New Haven Independent

Answer: The only mayoral candidate who has the money to afford a survey — Mayor John DeStefano, Jr.

People across town reported getting called to take the survey over the past week.

The poll sent waves of confusion through New Haven telephone lines last week when the caller appeared to attack DeStefano and promote other potential candidates.

DeStefano said Monday that he paid for the poll himself to test public opinion for his reelection campaign. He’s seeking a record ninth term office in a November election.

DeStefano’s only remaining potential opponent, Darnell Goldson, dropped out of the race. The mayor continued to campaign for a record ninth two-year term with no contender in sight, pulling in political heavy-hitters to endorse his run.

At an election rally at the Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School on Kimberly Avenue Monday night, DeStefano received endorsements from U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (in video), U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (in absentia), and one former foe — Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy.

Foes Unite

Malloy’s appearance in the BRAMS hall Monday night was the biggest sign of reconciliation since the two locked horns in a battle for the Democratic nomination for the governor’s seat in 2006. The race got ugly at a suspense-filled state Democratic Party nominating convention and became more negative from there. As the two traded sparring TV ads, Malloy called DeStefano a “hypocritical” “flip-flopper” and broadcast pictures of him dressed in drag. DeStefano won the primary but got beaten handily by incumbent Gov. M. Jodi Rell in the general election.

Monday, all that appeared to be a distant memory.

“Dan, it’s great to see you tonight,” said DeStefano during a brief speech. “Thanks for coming out.”

This time around, DeStefano isn’t standing in Malloy’s election path: Malloy is running for governor again in 2010; DeStefano is not.

“I’m happy to endorse him,” Malloy later said.

“Other than the dust-up for the nomination,” Malloy said, he and DeStefano have worked together on many matters.

“This [endorsement] is not a reach for me by any stretch of the imagination,” said Malloy. Monday was his first appearance at a meeting with members of New Haven’s Democratic Town Committee. He said the town chair, Susie Voigt, called him and told him his presence was welcome, so he gladly accepted. Malloy then left for another appearance in Hamden, before that town’s DTC.

“Why Are We Here?”

At the podium, DeStefano addressed a question that was on many people’s minds: Why hold an election rally with nary an opponent in sight?

“This is an opportunity to focus,” he answered, on issues like prison reentry, crime and schools.

“We’ve gotta do better” with kids’ educations, he admitted. The schools made a lot of progress, DeStefano said, “but too many kids still fail. And if you’re a kid of color, you do worse.”

“We need to organize a community-based effort,” he said, to engage kids and raise performance in schools.

“Campaigns should be about making relationships and getting things done,” said DeStefano. While there’s no opponent to worry about, DeStefano said, “let’s worry about doing the things that we care about in each and every one of our neighborhoods.”

After his speech, the mayor was presented with a letter of endorsement from 38 of the city’s 60 ward co-chairs on the Democratic Town Committee.

“Crooked”?

The poll his campaign ran last week, said the mayor, was a regular part of the election cycle. The campaign hired a firm called Momentum Analysis to do the polling, according to a DeStefano staffer.

“It’s pretty much the same poll we’ve done every two years,” said DeStefano. First, the poll asks what’s important to the survey-taker, and then it fields reactions to messages that people might use against the candidate, the mayor said.

People who got the calls reported being amused, and confused, by the way the poll was performed. In at least two cases, the caller started to begin the survey, then hung up after saying that she had already performed her quota of calls in that neighborhood.

One recipient of such a call told the Independent that the caller, who identified herself as a woman in Pennsylvania, couldn’t pronounce “DeStefano.” Another caller said the poll was for the “Democratic primary” — in November.

Callers asked if DeStefano was involved with “crooked” activities, floating the idea that he was corrupt, according to survey-takers. Because of the way callers appeared to attack DeStefano, some wondered if the call may have been a push poll, designed to steer the recipient toward a different candidate.

DeStefano was asked about the belief that someone was out to spread negative thoughts about the mayor through a push poll.

“Trust me, it’s not my mission to do that,” said the mayor.

Goldson Won’t Run

Reached by phone after DeStefano’s rally Monday night, DeStefano’s only rumored opponent, Goldson, said he has decided not to challenge the mayor this time around.

“I’m not going to run,” said Goldson, former head of the Community Action Agency.

Goldson talked about running last year, but never filed papers for candidacy. As of Monday evening, Democratic insiders still perceived him as a potential contender.

Goldson said he runs a youth group in Massachusetts that has been hit hard by budget cuts and is struggling with a staffing shortage.

“I just couldn’t take the time off from work,” he explained.

“I really wish I could do it,” he said. “I was really looking forward to it.”