New Haven Independent

Newton’s campaign failed to collect enough signatures of registered Democratic voters to force a Sept. 11 mayoral primary, officials announced Monday. Click here to read that story. That leaves only Republican Rick Elser and Green Ralph Ferrucci standing in the way of DeStefano winning an eighth two-year term and tying the record for longest-serving elected New Haven mayor. The last time a Republican (or any non-Democrat) won a New Haven mayoral election was in 1951.

On Tuesday Newton (at right in file photo) surveyed the campaign wreckage in the following conversation:

What happened?

Look, we blew it. I take full responsibility. We formulated an ad hoc team to get out our petition drive. Basically we didn’t execute it in a fashion that we should have.

What conclusions have you drawn about the challenges of running against an entrenched incumbent?

I expected not to do well in terms of mainstream media. I knew the subdivisional line, the Independent, Advocate and others, would be more responsive to our message. My indication was pretty accurate.
The overall process of running a Democratic primary is the responsibility of the candidate to execute and get the people on board and have the kind of technical team to get things on board. On that end we fell short.

Is it hard right now in New Haven to challenge the people in power?

No. No I don’t think it is. If an organization has a message it wants to deliver, it has to be put together in an organized management way. It has to have a concise message that rings to the element that people are responsive to.

So it sounds as though you’re self-critical about the campaign, but not about the possibilities for change.

I’ll give it to you straight. I blew it. I take full responsibility. I blew it. I should have been more responsive to our ability to execute a better system with respect to the petition drive. Everything else our campaign did a wonderful job on.

What are you going to do next Jim, career-wise?

Let’s stay tuned.

Is a general election campaign an option?

There are options. But there isn’t anything I’ve made a decision on, assessing the mistakes we made. The only option available is a write-in.

Would you do a write-in campaign?

I really don’t know.

That’s even more work than gathering petitions.

It’s an arduous task.

Separate from you taking responsibility, why don’t we see more people with organized constituencies taking on people in power?

I can’t give you an answer to that. I spoke to issues through various press conferences and press statements. We articulated a very sound and effective message. The campaign is just not about having an upfront, I guess you would say press conference system. You have to have good management systems on board.

What was the highlight of this campaign for you?

The fact that we were able to pull so many people together. We talked very effectively about all the issues, from public safety to crime to youth to taxes to the Shartenberg site. We gave a responsible, leadership-quality statement to everything we addressed. I feel good about our stand. We did an effective job. We did not do as well of a job on our petition drive effort.

You think you might run for office again?

I really don’t know.