A Lone Republican Defends Her Seat

by Kevin Halligan | November 5, 2007 8:37 AM | | Comments (3)

Morico.jpgThe power of incumbency is not lost on Arlene DePino or Larry Morico.

DePino, the lone Republican on the 30-member Board of Aldermen, is the incumbent, campaigning for her fourth term as alderwoman of the 18th Ward in Morris Cove. Morico, a Democrat, is a 71 year-old retired guidance counselor challenging DePino.

On Saturday, a few days before the election, Morico sat comfortably in a rocking recliner; the steady back-and-forth sway of the chair kept a metronome-like tempo to his lengthy remarks. The remnants of sun on a rainy afternoon provided the only light in Morico’s shadowy living room as he spoke of holding a monthly “Alderman’s night out” if elected. He said knows he is a long shot. He knows that DePino has three terms of service to run on.

“The power of incumbency… I mean this isn’t something that is new, this has been going on in every level of government, they say for probably the last 25 years. It is a very, very difficult job to unseat an incumbent,” Morico said.

Morico listed four major challenges that he would address if elected; high taxes, construction of a youth center, more police presence in the area, and new curbs and sidewalks.

“Instead of just saying things need to get done,” Arlene DePino responded, Morico should “give ideas on how they could get done.”

Arlene%20DePino%20photo.jpgDePino spoke of having sponsored a property tax freeze for seniors (read about that here), secured bonding to address flooding in Morris Cove, continued service on the board at the airport authority. She was the only alderman to vote against the city’s new immigrant-friendly ID cards, which she called too costly for New Haven taxpayers. (The program was funded entirely by private, not taxpayer, funds).

As for Morico’s concern for lack of activities for the ward’s youth, DePino said, “We just received quarter-million dollars for lighting system on the little league fields, allowing for night games, and there are rec programs at Nathan Hale School throughout the winter and summer.”

Serving on a 30-member board with 29 Democrats, DePino said that the existence of a Republican alderwoman “keeps the two-party system alive.” Morico argued that with only one Republican out of 30, there is still no semblance of checks and balances.







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Comments

Posted by: Steve | November 5, 2007 2:05 PM

Go Larry Go!!

When your job is no longer your priority you should leave. The greatest failure for the alderperson during this tenure has been not bringing this neighborhood together.

The Depino era has been all about exclusion and favoritism. Larry will be the Alderman for all of us not just the few. The time for change has never been stronger. We are wanting for a consistent voice to call for an end to universal tax increases, to a lack of police presence and woefully long response times, for attention to our decaying streets and sidewalks, to our neighborhoods being turned into drag strips and our kids left to find loitering to be the best after school activity they can find.

Long term elected offical become roadblocks to progress and improvement because they lose focus and drive. They show up on election day and wave their hand or signs and think that they are entitled to your vote for 2 more years.

Arlene Depino has No Plan , No Drive, and No Focus. We need a change now!!

Posted by: New Haven Tea Party | November 5, 2007 9:10 PM

Steve - You make me laugh calling for an end to universal tax increases, whatever that means, and then putting your support in a machine DeStefano groupie. He will be another rubberstamper. If you want change, you've hitched your wagon to to the wrong horse. If the best thing your kids can do is stand around loitering, it is not because DePino hasn't done enough, it's because you are too lazy to find things for your kids to do. I have two kids - we have to work on limiting our kids activities, not scratching our heads and banging on our rubberstamper to give us a list of things for them to do.

Posted by: Chris Gray | November 6, 2007 1:36 AM

As I suggested to Ralph Ferrucci in a previous comment, the way to challenge incumbents isn't either to list things that need to be done or list ways to get them done, but to do them.

Any politician can make promises. Any citizen can do things.

You don't need the power of office to identify a challenge and work to meet it with whatever means are at your disposal. Usually those means largely include like-minded people. Before too long you have an organization and they usually aggrandize power, political power.

Don't, however, underestimate the power of just one creative mind. You can accomplish a lot just on your own.

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