New Haven Independent

90% Of Ward Committee Lists Kept Secret

by Melissa Bailey | July 28, 2009 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)

Underdog challenger Moses Nelson didn’t find out who would be voting on his candidacy Monday night until he walked into the room.

Then he saw the faces of the Ward 21 Democratic committee members who would raise their hands against him by a margin of 15 to 8, throwing their endorsement to incumbent Alderwoman Katrina Jones.

“I had no idea who was on the list” of voting members, protested Nelson. Half of the list was not finalized until Saturday, leaving Nelson in the dark.

That complaint has been heard all over town on both sides of the political divide about lack of transparency in the Democratic Party.

As candidates have been endorsed for the Board of Aldermen, candidates have objected that they couldn’t find out vital information about the activities and membership of the Democratic party ward committees, which are putatively the gateway to political involvement in one-party New Haven.

In light of the complaints, a review by the Independent showed that 90 percent of the city’s Democratic ward committees have not made their membership lists public. Knowing who’s on the ward committee is a crucial step for a candidate to snag the their party’s endorsement: The ward committee’s endorsement often leads to the party’s endorsement, which gives a candidate a huge advantage in ballot access and resources for the Democratic primary.

The Democratic Town Committee is set to meet tonight to endorse a slate of candidates based on the just-completed wave of ward committee votes.

Long before the nominating process begins, ward committee co-chairs have the option of filing the membership lists publicly at the town clerk’s office. There’s a folder there in a file cabinet designated just for those lists. A check on Friday revealed that out of 30 wards, only three ward committees had filed membership lists for 2009: Ward 8 in Wooster Square, Ward 17 in the East Shore, and Ward 10 in East Rock. The rest had not.

“Do I have to?” said Patty DePalma, a co-chair in the Ward 11. “The alderman and [Democratic Town Chairwoman] Susie Voigt never said anything to me about it.”

It turns out that she doesn’t have to, according to local Democratic Party bylaws. The rules call for ward committee co-chairs to establish their membership within 30 days of taking office — yet no rules require the lists to be publicly filed.

Lisa Hopkins, a candidate in Dixwell’s Ward 22 who encountered her own obstacles last week in the nominating process, said the bylaws need to be reformed.

“If we’re really trying to practice a true democracy, information like that should be readily available to everyone,” she said. “It shouldn’t be a cloak and dagger adventure to find out who’s on the committee.”

She said co-chairs should be required to file their membership lists with the town clerk, and that the Democratic Party should post the lists on a public website.

Eli Greer, a Ward 24 co-chair, agreed.

“The whole thing is not a transparent system,” said Greer. He said some ward lists are thrown together at the last minute, and others are so outdated that they contain people who’ve left the ward or died.

In answer to grumblings about the availability of his ward’s lists last week, he said he did send the list to Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Voigt. He suggested that the DTC post them publicly.

“The votes should be online and the membership should be online,” Greer said. He said co-chairs need to be encouraged to compile and distribute their lists right after they’re elected. Indeed: Local party bylaws call for the co-chairs to appoint the ward committee, up to 50 people, within 30 days of their being elected. Those elections took place in March 2008.

Last-Minute Scramble

In Newhallville’s Ward 21, where Nelson and Jones faced off Monday, a last-minute resignation left Democrats scrambling to throw together a nominating event on the last possible day before the DTC convention. The problem in that ward was that one co-chair, Lois Tyson, stepped down at the last minute. Voigt chose Gwen Newton, Katrina Jones’s mom, to take over as co-chair last Tuesday. Each co-chair gets to appoint up to 25 members of the committee.

“This came to me at the last minute,” said Newton (at right in photo). She said she hustled to compile her list of committee members, but it wasn’t finalized until Saturday. Then she turned to her co-chair, Willie Greene (at left in photo). She contended that she had trouble getting his list. Greene said he dutifully emailed the list of names to a young woman named Audrey who was volunteering with the DTC.

“She’s had it for over a week!” Greene replied. Greene said he also made his list available to Nelson — and even let Nelson choose five people to fill in vacant spots. Greene said the deciding moment came at the ward committee meeting, where both candidates made short, five-minute speeches to the room, before incumbent Jones won the endorsement.

“The bottom line is that Katrina gave the best presentation,” he said. Jones, the majority leader of the board, gave a focused speech on what she’s done in office for the past three terms. Nelson admitted to the room that he hadn’t prepared his remarks. Through a show of hands, committee members voted 15 to 8 in Jones’s favor.

“If my man had given the best presentation,” Greene said, the vote “would have gone for him.”

Still, Greene agreed that making the lists public would level the playing field for new candidates.

A Public Record

Voigt, the DTC chair, welcomed the call for reform.

“It would be great to have people look at the bylaws and think about how we make these endorsements,” said Voigt. The bylaws have not changed since the 1970s, she said. She tried to reform them a few years ago, but was voted down by fellow Democrats. She said she’d like to see another effort for reform, with the aim of getting more Democrats involved in the process.

Would she welcome a requirement that the membership lists be made public?

“I would be perfectly supportive of that,” said Voigt, though she said she thinks the lists should be filed with the DTC, not with the Town Clerk. Her rationale: membership lists are a party issue, not a city issue, she said.

Ward 8 Co-Chair Chris Randall, one of the few Democrats across the city who did file his membership list publicly with the town clerk, said that doing so has several merits.

“Actually having it properly documented is important,” said Randall. Filing the list with the town clerk “adds transparency in the process” and creates a public record, he said. “I believe it should be mandatory.”

He said the lists should be filed at the Hall of Records, not with the DTC, because “the town clerk’s office is more of an objective entity.”

Voigt said she tried hard to reach out to co-chairs for their lists so that she can distribute them to any candidate who asks. But, she conceded, she’s still missing lists from at least a quarter of the city’s wards.

Despite the complaints about the process, Voigt said she is proud to see so many people participating in the nominations for aldermen.

“Five hundred people engaged in this process over the last two weeks,” she said, “however flawed it might have been.”

The DTC holds its nominating convention tonight at 6 p.m. at the Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School at 170 Derby Ave.

Past stories on complaints about lack of transparency in the local Democratic Party:
• Ward Committee Backs McCormack
• Another Endorsement. Another Closed Door?
• Sandman Wins Ward Committee Nod

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Comments

Posted by: Streever | July 28, 2009 7:47 AM

Nice work Chris Randall! (and Susie)

I honestly suspect the rest of the lists are not published out of laziness instead of secrecy, but even still, it's lame. All the co-chairs should have their act together & get these lists out.

Posted by: juli | July 28, 2009 8:38 AM

"She tried to reform them a few years ago, but was voted down by fellow Democrats."

this reminds me of that old joke about women winning the right to vote. it goes something like "all the men got together to vote whether or not women should be allowed to vote. now, how did we lose that one?"

Posted by: Honda | July 28, 2009 9:27 AM

In respect to getting the list of ward committee members out to our DTC 30 days after the co ward chairs election a list from Ward 30 was given to our Town chair but somehow it was lost. So for the record Ward 30 submitted their list on time. I do agree with some of the others that the list need to be made public and that all people have the right to fair democracy.

Thank you.

Posted by: Bruce | July 28, 2009 9:54 AM

By and large, this is the process that selects our board of aldermen. Most of these candidates will walk into office.

Posted by: Willie D. Greene | July 28, 2009 10:03 AM

While the Ward Committee voted to endorse Katrina Jones that endorsement is not clearly a representation of the ward. In short it is just a snapshot. Also I want it made perfectly clear that Ms. Newton did not ask me for my list. Had she asked I would have forwarded a copy to her. I made the list available to Audrey Huntington per the request of Sue Voigt.

Furthermore when asked I made my list immediately available to Mr. Nelson and allowed him to fill eight not five vacancies. I also had a conversation with Mr. Nelson stressing the importance of him of touching base with everyone on the list that I had I provided him. I made it clear that it was his responsiblity (both on and off the ward list)to get his supporters out.

In my effort to to be fair to both parties I did not call or have any conversation with any committe memmber prior to the meeting urging them to vote for either Jones or Nelson.

Was the playing field balanced? No! However I provided the list to Mr. Nelson in the hope of leveling the playing field.

However the committee voted last night to endorse Ms. Jones and I will adhere to will of the committee to see that she is re-elected.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | July 28, 2009 10:53 AM

Just finish reading this book,http://stealingdemocracy.com/facts.cfm
Stealingdemocracy.Read this book and you will see why the two party system is crooked.I will say it again and again we need Proportional Representation http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/polit/damy/BeginnningReading/howprwor.htm And term limits to stop this crooked two party system.This is why I write
my vote in until then.

Posted by: Just the Facts | July 28, 2009 10:59 AM

There is clearly a problem city-wide with the ward committee system but in Ward 21 it is clear from Greene's own statements that Alderwoman Jones has the support of people in 21. Greene refers to Moses as his "man" but says that Katrina gave just a better presentation. It's too bad that Alderwoman Jones is not quoted in the article and instead gets wrapped up into the broader story. The highest ranking woman on the Board of Alderman who has worked to support youth programs and job development in her community deserves better.

Posted by: Peace Frog | July 28, 2009 11:36 AM

It seems like Moses Nelson was given ample opportunity to contact and directly address the members of the ward committee. There may have been logistical complications with the ward committee, but his lack of preparation and inability to convince a single person other than the eight that he personally appointed to the committee indicate to me that this was a relatively fair vote that he simply wasn't ready for. It even seems that one of the co-chairs personally went out of his way to assist Nelson in gaining support on the ward committee. How is his failure to follow through anyone else's fault?

Posted by: Streever | July 28, 2009 11:47 AM

Ya--going beyond the issue of Moses even and into the issue of the list--it should be an easily accessed list. Heck, I'd put it up on a website if anyone wanted to.

Posted by: fyi | July 28, 2009 11:59 AM

I just want to point out that Gwen Newton is not just Katrina's mom. She is a distinguished and well-accomplished woman in her own right, and I have every reason to believe that she is the best qualified citizen of Ward 21 to serve as co-chair.

She was elected to the board of aldermen as part of the "Magnificent Seven" and after her two terms went on to be heavily involved in the community. She has been involved with the Newhallville Neighborhood Corporation and other organizations in her neighborhood. I think it is fitting that her daughter is alderwoman, because they clearly have quite a distinguished family who care deeply about the neighborhood.

Posted by: Streever | July 28, 2009 2:09 PM

Ward 9 has sent me a list--! thanks to Paul & anika.

Anyone else out there interested? I can even give access to the ward co-chair to add it themselves....

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | July 28, 2009 3:20 PM

Here is the website for the book stealing democracy.http://www.stealingdemocracy.com/facts.cfm.This is the only way to stop machine politricks.

Posted by: Anika Singh Lemar | July 28, 2009 3:42 PM

Ward 9 was filed with the DTC a while back. We hadn't realized that filing with the City Clerk's office was an option but it's a great idea so we just filed there as well.

Posted by: trueBlueCT | July 28, 2009 5:42 PM

Wouldn't it be great if the New Haven Democratic Party had 1500 strong members. (30 wards x 50 members).

But it does seem as if the powers are happier with just a weak membership of 150-200 insiders.

What can we do to get more people involved?

And why isn't the time and location of monthly DTC meetings made public, as they are in virtually every other Connecticut town?
http://www.ctdems.org/meetinglist.html

Posted by: truthtopower | July 28, 2009 5:42 PM

Threefifths is right to mention stealing.
If potential candidates of any party can't locate the committee members well in advance of the nomination, who gets the advantage? The incumbent, of course.
What a great and simple strategy to discourage competition: simply hide the list.
This is vote stealing without bothering with the public vote!

Posted by: Insider2 | July 28, 2009 6:22 PM

Ms. Jones may well be the second highest elected woman official. But her position has not gained any services for the ward. I have not seen any youth programs in Newhallville that was supported by her. Her endorsement rings hollow and the only one that appeared to be objective was Greene.

In all fairness to Moses Ms. Newton should not have been appointed and should not have chaired the meeting. She should have sat back and allowed Greene to conduct the meeting. At least he attempted to give Moses a fair shot. The moment that Kimber entered the meeting and gave the opening prayer the fix was in. Also why would Ms. Newton would take a shot a Greene concerning his list. Is Greene accountable to her or the ward?

Posted by: rsmith | July 28, 2009 6:44 PM

Reforming this scam is key to putting real power in the hands of voters. No one has pointed out that these Ward co-chairs do not have to vote for the candidate that the Ward Committee selects! Those two individuals can vote for whoever they want, so in a situation when a committee votes against the machine candidate, those two co-chairs will vote for the machine. Also, whatever happened to vote by secret ballot??? The Party convention is set up for retribution so that if someone votes against the machine, they are effectively putting a target on themselves. I won't even mention Susie Voight. Look up political hack in the dictionary and her picture will be there.

Posted by: Charlie O'Keefe | July 28, 2009 7:32 PM

Streever. You are very naive. The ward committee lists will never be fully transparent. Think of what they would reveal. DeStefano's relatives? City Hall slackers? Contractors? Free loaders? To be polite New Haven is the most nepotistic city on earth.

Posted by: Streever | July 29, 2009 10:30 AM

O'Keefe: Who the heck are you?

How did you become so paranoid?

Ward committees have an impossible time getting members. It's a position that most don't understand--don't want to understand--and refuse to join. You can't even get people to vote on the chairs.

Go back to ranting about the secret plot to eliminate Bolden.......

Posted by: Mr. Smith | July 29, 2009 3:37 PM

Streever,

Get a clue fella! You must have just recently moved to New Haven.

Posted by: Charlie O'Keefe | July 29, 2009 7:52 PM

Streever.

I do not understand you. In one posting you state that ward committees should be transparent and known to all. In others you make excuses for this not being so. You have flip flopped on this one so much I think you'd be a brilliant politician. What oofice exactly are you running for.

90% Of Ward Committee Lists Kept Secret

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