New Haven Independent

Greens Raise A Glass — & A Nomination

by Ben Johnson | July 8, 2009 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

As members of New Haven’s Green Party assembled at Archie Moore’s party co-chair Charlie Pillsbury said this year’s focus on the reelection campaign of East Rock Alderman Allan Brison marks a shift in the party’s strategy.

“New Haven Greens are tired of running symbolic races,” Pillsbury (pictured, second from right) said at Tuesday night’s gathering, which was a formal convention to endorse Brison for a second term. “They only want to run serious candidates who, like Allan, have a chance to win. That’s why we made very clear to our former Green candidate for mayor, who announced that he might run again, that he was not likely to get our endorsement.”

The key to expanding the party’s reach, Pillsbury said, would be finding contestable seats in a largely one-party town — seats like the one he himself lost by a close margin in 2008.

“I ran for registrar of voters and lost by 300 votes, and I came very close to beating the Republican,” he said.

Brison, who received a unanimous vote from the six party members in attendance at Archie Moore’s, suggested one promising source of competitive races might come from his push for an elected board of ed.

He admitted the idea, which would require an amendment to the city charter, has so far received little vocal support from other aldermen.

“It’s hard to bring about,” he said. “I will try to interest more and more aldermen in it, and I’ve had a couple come up to me privately to ask about it.”

Beyond the challenge of finding practical races to run, Pillsbury spoke of the challenge of finding good candidates to run them.

“I’ve had conversations with people in other wards about running,” he said, “but frankly the kind of time commitment it takes to be a public servant is very daunting.”

Brison said he personally devotes about 40 hours per week to the job. Party co-chair Jerry Martin jokingly noted that that works out to about $1 an hour for the $2,000 aldermen receive as an annual stipend.

“It’s really a volunteer position,” Brison said. “You have to either want to be a part of government — like doing things and like meeting people, talking to people, and working with organizations — or know that you’re going somewhere.”

Brison, 71, said he contents himself with the former motive. Looking ahead to what he said looked like a tough race for his seat against Democrat Justin Elicker, he said his sights are set only on East Rock’s Ward 10 seat.

“I don’t think state rep is in the cards,” he said. “I wouldn’t turn it down, but I don’t think I’m going anywhere politically.”

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Posted by: Jon Doe | July 8, 2009 1:52 PM

I would like to find out more Info on the Green Party. Do they have someone running for Mayor? If so where can I find out where they stand on the issues?

All I know at this point is I will not be voteing for Mayor Johhny and I'm not to crazy about the Republicans, But there are not too many oppitions out there.

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | July 8, 2009 7:47 PM

Is the Green Party also backing King John? I was reading on this site http://newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/05/brison_announce.php That Charlie Pillsbury said that
He thinks the mayor is doing a good job and that he was planning on attending King John's Brithday Party and fundraiser.So this is why I ask the Question to the green Party,Is King John running as a Green?

Posted by: Charlie Pillsbury | July 8, 2009 8:13 PM

Mr. Doe: To learn more about the state Green Party, visit www.ctgreens.org; to learn more about the national Green Party, visit www.gp.org; to learn more about the New Haven Green Party, please join us at our next meeting on Tuesday, August 4, 7:30pm at the Book Trader Cafe, 1140 Chapel Street.

To answer your question, we decided last night at our nominating meeting not to endorse any candidate for Mayor of New Haven; but you're right about there not being many options out there. I hope to see you on the 4th.

Charlie Pillsbury, Co-Chair, NHGP

Posted by: cedarhillresident | July 8, 2009 8:19 PM

Suggestion... Charlie why not run for mayor you don't even have to campaign. My guess is you would get alot of votes. And the problem that I saw when you ran last time is that most did not know to look for ytur name untill later in the day. You would of won.

Posted by: rsmith | July 8, 2009 9:11 PM

You won't get an elected BOE in this town as long DeStefano is around becuase this is his last bastion of patronage. That's the only place left for him to employ his cronies, and make money for his friends and himself ("campaign contributions") via school construction. With a spineless BOA, don't count on anything happening here soon. We are the only city in CT with an appointed Board -- we are a joke becuase there is no accountability!

Posted by: blue dog dem | July 8, 2009 9:59 PM

An elected Board of Ed just means that the Machine will flood the ballot boxes and have their friends elected. Everyone knows the unions back the Machine and there is nothing that can make me believe that this wouldn't open up another can of worms.

The only remedy is to remove the head of the snake and have the new mayor appoint a new board of ed, superintendent and any other position that can bring positive change to our schools.

Posted by: EastRocker | July 8, 2009 10:43 PM

OK Alan, time to put your cards on the table. I'm a registered dem who voted for you in the last election. But, this new guy looks, well, energetic and on the move. Tell me what you've done in the past two years that deserves my vote? Potholes filled? Stop signs fixed? Police patrols added? If you can give me a reason, you'll get my vote again. And if not, well, time to move on....

Posted by: JOSIAHBROWNFORMAYOR | July 19, 2009 9:29 PM

I am a little confused as to why the story on the Democratic Ward Committee "endorsements" hasnt run. It is also interesting to note that a member of that committee attempted to nominate Allan and was quashed; in other news the Democratic endorsed candidate garnered approval by a 19 to 10 margin. Looks like we may have a horse race on our hands in Ward 10.

As to Cedarhillresident's suggestion of Charlie Pillsbury for Mayor, I say, why not? I voted for Ferrucci last time around; I would like to see a serious alternative and unfortunately I dont believe one has emerged just yet.

Allan, I believe you have extensive knowledge surrounding real issues that effect your constituents, but you have to get out and rock the vote. Elicker is a highly visible candidate.

If you are going to tackle the City Charter, you might want to kick around the idea of mayoral term limits as well as an elected BOE.

Greens Raise A Glass — & A Nomination

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