Close your eyes, and you might have thought New Haven’s Board of Aldermen was the U.S. Senate, as city lawmakers voted to stop the war in Iraq and stop developing nuclear weapons.
Actually, they voted to advise the U.S. government to do those things, in non-binding resolutions.
The two votes were the only points of contention at Monday night’s board meeting at City Hall. It resembled the Senate not just because the topic was foreign policy — but because the chambers also assumed the air of a debating society against a backdrop of passionate citizen lobbying.
Dare we call it the city’s Greatest Deliberative Body?
For while the two measures passed with solid majorities, both sides of the discussion — including Dwight Alderwoman Gina Calder (pictured at top), attending her first meeting — offered thoughtful and unpredictable differences of opinion. Some aldermen voted in favor of one measure but not the other.
The first measure up for a vote, submitted by the Peace Commission, urged “cessation of combat operations in Iraq and the return of U.S. troops.”
It passed by a voice vote. Green Party Alderman Allan Brison (pictured) read a speech in favor of the measure, twice — at a pre-meeting press conference organized by peace activists, then again on the floor.
“Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, was a bitter enemy of al-Qaeda, and was militarily impotent after 10 years of sanctions,” said Brison, who represents East Rock and was attending his first meeting as alderman. “This was is about oil.”
Fair Haven Heights Alderman Robert Lee said he’s “tired” of young people coming home in body bags.
“No” votes included not just the board’s lone Republican, but some Democrats, including Moti Sandman of Beaver Hills.
“I think President Bush created a scenario we totally dismembered any semblance of government” in Iraq, Sandman reasoned. “We have a moral obligation to be there to recreate their infrastructure, before we pull out.”
Fellow Beaver Hills Democrat Carl Goldfield, too, voted against the Iraq resolution, echoing the “You make it, you break it” argument.
The 15 or so peace activists in attendance clapped and cheered when the measure passed, until Goldfield, the board’s president, instructed them to “refrain from expressing emotions.”
Nukes Targeted
A more extended debate took place over the second proposal. This one “urged the United States Congress to support [U.S.] House Resolution 68 calling for a comprehensive nuclear disarmament program.”
“We just want the [Bush] administration to follow the law” and abide by a three-decade-plus old nonproliferation treaty, said Fair Haven Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale. She introduced the resolution along with colleagues Dolores Colon of the Hill and Westville’s Sergio Rodriguez.
She said the U.S. spends $6 billion a year developing its arsenal. She called “every dollar spent… a theft of education and jobs.”
“In a perfect world,” responded Republican DePino, who represented Morris Cove, “I would support the principle of comprehensive nuclear disarmament.” But Resolution 68 “avoids the question of whether nuclear weapons are good or bad for security.”
DePino said she worries about “undermining” national security against “terrorists and hostile nations.”
Dwight’s Gina Calder said she has the same worries. Although she voted for the Iraq resolution, she voted against the nukes measure. She said she knew she’d be voting on foreign policy on New Haven’s Board of Aldermen, and she thought hard about the issue.
When the U.S. first signed a non-proliferation treaty, the word knew of only three nuclear powers, she said. “Now we’re doing with nine,” some of which are “rogue states” like North Korea. That changes the issue because such governments are less responsible, and harder to deal with, she said.
Carl Goldfield voted in favor of this resolution. He acknowledged, when reminded, that in the 1990s he spoke out against the Board of Aldermen taking on foreign affairs, which he considered beyond the local solons’ purview.
“I still think it’s a bad idea,” he said Monday night. “I gave up” trying to fight it.
The anti-nukes measure passed 17 – 7, with three abstentions. Voting yes: Brooks, Perez, Colon, Clark, Smart, Brison, Antunes, Pascale, J. Rodriguez, Castro, Paolillo, Edwards, Jones, McCormack, S. Rodrigues, Goldfield, Sepulveda. Voting no: Calder, Rhodeen, DePino, Morehead, Silverman, Lehtonen, Sandman.
Activists who spoke at a pre-meeting press conference urging the aldermen to vote yes on both measures included the NAACP’s Clifton Graves Jr. (pictured), Peace Commission macher Al Marder, Gwen Mills of the Central Labor Council, and Gary Holder-Winfield, president of the Connecticut Federation of Black Democrats.
Click on the play arrow to watch Gary Holder-Winfield’s presentation.
Glad to see so many supported this!