Upset In The Heights

by Staff | November 3, 2009 8:11 PM | | Comments (26)

newosullivanb.JPGVote09_logo_02.jpg(Updated 11:24 p.m.) The story this election night: Independent candidate Maureen O’Sullivan-Best (pictured), propelled by help from City Hall’s Democrats, unseated incumbent Alderman Robert Lee. Meanwhile, the Board of Aldermen’s only Green member, Allan Brison, was trounced by Democratic challenger Justin Elicker.

Ward 11: Maureen O’Sullivan-Best (I) 365, Robert Lee (D) 222.
Ward 10: Justin Elicker (D) 618, Allan Brison (G) 320.
Ward 18: Arlene DePino (R) 491, Sue Campion (D) 367.
Ward 22:Greg Morehead (D) 237, Lisa Hopkins (I) 194.
Ward 26: Sergio Rodriguez (D) 468, Jim O’Connell (R) 82.

Those results mean that the 30-member Board of Aldermen will have 28 Democrats, one Republican, and one independent, elected by Democrats.

(Vote totals do not include absentee ballots, which were too few to change the outcomes.)

Independent-minded candidate Lisa Hopkins mounted a last-minute, energetic write-in campaign in Dixwell’s Ward 22 against incumbent Alderman Greg Morehead, a staunch City Hall ally who beat her in September’s Democratic primary. Morehead won decisively at the polls Tuesday night, 215-87. However, an estimated 139 absentee ballots were taken out by the candidates. After those ballots were counted, the final vote was closer: 237-194.

The night’s results were good news for the administration of Mayor John DeStefano. Even the two non-Democrats who won were the mayor’s choices.

The results also make it harder for opponents of City Hall to mount a challenge to Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield. Brison and Lee were opponents of City Hall and would have supported a challenger to Goldfield.

The big surprise of the night was in Ward 11, which includes Bella Vista and the neighborhood around Bishop Woods School.

Three-term incumbent Robert Lee, a Democrat, has been an outspoken critic of the mayor. So the Democratic mayor’s forces turned out to work against the Democrat and for a first-time challenger, Maureen O’Sullivan-Best. Among those working for O’Sullivan-Best were the mayor’s chief of staff, Sean Matteson, and a platoon of students from Hopkins School who were participating in the campaign as part of a politics class project. They were directed to the O’Sullivan-Best campaign by the mayor’s campaign director.

“I guess the mayor beat me this time,” Lee said after the results were announced Tuesday night.

His election night statements contrasted with campaign comments about his opponent. “She needs to multiply never 10 times, and that’s the chances she’s got” of winning, he had said.

Lee refused to debate O’Sullivan-Best during the campaign.

Even Tuesday night at 6, Lee continued brimming with confidence, predicting an easy victory. “It’s over. I’m out of here,” he said, leaving the polls, to return at 8.

Said O’Sullivan-Best, after the results were announced: “I guess the people have spoken.”

O’Sullivan-Best may have even won over one of her toughest constituents: her mom. Mom still wasn’t saying whom she voted for on Tuesday. But mom pitched in by baking ginger snap cookies — and serving as O’Sullivan-Best’s deputy treasurer.

“I’m pretty convinced my mom voted for me,” the candidate said. “She likes to keep her ballot secret.”

One irony in the race: The bulk of the votes came from Bella Vista senior housing complex, where voters were motivated by anger at the mayor for closing their senior center. They ended up voting against the incumbent alderman — and for the mayor’s candidate.

Other Good News For City Hall

The other campaign with an uncertain outcome had been in East Rock’s Ward 10, where Democratic challenger Justin Elicker knocked off another City Hall critic, Green Alderman Allan Brison. Brison also lost much of his former support within the ward. Read all about that here.

110309_TM_0012.jpgIn Morris Cove, even a Republican victory was good news for City Hall. The incumbent GOP Alderwoman, Arlene DePino (pictured), is basically on good terms with the administration. She was challenged by a Democratic critic, Sue Campion.

“It was a tough-fought fight,” said Campion, who was mounting her third challenge to DePino in the city’s only Republican redoubt. DePino proclaimed herself feeling “great, exhilarated” at the results.

DePino said that she was helped by support from the firefighter’s union. Union president Pat Egan is pictured behind DePino in the top photo.

DePino and her supporters headed off to Chili’s in East Haven to celebrate. She said she would like to support a New Haven business but that her preferred local restaurant, Soleo’s in the Annex, recently closed.

The View From Ward 26

sergioandjim.JPGRepublican Jim O’Connell said he thought he did very well against the three-term incumbent Democrat, Sergio Rodriguez, considering the party’s lack of supporters in Upper Westville’s 26th Ward. The GOP has about 4.4 percent of the ward’s nearly 2,350 registered voters; O’Connell polled about 3.5 percent of those eligible to vote.

O’Connell, left in photo, is shown during a lively discussion about the placement of campaign signs with Rodriguez outside the polling place while Kenneth Driffin, center, watched.

A total of 583 ballots were cast. Rodriguez trounced O’Connell 80 percent to about 14 percent. He won 40 more votes than Mayor John DeStefano Jr.

Rodriguez said he will “step away from leadership positions” in the new Board of Aldermen and “focus on the ward.”

“I’m going to concentrate on helping block watches, particularly in the Stevenson Road and Kohary Drive areas,” he said. Those groups came into being after the tony Hopkins School began a short-lived attempt to build a driveway from its athletic complex to the Stevenson Road cul-de-sac.

“I’m also going to focus on the ‘B side’ of the ward,” which stretches from Upper Westville to the Judson Avenue area, Rodriguez said.

He said he’s worried about the effect the recession is having on families all over the ward. “There are lost jobs. Households that had two working members now have one,” he said. He said he was tired after a six-month campaign that featured a spirited primary challenge by LaShell Rountree.

Rodriguez also said he wasn’t ruling out “moving up on the political ladder. You always think about that and I wouldn’t rule anything out.”

O’Connell, who ran on a shoestring budget, blamed the national Republican party’s reputation with voters, “especially minorities,” he said.

“The national party carries no weight” with the electorate, he said.

He said he wasn’t sure if he would mount another political campaign in the future but would work to “try to keep two parties going” in New Haven.

Ward 26 moderators and poll-watchers said the most trouble came from what they called a lack of information about the single question on the ballot. Nearly two dozen people approached the officials to ask about the question, saying they were provided with no information. Others said they wouldn’t cast uninformed votes on the issue.

The ward machine tally showed 130 ballots with the question left blank, while 382 voted yes and 71 voted no on the question.

Allan Appel, Leonard Honeyman, Thomas MacMillan, and Melissa Bailey reported this story.

Some previous stories from this campaign:

• Next Term Will Determine Mayor’s Legacy
• 1 Mob, 4 Views
• Mayor Launches “School Change” Campaign
• Mom’s Not Saying
• Lee Won’t Waste Time Debating
• Race Pits Shoestring vs. Shoe Leather
• Grudge Match In Morris Cove
• Open, Or Close, A Gate To Schoolkids?
• Campaign $$ Seeds Races
• Elicker Swears Off Mayor’s Money
• Candidates Split On Schools
• Greens’ Leaders Split On Strategy
• Brison Calls For Noise Barriers
• Lone Green Alderman Faces Challenge







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Comments

Posted by: streever | November 3, 2009 8:50 PM

"where pro-City Hall forces helped eliminate another critic"

pro-city hall is a strange term to use for myself and the cadre of young, non-city hall hard workers who helped Justin win.

Posted by: Mark [TypeKey Profile Page] | November 3, 2009 10:47 PM

The term may sound strange, but it's an accurate prediction, without regard to your individual motivation.

Posted by: angelo | November 3, 2009 11:28 PM

Whatever your politics, the forced retirement of ... Robert Lee is a moment to savor.

Posted by: streever | November 3, 2009 11:49 PM

Mark,

My issue is that over 40 volunteers dedicated time & energy to get Justin on the board. As usual, the NHI reduced it to a simple us vs them argument.

The NHI had a very different take on Ray Saracco: http://newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/02/a_new_election.php a year and a half ago.

I'm certainly not working on Justin's campaign to eliminate mayoral opposition.

Out of the 40+ volunteers who worked on this campaign, I can honestly state none of them did this to eliminate critics of the mayor.

We all worked on this to get elected the very best representative of our ward--

shame on you NHI.

Posted by: angelo | November 4, 2009 12:34 AM

So, based on the editing of my post, calling someone "arrogant" is now going to be censored? Pretty heavy-handed.

[Editor's note: Arrogant is fine. It was the other stuff.]

Posted by: Observer | November 4, 2009 4:19 AM

Lee's own arrogant behavior cost him the seat. His refusal to debate and condesending remarks about his challenger revealed his true character and voters responded. Blaming someone else for his foolishness is just more of the same.

Posted by: DEZ | November 4, 2009 8:06 AM

Angelo, I'm right there with you! Congratulations to Maureen, and best of luck! Isn't there some biblical statement about pride coming before a fall? Classic ill mannered, hubristic statements coming back to haunt the incumbent in Ward 11.

Posted by: J. Hart | November 4, 2009 8:23 AM

Does anybody know where we can get a complete, ward-by-ward reporting of the vote tallies?

[Editor's note: We'll try to get all that by the end of Wednesday.]

Posted by: Bruce | November 4, 2009 8:29 AM

Well said, Angelo. I can only imagine what the "..." replaced.

Streever, congrats to you, Elicker and your team. I'm sure you worked your butts off and I doubt you needed any help from city hall. In a decade of following New Haven politics, I can't remember ever seeing a ward turnout that high -- especially without a hot mayoral race.

Posted by: streever | November 4, 2009 8:52 AM

I was just thinking that too, Bruce :) Well said Angelo. I wish O'Sullivan Best the best--good luck!

Thank you bruce. We took 0 help/support from City Hall. Out of the 20 or so core volunteers I can honestly say every one was there either to get the best representative for our neighborhood or to support a close friend who we have the deepest trust in.

Thanks to the NHI for removing that line. (I'm always most disappointed in those I respect the most when they drop the ball)

Posted by: Lisa | November 4, 2009 9:00 AM

What about other wards? 8? 9? I know they ran unopposed, but is it not worth mentioning?

Posted by: Reader | November 4, 2009 9:15 AM

Dear New Haven Independant Staff -

This is the first time I have read your newspaper and until you fix the awful layout of this website it will be the last. The layout looks like it was designed in five minutes by a lazy college student. There is no order, its impossible to find stories and all you are greated with is gigantic photos. Do you think that someone could spend a couple of hours and clean this thing up so that it looks like a newspaper website and not a myspace page.

Posted by: ROBN | November 4, 2009 10:10 AM

ditto on the request for ward level vote counts for all candidates...please!

The sec of state has no results yet and no fine grained detail.

http://www.ct.gov/sots/lib/sots/electionservices/electionresults/2009_election_results/elec_09_top_office_returns_&_turnout.pdf

Posted by: THREEFIFTHS | November 4, 2009 10:37 AM

Here is the real winners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wePMYM4av6Q&NR=1

Posted by: CMinor | November 4, 2009 11:36 AM

Ms DePino apparently thinks Fireside is not good enough to celebrate her victory in New Haven. Right around the corner from Soleo's. Instead, opting to give her $$$ to East Haven. What's the matter?

Posted by: Morris Cove Mom | November 4, 2009 12:31 PM

Congratulations Maureen! New Haven will surely benefit from your joining the Alderman, as all of us in Girl Scouting already know :)

It's too bad that Morris Cove had less than 800 people voting, out of our 3,000-plus registered voters in Ward 18. Maybe then DePino could have been ousted.

Thanks to Mayor DeStefano for making the kids happy when he bought Girl Scout cookies at Nathan Hale School last night. That was quite nice of him...

Posted by: Cat2000 | November 4, 2009 1:13 PM

Reader,
go away, we love the NHI as it is. Maybe if you weren't so impatient, you'd get use to the format and be able to find your stories.

Posted by: nfjanette [TypeKey Profile Page] | November 4, 2009 1:36 PM

One irony in the race: The bulk of the votes came from Bella Vista senior housing complex, where voters were motivated by anger at the mayor for closing their senior center. They ended up voting against the incumbent alderman — and for the mayor’s candidate.

I'm neither a political expert nor an historian, but perhaps that helps one understand why the founders of the country wanted an electoral college rather than pure populist voting.

Posted by: I love new Haven | November 4, 2009 4:03 PM

Mr.Lee " hit the raod Jack don't come back no more no more ................."

Posted by: The Professor | November 4, 2009 4:09 PM

NFJanette/NHI,

I actually have a different take on the Bella Vista situation. It's not like Robert Lee was a particularly effective representative for the community when the City proposed closing the senior center. He didn't do anything in the way of organizing any opposition to closing the center; his response basically consisted of doing nothing prior to the closure and yelling a lot after the fact.

True, they were angry at the Mayor for closing the senior center. But it looks like they were also angry at Lee for doing absolutely nothing to prevent the closure. Indeed, perhaps the voters at Bella Vista figure that by electing an Alderwoman who is actually an intelligent, reasonable person, regardless of that particular Alder's feelings towards the Mayor, they can get better outcomes in the future.

Posted by: Robert | November 4, 2009 6:48 PM

We're so thankful Alder DePino wasn't ousted! She does a great job and our family will continue to support her.

Posted by: J. Hart | November 4, 2009 8:18 PM

I'm going to have to agree with the professor. Seems like NHI is perpetuating the stereotype of the doddering senior voter, so confused that they accidentally vote for Pat Buchanan. Perhaps they knew precisely what they were doing, who they were voting for, and what the outcome would be. I would venture to guess that most seniors are a heck of a lot more informed than the average voter and have been around long enough to know what's what. Tip 'o the hat to old folks.

Posted by: Annette | November 5, 2009 5:36 AM

Cminor---Last time I heard, people could spend the $$$ wherever they want and Chili's is still in America. And who wants to compete with the Fireside drug dealings and bottle tossing in the bank parking lot by your "customers"?

PS- Morris Cove gets nothing from the City in proportion to the property taxes we pay. It doesn't matter WHO the alderperson is. They have a tough job to fight for our interests. I wish we had seceded when we tried.

Posted by: tonni | November 5, 2009 7:14 AM

MAUREEN YOU SOLD YOUR SOLE TO THE DEVIL....SHAME SHAME ON YOU.....YOU ARE ALREADY A YES PERSON ON THE BOARD........

Posted by: bob solomon | November 5, 2009 6:50 PM

Well, Maureen, welcome to the world of public service, where people like TONNI will scream at you in CAPITAL LETTERS, making assumptions when you aren't sure what they are saying. That aside, congratulations. For every TONNI, there are 50 people who will appreciate what you are doing and trying to do. They will not yell at you, or anyone else, and may never make themselves known, but they will appreciate an honest, thoughtful effort. Good luck!

Posted by: Jennifer | November 7, 2009 4:25 PM

It's ok, Maureen. According to Tonni, the "sole" you sold merely belonged to your shoe.

Great job on the election!

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