Paul Bass Photo
From left: Holmes, Clyburn, Wingate, Walker, Looney, Morrison, Douglass, Harp, Paolillo, Robinson-Thorpe, Constantinople, Perez, DeCola, Marchand, Foskey-Cyrus.
A majority of the city’s elected aldermen threw their support to mayoral candidate Toni Harp Sunday and presented her opponents with a challenge: Should they form their own slate of candidates? Or leave those aldermen alone?
Some answered no. One mayoral candidate left the option open.
Harp, coming off a midnight session of the State Senate, received the group of aldermen’s formal endorsement at a 2 p.m. event that drew 35 additional supporters to her Whalley Avenue headquarters.
Harp, an 11-term state senator, is one of seven Democrats seeking to succeed retiring two-decade incumbent Mayor John DeStefano.
Eighteen members of the 30-member board signed a statement of support for her candidacy. Fifteen of them joined state Sen. Martin Looney in person at Sunday’s event, praising Harp as the candidate who can, in Looney’s words, “make the entire city feel comfortable and hopeful.”
In thanking them for their support, Harp (at right in photo) recalled her own tenure as an alderwoman from 1988 through 1992. “I’m going to be the kind of mayor who respects and works with my Board of Aldermen,” she promised them. “For too long we’ve had government that works from the top down. I think we’re ready for the people to frame what this city is to be about.”
Fifteen of the 18 aldermen supporting her won office in 2011 with the backing of the city’s most politically organized vote-pulling operation, affiliated with Yale’s UNITE HERE Locals 34 and 35. Those unions are expected to endorse Harp formally in coming weeks.
The 18 aldermen on board with Harp so far are President Jorge Perez, Yale Alderwoman Sarah Eidelson, Dwight Alderman Frank Douglass Jr., Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson Brooks, Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon, East Rock Alderwoman Jessica Holmes, Fair Haven Heights Alderwoman Barbara Constantinople, Fair Haven Alderman Ernie Santiago, Annex Alderman Al Paollillo Jr., Morris Cove Alderman Salvatore DeCola, Newhallvilel Alderwoman Delphine Clyburn, Newhallville Alderwoman Brenda Foskey-Cyrus, Dixwell Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison, West River Alderwoman Tyisha Walker, Edgewood Alderwoman Evette Hamilton, Westville Alderman Adam Marchand, Beaver Hills Alderwoman Claudette Robinson-Thorpe, and Beaver Hills Alderman Brian Wingate.
“Those are the folks [who] agreed to release their names. We’re certainly working on more,” said Harp campaign manager Jason Bartlett.
The question now is how much advantage the group endorsement brings to Harp’s campaign.
Former city traffic czar Brian McGrath and former Edgewood Aldermen Marcus Paca turned out for Harp Sunday. “I did nine miles on my bike today coming here,” McGrath said. “I ran into Elicker on Orange Street; he asked me for 25 dollars.”
No one denies that the aldermen, who are the most connected elected officials at the neighborhood level, are prize endorsers. And two years ago, many of these aldermen worked tirelessly to get elected in a group quest to wrestle control of the legislative body from forces loyal to City Hall. They succeeded in turning out the vote.
On the one hand, an opposing mayoral candidate might see a need to field challengers to Harp’s slate of aldermanic backers in order to generate more local votes of his own. Competing aldermanic slates have emerged in past contested New Haven elections, such as in 1969, 1975, 1979, 1989, and to some extent 2001.
On the other hand, opposing mayoral campaigns may benefit more from leaving Harp’s aldermanic supporters without challengers of their own — and therefore less reason to knock tirelessly on doors to bring out the vote.
Two Democratic mayoral candidates with the potential resources to field aldermanic slates said Sunday that they do not plan to field challengers to Harp’s team.
“Our camp was not shocked by this news,” said one of those mayoral candidates, Kermit Carolina. “Those 18 alderman equal 18 votes [in the mayoral election]. They all represent one vote for Toni Harp. I believe it’s great for the democratic process. Our campaign is excited about the challenge that this poses. We’re very happy where we are thus far. We believe that our ground game that we continue to develop will be more than sufficient to take our case to the people. We have no plans to run candidates against the alderpeople.”
Mayoral candidate Justin Elicker said the only alderman candidacy he so far plans to support is that of 19th Ward Democrat Michael Stratton — who serves as Elicker’s campaign fundraising chief. Elicker said he has no plans to field his own slate of aldermanic hopefuls.
“I’m just concentrating on the mayoral race, because that has the most impact on the city,” he said.
Mayoral candidate Henry Fernandez, on the other hand, said he has not yet decided whether or not to field an aldermanic slate in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary. “Our focus right now is building out a strong mayoral campaign. We’ll make decisions about aldermanic campaigns in the future,” Fernandez said.
Alderman Perez, who has represented the Hill since 1988 and played a major role in citywide campaigns, said he believes that challenges to Harp’s aldermanic supporters might indeed end up helping Harp turn out the vote in the mayor’s race by galvanizing those supporters.
“It’s human nature,” Perez (pictured) said Sunday. “If you have an opponent, you’re going to be out there working for yourself, not just for your [mayoral] candidate. Not only will you work harder, but people who support you will work harder. Some will work hard no matter what; they want to deliver their ward.” But that probably isn’t the case in every ward, he observed.
Two people familiar with the current campaign strategizing in town suggested that the emergence of the Harp slate might produce a hybrid reaction: Rather than expend all money and resources on 30 or 18 aldermanic races, a mayoral opponent might choose a few races in which a Harp supporter is vulnerable; or where a Harp supporter is going to work the ward hard in any case, with or without an opponent of his or her own.
"Our board issued a legislative agenda at the beginning of our term that reflected the priorities of our constituents: Jobs, Youth, Public Safety, Constituent Services and Fiscal Responsibility"
Sounds to me like the real priorities are Union Jobs, Union Wages, Union Medical Benefits, and Pensions. Evette Hamilton just lost my vote.