colon, Smart, Lee, Antunes, Castro, Paolillo, Edwards, Blango, McCormack, Rodriguez.