Paul Bass Photo
Van Hoesen reciting pledge at GOP nominating convention.
Thomas Breen Photo
DeCola chairs committee meeting.
Republican Donald Trump won far more votes in Morris Cove’s Ward 18 — 830 — than anywhere else in New Haven last year. Which might seem like a boost for one of the 27-year-old GOP candidate for alder there this fall.
Until you find out that he actually voted for Hillary Clinton in that election.
As did 1,061 voters in Morris Cove.
So Republicans know they have a lot of work to do to try to elect their candidate, first-time office-seeker Joshua Van Hoesen, who’s taking on three-term incumbent Democrat Sal DeCola.
But they also see the Cove as their best shot at actually winning a competitive election in their quest to rebuild a second political party in New Haven. The 30-member Board of Alders hasn’t had a Republican on it for six years. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 16 – 1. The party is fielding candidates for only two of the 30 seats in the Nov. 7 general election; it has no one running for mayor, a seat last won by a Republican in 1951. (It also has a candidate for probate judge; an endorsed candidate for Board of Ed ended up not submitting paperwork to run.)
The last Republican to win an alder seat, Arlene DePino, represented Morris Cove until retiring six years ago. So did the last Republican to hold a state representative seat. The ward has 287 registered Republicans, the largest concentration in town. It also has 723 registered unaffiliated voters, many of whom can be convinced to pull a Republican lever. Citywide, the Republicans have 2,359 registered voters; the district with the next-highest number of registered GOPers is Westville’s Ward 25, with 157.
“Even though we lose elections, we have the most Republicans in the 18th Ward,” observed John Cirello, an attorney who lives in Morris Cove and ran for state representative three years ago on the Republican line. “There’s a viable chance of a Republican taking the seat.”
Viable. Not necessarily easy.
“One of the things that we run up against,” Cirello observed, “is that people look at what’s going on in national politics, and they relate it back to the local candidates, who may or may not be on board with what’s happening in national politics. Sometimes national politics buoy a candidate. Sometimes it tears them down.
“Right now with the Trump administration, Republicans are not being helped in Connecticut.”
Engineer Politics
Van Hoesen and helmet at WNHH radio.
Republicans ask Van Hoesen whom he voted for in 2016 when he knocks on their doors seeking their votes Nov. 7. They’re not pleased to learn he voted for “Lock Her Up!” Hillary.
One woman kept the door partly closed for 15 minutes as he made his pitch, Van Hoesen recalled Wednesday during an interview on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program, to which he drove his Vulcan 500 motorcycle. (DeCola declined an invitation to participate in the program.)
Trump identified good issues in his presidential campaign, Van Hoesen told the voter (and stated on “Dateline”). “The solutions, in my mind, were not there.”
For instance, it makes sense to strengthen immigration enforcement, but not to build a wall along the southern border, Van Hoesen said. He noted that many immigrants who stay here illegally came have overstayed visas. And people have “ladders” and “planes” and other ways to get past a wall, he said. He further argued that the country needs to admit more immigrants, especially those with advanced skills needed for jobs for which there are shortages.
He wasn’t “excited” about voting for Hillary Clinton, said Van Hoesen, a self-described Libertarian-leaning Republican who favors limited government spending and considers Thomas Paine his political hero. But he felt Clinton had more experience and competence, and therefore more of an ability to make good-government decisions.
“It’s logical,” the skeptical woman said of his Trump explanation, Van Hoesen recalled. Then she opened her door and invited him inside. They proceeded to discuss New Haven issues. Van Hoesen heard her out, and she ultimately promised to vote for him, he said.
He’s been doing a lot of listening on the campaign trail, he said. He doesn’t offer sweeping proposed solutions to improve schools, say, or cut specific government positions. He said voters are telling him that they perceive that the Cove pays more in taxes than it gets back in services, especially in terms of police presence.
Van Hoesen promises to serve as a problem-solver who works hard to connect citizens to government. He said he caught that bug as a computer science student at University of New Haven, where he served in student government. He enjoyed finding out day-to-day problems students encountered, then probing the bureaucracy and school policies to fix them.
After graduation, he bought a home in the Cove because it reminded him of the community where he grew up on Nantucket. “It has a very good sense of community. The American Dream — everyone with white picket fences, two and half kids, Labrador dogs.”
He settled into a job as lead engineer at a North Haven company designing accounting software for not-for-profits. Meanwhile, he found it hard sometimes to get good information from local government. For instance, one day he was out of town when a neighbor called to report: “Hey Josh, they’re towing your car!” A last-minute “emergency no parking” sign had gone up for a public event after Van Hoesen had departed. The tow-truck operator got on the phone and agreed just to tow the car into Van Hoesen’s driveway, where he learned to park in the future when leaving town. but he said the city should have given more notice.
As a techie he was blown away by the antedeluvian state of the city government website until its recent rebuild: “If I had given the old New Haven website to a client, I would not expect to get paid.” He praised the new version. Now, he said, he would expect payment — but not a bonus. It still has broken links, as he discovered when paying taxes online and clicking for verification of payment, only to land on an error page.
“A lot of people get frustrated dealing with rules and regulations and government,” Van Hoesen observed. “They need a champion.”
He decided to run to become that champion. Also, he said, he hadn’t even known who his alder was; he was convinced he could do a better job of communicating with neighbors.
At this point he has but three people working on his campaign, he said, although he has gotten advice from Cove Republican veterans. With a preternaturally sunny demeanor, he said he’s not daunted taking on a candidate backed by New Haven’s institutional electoral armies. One party-dominated New Haven “deserves a choice,” and he considers inspiring people to cast votes a victory no matter the result. “Whether you vote for me or not,” he said, “I want you voting.”
Green Lawmaker
Lucy Gellman Photo
DeCola signing city’s international climate change pledge.
Sal DeCola is running on his record, he said in an interview Wednesday: a record of getting streets and sidewalks fixed in the Cove, of connecting neighbors to district cops, and of taking a lead downtown on environmental issues.
As chair of the Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy Committee, DeCola shepherded to passage a nonbinding resolution urging New Haveners to refrain from using pesticides on their lawn. He helped oversee a hands-on effort with city officials to improve snow removal. He has worked closely with City Engineer Giovanni Zinn on improving flood controls, from repairing floodgates in Morris Cove and Fair Haven and City Point to installing bioswales throughout town. (“He’s doing a great job,” DeCola said of Zinn. “We’re lucky to have him.”) Their efforts helped the city win a “perfect seven” flood-preparation score from FEMA, meaning that people in neighborhoods like Morris Cove will pay less for flood insurance.
As committee chair, DeCola also helped negotiate a contract with the operator of a new city bikeshare program to ensure that it include Newhallville.
Markeshia Ricks Photo
A personable retired postal carrier, DeCola, who’s 60, performs community service outside of the spotlight. He makes monthly food deliveries to homebound neighbors through the FISH program. He takes the lead in organizing an annual “Talent Haven” political revue in conjunction with the Shubert Theatre to raise money for Music Haven, Neighborhood Music School, Coop High; and an annual fundraising drive for food pantries.
While both he and Van Hoesen emphasize constituent service and neighborhood-level problem-solving, they do offer differing positions on two broader issues.
DeCola embraces New Haven’s “sanctuary city” policy of not having police cooperate with the federal government on detaining undocumented immigrants. He said he saw how fearful immigrants were of reporting crimes to police when they feared being deported, so they became regular victims of assaults and muggings. New Haven has become safer because of the policy, he argued. Van Hoesen said it’s important for different levels of government to work together.
On the hot-button Cove issue of Tweed-New Haven Airport, DeCola categorically opposes lengthening the runway to lure commercial jet service.
“It’s not going to happen. It’s not conducive for the community. The roads leading up to the airport cannot handle that traffic,” he said. When United had regular service, the local roads couldn’t handle the traffic from the estimated 150,000 annual jet-passenger trips, he argued.
Van Hoesen proclaimed himself “ambivalent” on the question. He bought a house across from Tweed fully aware he’d hear noise; he was accustomed to it from having grown up near an airport on Cape Cod. He signed up for Tweed’s noise-reduction program for neighborhood homeowners. The airport can do a better job communicating with neighbors about that program, he said — and if elected, he’ll see it as his job to help.
Click on or download the above audio file to hear the full interview with Joshua Van Hoesen on WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven,” or click on the below Facebook Live video to watch it. Sal DeCola declined an invitation to appear on the program.
The Republicans do the Bank Job.The Democrats drive the getaway car.One party is riding you from behind right now.The other party is waiting for a reach around.Again The donkey and the elephant symbols of the two dominant political parties are tied at the hip. We should Now It is time now to put the donkey and the elephant on a raft and push them out to sea.
My bad. Forgot about this.
Slossberg used the N-word while addressing UConn College Democrats and she issued a statement late Thursday.
The Connecticut NAACP and the Black & Puerto Rican Caucus request an immediate meeting with Sen. Slossberg to discuss this very important matter and to prevent this type of insensitive behavior and poor judgement from happening again
The Connecticut NAACP and the Black & Puerto Rican Caucus should tell her to step down.
https://patch.com/connecticut/milford/slossberg-apologizes-issues-statement-use-n-word-naacp-demands-meeting
My bad again. How come The Connecticut NAACP and the Black & Puerto Rican Caucus Have not spoke on this.
Cop's Discrimination Complaint Upheld
There is sufficient evidence to support a finding of reasonable cause that [New Haven] removed [Cruz] from the District Manager position in whole or in part because he is Hispanic," CHRO investigator David L. Kent wrote in the report, a draft finding of reasonable cause, signed June 22.