Where: O’Tooles bar downtown.
What: A fundraiser for Democratic mayoral candidate Toni Harp (pictured); it produced $5,000 from a crowd of young professionals, small business owners, and lawyers.
When: Monday night.
Who? Find out below.
Who: Matt Short.
Where he lives: Dwight neighborhood, New Haven
What he does: General manager of his mom’s property management company, The Chelsea Company. Commissioner on the city housing authority board. Democratic activist, neighborhood organizer and fundraiser for local campaigns. He was one of five co-hosts of Monday’s event.
Why he’s supporting Harp: “We need to serve constituencies all across the city. That’s hard. That’s complicated.” Harp, a state senator for two decades, has the experience to do that.
Who: Ben Gettinger.
Where he lives: Milford.
What he does: Lawyer for New Haven-based firm Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante, specializing in criminal defense, family law and “high-conflict” litigation. Former president of the Greater New Haven Young Democrats.
Why he’s supporting Harp: Though he lives in Milford, New Haven “is my second home.” Independent mayoral candidate Justin Elicker “lacks the political experience” that Toni Harp has.
Who: Neil Prete.
Where he lives: Orange.
What he does: President of A. Prete Construction Co., a New Haven-based construction management company. The company has done a lot of work in New Haven, including building the Davis Street, Barnard and Christopher Columbus schools.
Who: Jonathan Prete.
Where he lives: Just closed on a house in New Haven.
What he does: Assistant project manager for the Prete family business. Co-host of Monday’s event.
Why he’s supporting Harp: To “keep what the mayor has done so far,” and move forward on “development, schools and crime.”
Who: Rich Palumbo (at right in photo with Neil Prete).
Where he lives: North Haven.
What he does: Co-owner of North Haven Tile, a floor covering business.
Why he’s supporting Harp: “The Pretes asked me to come. I’ve known Toni for years, from when she was a state senator.”
Who: Ardelle Cowie (at left in photo with a visitor from Atlanta, who declined to give her name.)
Where she lives: Woodbridge.
What she does: Owner of Chelsea Company. Former chair of the New Haven Fair Rent Commission. Former president of the Uptown Council, one of two neighborhood organizations representing businesses in Upper Chapel.
Why she’s supporting Harp: Harp supported her work with the Uptown Council, including fighting to preserve the former diner where Tandoor restaurant now sits. “I appreciate her support in the past. I think she will continue to support development” as mayor.
Who: Paul Blackstone (at right in photo, with Yale-New Haven Hospital nurses Kristina Junio and Don Gettinger).
Where he lives: Woodbridge.
What he does: CEO and founder of Copilot Networks, LLC, a New Haven-based startup that aims to help parents control security settings on their kids’ mobile devices.
Why he attended Tuesday’s event: “To find out who the next boss in New Haven will be.”
Title should be: Just Some More Suburban Cash for Harp.
The one guy who does actually come from New Haven is a property manager AND sits on the City Housing Commission! No wonder why HE wants pay-to-play Toni.