Hamden Or Bust!

It felt like a local episode of That ​‘80s Show as vintage popular politicians helped two East Rockers bring their state representative campaigns to suddenly wide-open suburban territory.

The politicians offered endorsements in the race for the Democratic nomination for New Haven’s only open state legislative seat this year, in the 96th General Assembly District, which covers parts of New Haven and Hamden.

That race turned into a two-person contest after a third candidate, John Morrison, told the Independent Tuesday that he’s dropping out.

Morrison was the only Hamden candidate in the race. That suddenly left a major and critical swath of votes up for grabs just 40 days before the Aug. 10 primary.

The remaining candidates — Alderman Roland Lemar and Debra Hauser, both of whom live in New Haven — spent Wednesday burnishing their Hamden bonafides and introducing themselves to the town. They organized events around endorsements from well-known former elected officials. Hauser claimed the endorsement of John Carusone, who served as Hamden’s mayor from 1987 – 1991 and spent 50 years in public life. Meanwhile, former U.S. Rep. Bruce Morrison, who lived in Hamden when he represented the Third Congressional District from 1983 – 1991, flew in from Washington to endorse Lemar at a gathering at the Playwright Irish Pub on Whitney Avenue.

About a third of the 96th District’s registered Democrats live in Hamden, Lemar estimated; but they comprise 45 percent of those who usually turn up at the polls.

And most of them have shown no signs of having heard of Roland Lemar or Debra Hauser.

“Hamden’s vital” to the race, Lemar observed. ​“I don’t think anyone’s predisposed to vote for me [in Hamden yet]. I don’t think anyone’s predisposed to vote for Debra.”

So they’ve started hurrying to change those predispositions.

Irish Ayes

There were scant sightings of actual glasses of Guinness bought at the cash bar and carried to the back porch of the Playwright. But an unmistakable Irish flavor suffused the Lemar fund-raiser.

Morrison said he made the trip at the request of longtime supporter Penn Rhodeen, a New Haven attorney. He called it the ​“Irish connection.”(Lemar’s Irish-American, too.) ​“I’m agnostic about whether it helps,” he added with a smile, noting that he’s been away from Connecticut politics since leaving Congress to run an unsuccessful race for governor (after being double-crossed by Lowell Weicker, a story for another day).

But among East Rock-Hamden liberals drawn to Lemar’s campaign, at least those who were out of junior high when Morrison last served, the former Congressman retains a reputation as one of the country’s most progressive legislators in his day. Morrison sounded as passionate and idealistic Wednesday as in the days when he was fighting Reagan budget cuts, saving legal aid’s budget, and forcing housing authorities to replace apartments razed by bulldozers. (Coincidentally, the Republican Congressman Morrison defeated to win his seat in 1982, Larry DeNardis, also reemerged this political season, running a short-lived campaign for governor.)

In an informal conversation at the beginning of Wednesday’s event, Morrison floated a new tack for trying to support public financing of campaigns despite popular objections to giving ​“money to politicians,” for instance: Tax lobbyists to pay for the program. ​“They pay for [campaigns] anyway,” he noted.

In formal remarks to the two dozen assembled Lemar supporters (most but not all New Haveners), Morrison decried the politics of cynicism rampant in the country today. He called the Lemar campaign an example of ​“grassroots” idealism that serves as an antidote to the view of politics as ​“at best something that you can ignore … at worst something that is dragging us down.” Rather, he said, politics should be seen as ​“what’s possible” to make democracy work, ​“the idea that good people will continue to fight for us.”

Morrison spoke to the crowd about one of the major missions he undertook after moving to Washington in the 1990s— helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

Roland Lemar’s campaign is like that, he said.

Northern Ireland ​“seems like a million miles away from the legislature,” he said. But what he and others like former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell did there — ​“harness the tools of politics and government to making change” from the ​“grassroots” — mirrors Lemar’s approach in tackling blight or traffic safety in New Haven or in seeking to tackle Connecticut’s challenges as a state representative, Morrison said.

Lemar agreed when it came his time to talk. A looming $3.7 billion deficit may seem an ​‘intractable challenge” that precludes creating new jobs or lowering energy costs, he said. But it’s not.

Then he made sure to add closer-to-home references. Like Hamden High School, ​“a pillar” that gets too little state funding, he said. He mentioned Spring Glen and Ridge Hill schools, too. They too deserve more state support, he said.

A ​“Mr. Hamden” Endorsement

Debra Hauser was ready with Hamden references when she showed up earlier Wednesday at a press event at John Carusone’s home.

She noted that while she lives in East Rock, her husband has a cardiology practice in Hamden. Her mom lives in the town, too.

“I’m very well aware of Hamden’s feeling that they’ve been shortchanged,” Hauser said. She promised to be ​“an ardent supporter of Hamden and New Haven.”

Hauser and Carusone also spoke about ongoing efforts to transform the longtime polluted dump and tire pond run by former state legislator Joseph Farricielli into an industry park. She spoke of the urgency to lobby Hartford for access to what Carusone called ​“the $100 million owed to Hamden by the Education Cost Sharing grants.”

While he has been out of the mayor’s office for two decades, Carusone retains true Hamden political cred. He served on the town council as far back as the mid-1960s. He spent 13 years as a school system administrator.

In remarks to 14 assembled campaign supporters at Wednesday’s event, Carusone put Hauser’s candidacy in a historical political context. He described the creation of the mixed New Haven-Hamden state legislative district as a shotgun marriage dominated by New Haven. (The current state representative, Cam Staples, is from East Rock; he has served for 18 years.)

“Now you know that Hamden and New Haven have had somewhat of a rocky relationship, with Hamden sometimes being treated as New Haven’s little brother,” he said. ​“What I like about Debbie is that she’s no one’s big brother.”

The former mayor called Hauser one of a rare breed. ​“Debbie is running as the first representative of both Hamden and New Haven. She’s rare. She doesn’t make phony promises like ​‘I’m going to lower the tax rate!’”

Hauser promised if elected to remember Hamden by pursuing property tax reform and support for small business. ​“Property taxes,” she said, ​“affect seniors’ ability to stay in their homes, and they’re very worried about that.”

“If Debbie wins, they’ll pay more attention to us,” Carusone predicted.

In order to win, ​“she’s got to get a great plurality in Hamden, but the people recognize talent,” he said. ​“This is not your average race, so you’ll get a heavier turnout.”