Melissa Bailey Photo
How much does that young man weigh? Enough to take on the city unions and solve a pension crisis?
Those questions emerged Tuesday, as a cadre of veteran Yale professors met with Justin Elicker, the 37-year-old Yale graduate running for mayor. The professors sized him up in a backyard fundraiser hosted by Doug Rae, a Yale School of Management professor and former city chief administrative officer.
The fundraiser took place in the final stretch before next Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary, where Elicker faces three contenders — Kermit Carolina, Henry Fernandez and Toni Harp. It also took place in the heart of the home base, East Rock, that has propelled Elicker into being a contender in this race.
The event placed Elicker before a particularly tough crowd, academic-wise — it included people who have written classic books on subjects ranging from global political strategy to, in Rae’s case, New Haven politics and government. (The book’s called City: Urbanism and Its End.)
At about 5:30 p.m., Rae and his wife, Ellen Shuman, opened their home on Lincoln Street to about 20 visitors. A table under a trumpet-vine-covered pergola offered simple snacks and drinks. Shuman pointed out the candidate to those who hadn’t met him before.
“There’s some wine on the table, and Justin is right there,” she said.
The crowd that gathered in folding chairs in the leafy backyard reflected a demographic sympathetic to the candidate: Elicker, who earned a master’s degree in forestry and business from Yale, has proved popular among Yale professors and in East Rock.
Rae introduced Elicker to the crowd at 6:10. Elicker, the alderman in East Rock’s Ward 10, acknowledged one former constituent in the crowd: Rae’s 99-year-old mom, Katherine Rae. (She said she left Elicker’s ward for a senior housing complex in Hamden.)
After Elicker’s stump speech, Doug Rae asked the first question.
“Justin, I’m worried about your weight,” he joked. “You’ve lost 20 percent of your body weight” since beginning the race for mayor.
“I didn’t have any body weight before I started running,” Elicker replied.
The 6‑foot candidate later estimated his weight at roughly 160 pounds. (“I don’t weigh myself.”)
Detroit
Then Rae cut to the question that many had said was on their minds as they milled about on the patio: How will the next mayor fix the city’s pension problem?
The city has $505 million in unfunded pension liabilities. Its two pension funds, for police and fire and other municipal workers, are under-funded by about 50 percent.
“We’re the Detroit of 10 years ago,” replied Elicker, meaning that the city will plunge into bankruptcy if it doesn’t change course.
Elicker called for a cap on the amount of money that the city borrows per year. And he said he would consider moving police from a defined-benefit pension plan, in which workers are guaranteed a set pension regardless of how the pension fund performs, to a defined-contribution plan, which operates like a 401(k).
The pension problem has emerged as a major issue in this year’s campaign. Fernandez has called for asking the state to pitch in money; Harp has called that idea sophomoric. She has said she would avoid switching public employees to market-based 401(k)-type plans so that families don’t face the risk of losing all their benefits in the case of a market crash. Click here to read more about their positions.
Elicker went on Tuesday to say that the city needs to “hold the line on taxes,” not to protect the rich, but “to encourage more businesses to move to New Haven.” He called for developing the waterfront to bring in more revenue.
“Do you think Yale contributes enough to the city?” asked another attendee.
Elicker called for combining the Yale shuttle with CT Transit. The two serve the same routes in East Rock, for two different populations, which is wasteful and ethically troublesome, Elicker said. He said Yale should give its workers and students bus passes on CT Transit; in return for its investment Yale would have a say in making sure CT Transit serves the Yale community’s busing needs.
Elicker also said Yale should do more to encourage Yalies to start businesses in New Haven, with the help of startup hubs such as The Grove.
Allan Plattus (second from left, chatting with retired Yale history professor Gaddis Smith, a celebrated author of books on American diplomacy and Yale’s history), a veteran urban planning professor at Yale, described himself as undecided in the mayor’s race. He noted that a new mayor will have an “incredibly short period,” just two years, to get anything done. Some changes come only after building up relationships for years, he noted.
“In two years, what would you do?” Plattus asked.
Elicker said among his first moves, he would create more transparency in the city budget; expand youth programs in city schools; and introduce “participatory budgeting,” whereby citizens get more say on how public dollars are spent.
As the crowd evaluated Elicker’s answers, Rae and Shuman’s Australian terrier, Sydney (pictured), sniffed the candidate’s ankles.
The event wrapped up at quarter to 7, so that Elicker could hustle to City Hall for a full Board of Aldermen meeting.
The city’s financial state appeared to be a top priority for the crowd. Shuman, a former Yale development official who today runs a startup investment fund, said she’s supporting Elicker because “I think he is very cognizant of the city’s liabilities — all of these benefits that we’ve promised. He’s willing to address them in the most thoughtful way.”
“They’ll Chew Him Up”
Charlie Hill, a diplomat in residence and a senior lecturer in humanities at Yale, approached Rae after the speech. Hill, known for his book Grand Strategies: Literature, Statecraft and World Order and a class on the same subject, lives around the corner on Bradley Street.
Hill told Rae he liked Rae’s candidate, whom he had not met before. But “how are you going to protect him from the old pols?” he asked Rae. “They’ll chew him up and spit him out.”
“He’s tougher than he looks,” replied Rae.
Rae and Elicker.
“It’s not the pols that worry me,” Rae later said. “It’s negotiating pensions and benefits” with municipal unions. “It’s very tough.”
“I’ve done it,” Rae said, in his time as chief administrative officer, “without any notable success.”
Hill later elaborated on his concern: “Politics, as they say, ain’t bean-bag. When you have someone who is really good and fresh and wanting to change things in a positive way — the old pols are not going to be happy with him. Things are going to be difficult.”
Hill said he was satisfied with Rae’s assurance of Elicker’s toughness. And he liked what he heard Tuesday.
“Pensions are a problem all across the country because of public unions,” Hill said. “It is really on the edge of destroying one city after another. [Elicker] understands that and he explained how he would approach it.”
“He knows the details. He knows how the system works. He can explain it to you.” Hill said of Elicker. “I think he’s a superb candidate. He is really what the city needs. I’m not a Democrat, but I support him.”
As an unaffiliated voter, Hill can’t vote on Tuesday. But he said he would cut a check and put it in the mail for Elicker’s campaign.(Hill may have a chance to vote for Elicker, or one of his opponents, on Nov. 5; Elicker and two other candidates have petitioned their ways on to the general-election ballot as independents.)
Rae said he had originally supported Matthew Nemerson before Nemerson dropped out and backed Harp.
“I like Toni Harp,” he said. “She’s a great person.” But his experience with former Mayor John Daniels led him to believe the state legislature “is not a great training ground for mayor.”
Rae called Fernandez “very well informed.” But “he may not have Justin’s ability to knock on the doors and listen to everybody.”
Rae said he taught Elicker in a large required course for students at the School of Management. He said he’s impressed with his willingness to listen. “The spirit of democracy is alive in him.”
Interesting...another lead story on an East Rock meet n greet and another host (Rae) only mentioning 3 candidates as possible choices, leaving out Carolina. Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" immediately comes to mind.
We are, indeed, worlds apart right here in New Haven.