nothin About-Face Wins Mayor Wide $$ Lead | New Haven Independent

About-Face Wins Mayor Wide $$ Lead

Melissa Bailey Photo

“Disappointed” in DeStefano’s public-financing reversal, state Rep. Roland Lemar (left) donated money to an opponent.

A continuing flood of contributions of up to $1,000 from people who depend on Mayor John DeStefano for their livelihood has given him an 8.5‑to‑1 fundraising lead over his three challengers going into next Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

That news came in the latest campaign filings, which were due Tuesday for four Democrats vying for the mayor’s seat. The filings cover the period between July 1 and Aug. 30; they offer the last glimpse into campaign coffers before next Tuesday’s contest.

DeStefano, who’s seeking a 10th term in office, raised $170,960 this period, bringing his fundraising total to $425,937 to date.

That means he has raised 8.5 times as much as Democratic opponents Jeffrey Kerekes, Tony Dawson, and Clifton Graves combined.

It also potentially means a windfall, in the form of joint vote-pulling help and other coordinated campaign activity, for pro-City Hall candidates running against labor-backed candidates in Tuesday’s Board of Aldermen primaries, of which there are 16.

DeStefano’s campaign coffers are swelling this year as he returns to an old way of raising money. This year, he decided not to take part in the Democracy Fund, Connecticut’s first-of-its-kind municipal clean elections program, after his appointees to the Fund’s board criticized his campaign for reporting violations. The mayor and aldermanic allies created the fund to try to limit the influence of big-money special interests and to enable more non-incumbent challengers to afford to run for office; DeStefano first embraced the concept in 2000 after a corruption scandal and after facing criticism for his team’s campaign shakedowns of city contractors. (In one infamous case, the mayor’s budget director sent letters to city contractors not asking them for campaign contributions, but listing the amount they were ordered to pay, with a helpful return envelope inserted.)

The Democracy Fund offers a $17,000 grant plus matching money to candidates who raise a minimum of donations — at least $10 each from 200 local voters. A candidate who raises just $2,000 can obtain up to $21,000 if her opponent has raised at least $5,000.

In addition to deciding not to participate in the Democracy Fund this year, the mayor has chosen to avoid the Democracy Fund rules he set up seeking to limit candidates to raising $340 per contributor. Instead his campaign has solicited $1,000 contributions, the maximum allowed by state law, from dozens of mayoral appointees and city contractors who depend on the mayor for their livelihoods.

To advocates of clean-election laws, limits on fundraising and spending — which address the spiraling costs of campaigning — are at least as important to leveling the playing field as matching grants to challengers.

Asked this week about his change of heart on clean-election practices, DeStefano noted that he follows the law in his fund-raising and added that voters don’t care about such process” issues anyway. That position puts him at odds with, among others … John DeStefano, circa 2005.

Top-Dollar Leap

In this newest reporting period DeStefano’s campaign picked up at least 32 more contributions from city contractors. (Many contributors were listed without the box checked indicating whether or not contributors have city contracts, so it’s hard to know the real number.) Twenty-five of those 32 have contributed more than the $340. That’s the maximum allowed by the Democracy Fund, which DeStefano used to abide by in previous election years, when he didn’t face serious opposition and participated in the clean elections program.

Nine of the contributions maxed out at the $1,000 limit allowed by law. The previous reporting period showed at least 17 contractors exceeding the $340 limit.

Dozens more executives from companies that deal directly with the city on business were also listed as contributors, such as insurers and utility execs, developers, and subcontractors. That list also includes people the mayor has publicly criticized or clashed with in the past, such as Yale-New Haven Hospital President Marna Borgstrom and downtown property owner Paul Denz.

On top of that, 29 government employees gave money to DeStefano in this latest period; last period 62 did. (Read the details about last period’s contributors here.)

Jeffrey Kerekes was the first candidate to qualify for the Democracy Fund. Tony Dawson followed suit Thursday. Clifton Graves chose to opt out.

Kerekes has raised a total of $32,852, in the form of small donations from a wide number of people and two big checks from the city’s Democracy Fund.

Last period, he raised $6,025 from individuals and $23,952 from the Democracy Fund. Kerekes used some of the money to buy billboards, which went up in four locations across town Wednesday. Starting Thursday, he said, his campaign video, previously available only on YouTube, will be played on television.

Read Kerekes’ report here. 

Clifton Graves has raised a total of $14,310 so far this season and has $3,358.88 on hand.

Graves reported raising no money in the last reporting period. The campaign did get an in-kind contribution from Yale unions. UNITE HERE Tip State & Local political action committee donated $768.84 in paid staff time to Graves’ campaign. (UNITE HERE is the umbrella union for Locals 34 and 35 at Yale.)

Read Graves’ latest report here.

Tony Dawson campaign treasurer Jorge Lopes reported raising $1,855 last period for a total of $2,960. The campaign had $1,685 remaining in cash in hand at the end of the period, Lopes said. Those figures aren’t reflected in the filing listed on the city clerk’s office website; Lopes said the campaign had technical difficulties in uploading the data.

Lopes sent the Independent this spreadsheet listing recent campaign donations.

It didn’t include an in-kind donation from UNITE HERE Local 35, which contributed $333 in staff wages to Dawson’s campaign, according to the PAC’s filing with the state.

(Update: Candidates participating in the Democracy Fund are not allowed to accept contributions from PACs. Rob Wechsler, administrator of the Democracy Fund, said the UNITE HERE donated staff time to all three mayoral challengers to help them get on the primary ballot. Those in-kind contributions won’t be considered a violation of the Democracy Fund for participating candidates, so long as the campaigns pay the tab for the staff wages, Wechsler said.)

The electronic copy of DeStefano’s report is too large to upload to the Independent’s website.

The document will be temporarily hosted on the city/town clerk’s office website—read it here.

Shakedown?

DeStefano’s campaign tactics drove one longtime supporter to donate to his opposition and prompted a challenger to accuse him of a shakedown.”

State Rep. Roland Lemar, who lobbied for the creation of the Democracy Fund, said he’s disappointed in the mayor’s change of course.

I was disappointed in his choice to not support the Democracy Fund, which he helped establish,” Lemar said.

For that reason, he gave $25 to Kerekes, which tripled into a $75 donation thanks to taxpayer-supported matching funds.

I believe in clean elections,” Lemar said. I was proud to contribute to Jeffrey Kerekes’ attempt to qualify.” Lemar said he would have donated to Graves if he had been participating in the Democracy Fund; and would have supported Dawson’s attempt to do so as well.

The Democracy Fund is vital to democracy,” Lemar said. It enables more voices to be heard. It gives greater strength to an independent candidacy that doesn’t have the benefit of the incumbency, and it allows a candidate with a strong message to connect with more voters than they otherwise would have been able to.”

Lemar said he’s supporting DeStefano in the election because he believes the mayor has the best vision for the city; he gave DeStefano $50 toward that cause. But he said he wishes the mayor had stayed true to his previous commitment to clean elections.

Lemar pointed to an editorial DeStefano co-wrote in 2005 in the Hartford Courant along with state Sen. Martin Looney, who gave DeStefano the toughest primary battle of his career in 2001.

Looney and DeStefano together spent $800,000 in that primary, making it the costliest municipal election in Connecticut history,” according to the editorial, entitled Public Financing Promotes Fairness.” The duo used the experience to come out in favor of a statewide clean election program.

The 2001 election revealed that the two of us are among the few people in New Haven who could realistically raise enough to contest a mayoral election. Aside from an incumbent state senator or someone of significant personal wealth, it is unlikely anyone could afford to challenge an incumbent mayor – and that is not a good thing,” DeStefano and Looney wrote in the editorial, which remains on a DeStefano campaign site from his run for governor.

Elections can only be truly fair when any qualified candidate, no matter the size of his or her war chest, can run for office; when the citizens, not just the wealthy, can meaningfully contribute to a campaign; and when candidates spend time debating the issues, not fund-raising. In short, when public funds level and expand the playing field,” the editorial continued.

Lemar said he agrees with that editorial, and with the need to remov[e] special interest money in campaigns at every level.”

We wonder why there’s such a great level of distrust for all politicians,” Lemar said. I do think it starts with how campaigns are financed and where the money comes from.”

Kerekes accused DeStefano of shaking down contractors. It’s something that we’ve come to expect from him. He’s also shaking down employees for big contributions as well.” The danger, he said, is that you become beholden to the people who give you money.”

Asked about such criticism this week, DeStefano defended his fund-raising practices and dismissed criticism of process issues.”

I’m not taking taxpayer dollars,” DeStefano said. I’ve participated in the Democracy Fund in the past. What I would argue people should look at” are the recent rise in city students’ test scores and the growth of the city’s grand list. That’s what people care about,” not process issues” like how he raises money, DeStefano said.

The mayor was asked if he still agrees with the positions he took when he and several aldermen created the Democracy Fund.

I’m raising money consistent with what state law is and with every other municipal official in Connecticut,” he responded, then repeated that the more important issue is the fact that our economy is growing when other cities’ are not.”

Some Of The Nitty-Gritty

Following is a list of some of the donors to DeStefano’s campaign in the most recent period, broken down by category, with year-to-date contribution totals listed in cases in which earlier donations had been made.

City Contractors

Bruce Blarrett, CFO, Barrett Outdoor, Milford, $1,000
James Segaloff, attorney, $250, $500 to date
Catherine Traynor, Arcadis, $50
Terry Mavis, Newman Architects $1,000
Anthony Solomine, attorney, $200; $350 to date
Scott DeLauro, attorney, $500; $650 to date
Michael Dolan, attorney. $500; $650 to date
Raul Tores, engineer, $500. $1,000 to date
James McAdam, F.J. Duhill, $500
Richard Munday, Newman Architects, $400; $1,000 to date
Ronald Nault, engineer, $500
Herbert Newman, Newman Architect, $1,000
Peter Newman, Newman Architects, $1,000
Douglas Arcadia, engineer, $500
James Perito, attorney, $500; $950 to date
W. Scott Phillips, Arcadis, $500
Carl Porto, attorney, $150; $350 to date
Carl Porto II, attorney, $200; $350 to date
Joseph Porto, attorney, $200; $350 total
Hoseph Schiffer, Newman Architects,$800
Robert Schnider, engineer, $500
Michael Amato, attorney, $200; $350 to date
William Colwell, attorney, $200
Doron Dagan, engineer, $500; $650 to date
Louis Federici, attorney, $200
Patrick Flannelly, Arcadis, $500
Joseph Friedler, attorney, $500; $650 to date
Edmund Fusco, developer, $1,000
Lynn Fusco, developer, $1,000
Albert Hansen, Crown Auto, $1,000
Roger Harrison, Utility Audit Management, $150; $550 to date
Michael Luzzi, attorney, $500; $1,000 to date

City Government Employees & Appointees

Sean Matteson, mayoral chief of staff $150; $350 to date
Barbara Lamb, director of cultural affairs $150
Kelly Murphy, economic development administrator $200; $350 to date
Tomas Reyes Jr., housing code inspector $100
Karen DuBois-Walton $150, $300 to date
Karyn Gilvarg, City Plan director, $100
Maria Carbone, Board of Ed instructor coach” $250
Adam Joseph, mayoral spokesman, $150; $300 to date
Daniel Diaz, Board of Ed parent advocate,” $100
Rafael Ramos, housing code enforcement, $25
Mary Lou DiPaolo, ESOL teacher, $150; $300 to date
Shirley Love Joyner, assistant principal, $200; $300 to date
Ana Rodriguez, Board of Ed administrative assistant, $100; $300 to date
Lawrence Rusconi, budget director, $250; $550 to date
James Wolf, assistant principal, $100
Mark Vauiso, finance department, $100; $325 to date
Matthew Marcarelli, firefighters, $500
Amy Meek, reentry coordinator, $50; $350 to date
Felipe Pastore, lawyer, $150; $300 to date

Some Corporate Donors

Marna Borgstrom, Yale-New Haven Hospital CEO, $250
Paul Denz, developer, $1,000
Robert Allessio (of Dalton, Mass.), vice-president, UIL Holdings Corp, $1,000
James Augar, vice-president, Anthem $1,000
Christine Cappiello (of Danbury), Anthem government affairs, $1,000
Richard D’Aquila (of Westport), Yale-New Haven hospital exec,” $1,000
James Torgerson, president and CEO, UIL Holdings, $1,000
Alex Deboissiere (of Virginia), Senior VP, UIL Holdings Corp, $1,000
David Fusco, President, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, $1,000
Peter Herbert, Yale-New Haven Hospital, $1,000
Christine Higgins, vice-president, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, $1,000
John Lapides, president, United Aluminum Corp., $1,000
Steven Rosenthal, CEO and president, Northland Investments, $1,000
Lawrence McManus, administrator, Hospital of St. Raphael, $1,000
Christopher O’Connor, administrator, Hospital of St. Raphael, $1,000
Susan Winstanley, Winstanley Enterprises, $1,000

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