New Haven Independent

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | September 12, 2007 4:26 AM

To The People That Help To Put These Ventrilogust
Dummies Who Are Control By The Voice Of King John
Back In Office I Hope That You All Are The First To Lose Your Houses And Cars When The Taxes Go Up!! Look Out The Evil Empire Of King John Is Coming!!

Posted by: cedarhillresident | September 12, 2007 8:07 AM

I am simply going to say two things....

Do people even investigate who they are voting for before they cast there ballot????

WE ARE DOOMED!!

Posted by: bjfair | September 12, 2007 10:57 AM

Does John really think that the "status quo election" is an affirmation that voters are pleased with their alderman? I may not agree with him on most things but I think he's smarter than that.I have a different analysis. The fact that in my ward (23) there are nearly 1,000 voters and only 114 came out and voted their satisfaction (or whatever their reason)for a 7 year incumbent doesn't really compute (in my mind) to satisfaction. While canvassing the ward I spoke with way too many dissatisfied registered voters in ward 23 but unfortunately those people stayed home and silenced their voices expecting someone else to do the work that needed to be done to usher in a new vision. I humbly thank all the true supporters of my campaign for bringing in the 69 votes I received. It was a new and great experience and I'm very inspired to continue my vision for a better New Haven for ALL of us,

Posted by: Interesting . . . | September 12, 2007 11:21 AM

In some places people I would support won, in some places they did not. Having worked in a lot of campaigns, I have learned one thing. It is meaningless to question whether people "even investigate who they are voting for" or to call voters "dummies" because they did not vote for who you like.

Candidates win and lose for lots of reasons. One runs a better campaign, one finds an issue that matters to people, one works harder knocking on doors, but seldom if ever are people "duped." Voters make a choice, maybe not based on doing all the research we would like, but they make a choice based on the information they have -- which for many is whether they feel like things are headed in the right direction or not.

Sometimes this site would make you believe that everyone wants to "throw the bums out." But it turns out voters do actually do more analysis than that. When voters do not mirror the comments in the Independent, that may not be a reflection that the voters are out of touch.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | September 12, 2007 1:36 PM

Interesting . . . I am going to quote something that WEBbloger 1 posted in the Morehead article that I feel is relevant to the race .
WEBbloger 1
"The problem here is that Morehead believes he works for the mayor. In actuality, the mayor works for the BOA, and has taken an oath to work in behalf of the entire city. Since most of the current aldermen think like Morehead, is the reason the Mayor can pick and choose and play one off the other."
A large group of people that have been paying attention to the city as a whole just wished that people would realize that an alderman represents his community, yes but when sitting at that the finance table they are representing the city!! Not the ward! Chooses they make to get something for there community may, in the long run,not benefit them or the city as a whole.
Now I have to say that 3 people that I wanted out are still in. But I am not going to be angry about it. I am going to do my best to watch there moves a lot better. I am going to be a citizen with the right to protest, the right to disagree, the right to freedom of speech.
And you make it sound like my comment was some kind of attack on the intellect of the average voter. Well it was not! But when I vote I try my best to make sure I am making a vote that counts. That comment "even investigate who they are voting for" is just that a comment and was not in anyway meant to slander anyone as you did.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | September 12, 2007 2:05 PM

Interesting
What Is It Any My Post That You Did Not Understand
Please Read What I Said. I Did Not Say That The Voters Are Dummies. If You Read My Post The Dummies Are The Politicians That They Vote Back In Office.To All I Can Tell You Why Some Of The People Keep On Voting For These Sell Out Politicians And That Is These People Suffer From The Stockholm Syndrome And Interesting If You Do Not Know What The Stockholm Syndrome Look It Up.

Posted by: Interesting . . . | September 12, 2007 2:23 PM

Cedarhillresident -- no slander intended on either part. Like you I wish some people who won did not. I also would guess we disagree on some others.

There are plenty of good reasons, like the one weblogger raised, why you might choose to not vote for Moorehead. There appear to have also been plenty of reasons why people chose to vote for him.

I really only had 2 points: (1) that people did make a choice -- one in at least 2 cases I definitely would not have made -- based on the information available to them -- not based on ignorance. And (2) that not everyone agrees with the "throw the bums out" approach which plays well on the internet.

Some aldermen do a good job on constituency services but have no idea what to do about policing. Some aldermen fight for tax cuts but have no idea what services mean to their constituents. Others pay attention to youth services but not development or vice-versa. It's what a volunteer elected body often looks like.

These elections are usually fought out on very local issues and very local ward fights -- and almost never about the administration or taxes or whatever city policy. People will punish aldermen that simply are not paying attention. This very local focus is not necessarily bad.

Usually the big policy battles play out in the mayoral race. For whatever reason, New Haven offered no opponent to DeStefano in the primary. And we both know that New Haven will vote overwhelmingly for DeStefano in the general election.

So it goes. Don't get mad at voters for not paying attention. Seems like they were paying attention and chose one approach to local issues over another. If they decide they were wrong (which they and we cannot truly know yet), they will vote for someone else in 2 years.

In the meantime, continue to hold them all accountable, here and elsewhere.