nothin Is All Forgiven? | New Haven Independent

Is All Forgiven?

Jessica Cole Photo

Malloy (left) with Town Chair Susie Voigt Wednesday night.

A portion of New Haven’s Democratic Party organization claimed it was ready to kiss and make up with Dan Malloy — and promised to work to help a fellow city” politician get elected governor of Connecticut.

Close to 40 members of the the city’s 60-member Democratic Town Committee showed up for a general election kick-off rally at Wilbur Cross High School Wednesday night. They promised to help gubernatorial candidate Malloy and other Democratic hopefuls win the November elections. They gathered on a day when a new Quinnipiac poll showed Malloy leading Republican Tom Foley by nine points.

We may be nine points ahead,” said comptroller candidate Kevin Lembo, but we’ve got to run like we’re nine points behind.”

Malloy addressed the crowd on what has not been friendly turf.

Malloy won New Haven in last month’s gubernatorial primary. But the party machine worked for his opponent, Ned Lamont. Malloy openly courted critics of the party machine in the primary campaign and promised they’d be his go-to people in New Haven if he wins the election. All but two of New Haven’s 81 votes at the May Democratic convention went to Lamont, the largest bloc of state delegates. Malloy squared off against New Haven Mayor John DeStefano in a bitter gubernatorial primary in 2006, from which wounds continue to fester.

None of that was mentioned as Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, addressed some 50 people in total in Wilbur Cross’s cafeteria Wednesday night. He was hailed as a fellow urban advocate, a theme he picked up in his remarks.

You want a governor who understands urban issues,” Malloy said.

Participants reminded one another again and again of the importance of finally, after 24 years, electing a Democrat to the state’s top office.

This is the opportunity when the sun and the moon and the planets align” to elect the entire Democratic ticket, said Malloy. The road is never going to be any clearer than it is today.”

Other candidates took the stage after Malloy to continue drumming up enthusiasm. They handed out pamphlets, signs, and pot holders to the crowd, a campaign tchochke introduced in the 1970s and 80s in Connecticut by former Norwalk State Rep. Bill Collins and picked up more recently by New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney and State Rep. Cam Staples.

That was the campaign swag of choice of Democratic attorney general hopeful George Jepsen. He ran around the room tossing the cooking gear out to everyone in sight. You won’t get burned with Jepsen!” he boomed as he shook their hands.

Most attendees opted for the more traditional lawn sign instead.

Over and over again Wednesday night, the speakers touched on a common theme: nostalgia for the days of 2008. Barack Obama’s presidential victory gave members of the town committee a taste for high turnout that has not been repeated since, and they want to draw upon the voting power from that campaign when this November rolls around.

According to Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Susie Voigt, about 30,000 people in New Haven voted in 2008. This year she hopes 20 – 25,000 people show up. I think that number is eminently doable,” she said.

Earlier in the evening, committee members began to discuss their strategy for achieving exactly that. A lot of us are getting old!” Vanessa Burns, campaign manager for State Sen. Toni Harp, reminded the group. She asked about plans to engage young people. Meanwhile, another member of the group gave instructions on how to collect absentee ballots in New Haven’s various neighborhoods. According to the committee, the city has more than 40 different facilities for either assisted living or elderly housing within the city where such ballots might be in demand.

As the evening drew to a close, one more guest strode through the door: Mayor John DeStefano. DeStefano arrived almost immediately after Malloy’s departure. He said that he had passed the candidate on his way in.

Any disagreements we may have had in the primary were … very small,” he told committee members during brief remarks. (Malloy ran an infamous last-minute ad in 2006 portraying DeStefano in a dress.) He’ll do a good job.”

Mayor John DeStefano (seated at left) chats with members of the Democratic Town Committee.

Then DeStefano, too, took a seat at one of the cafeteria tables positioned throughout the room and chatted with neighbors.

Malloy, meanwhile, headed to the Hill neighborhood to address a gathering of the city police union about rank-and-file opposition to DeStefano’s newly appointed police chief.

Bitsie Clark (left) and Maureen O’Sullivan-Best.

After the meeting was officially adjourned, downtown Alderwoman Frances Bitsie” Clark and Fair Haven Heights Alderwoman Maureen O’Sullivan lingered in conversation. Clark, who said that she has both supported Malloy and traditionally supported the mayor, said she was convinced that by now, both interest groups had merged in the city.

That’s one thing politicians are good at: coming together after the primary,” she said. They’re stupid if they don’t.”

And the committee members themselves, most of whom were not supporting Malloy until after his recent victory?

Clark shook her head in response to the suggestion of conflict. I think people are not dwelling on a month ago.”

She looked again at the candidates tricking out of the door. People really want to win.”

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