Jim Newton Dies; Ran Memorable Mayoral Campaign

Jim Newton, a prominent figure in New Haven’s black political circles in the 1980s and 1990s, has died.

The son of a minister, Newton enjoyed the business of politics and delivering speeches in a memorable baritone. He served in elected office and ran an earlier version of a city government jobs center.

Newton died some time overnight Tuesday into early Wednesday morning, according to a longtime friend, Dee Marshall. She said Newton was on a waiting list for a new kidney. She said no funeral arrangements have been scheduled yet.

A mid-‘60s graduate of Hillhouse High School who went on to earn a masters in public administration from Southern Connecticut State University, Newton made an impact on New Haven politics from both the inside and outside. As a Hill alderman, he rose to lead the board’s Black and Hispanic Caucus, pushing for more city job opportunities for African-Americans and Latinos and more hiring of New Haveners on construction projects.

Then, in 1999, when then-Mayor John DeStefano seemed invincible, Newton took him on in a Democratic primary. With a fraction of DeStefano’s money or troops, he pulled close to 40 percent of the vote, attacking DeStefano repeatedly on corruption scandals besetting his administration. One mailer featured a Monopoly board redesigned to detail DeStefano’s administration’s unethical deals. The campaign gave City Hall enough of a scare to help lead to the mayor’s embrace of political reforms including publicly-financed elections. Newton’s campaign manager was Jason Bartlett, who 14 years later managed Toni Harp’s successful mayoral campaign.

“He was a fighter. A very intellectual man. He cared about mankind as a whole,” Dee Marshall said of Newtown. ​“And he was a very biblical person. He believed that the world could get better and in treating people right.”

Fellow former Hill Alderman Tony Dawson (pictured with Newton at a 2013 endorsement event for Harp’s mayoral candidacy), a longtime ally, said Newton accomplished much in his career.

“We went through the era when we accomplished a lot for the African-American community of New Haven while we served on the board. Some of that stuff is coming to fruition today, like 12 1/2 [the law setting minimum minority hiring standards on construction projects] and making sure that individuals have a fair opportunity to go to fire, police and all the other city departments. We came up in an era when we built relationships with other ethnic groups in the city,” Dawson said.

Newton launched another quest for the mayor’s office in 2007, but failed to make the ballot.

Newton was a longtime friend and close ally of John C. Daniels, New Haven’s first African-American mayor, who died this past March.

“He has met John Daniels at the pearly gates. I know he high-fived him,” Marshall remarked. ​“The political conversation was on. They’re strategizing right now in heaven.”