Nora Grace-Flood photos
Lillian Clayman returns to Hamden from Long Island Sunday to cheer on Garrett.
Volunteers and Row A candidates crowd around Clayman and Garrett.
Lillian Clayman, Hamden’s first female mayor, “passed the torch” at spirited campaign rally Sunday to the woman she said should be the town’s next leader: Lauren Garrett.
Garrett is the Democratic Town Committee’s endorsed candidate this year, running in a mayoral primary Tuesday against Incumbent Mayor Curt Leng and challenger Peter Cyr.
“There’s only one path, only one person” who can establish “good, honest, and open government,” Clayman announced in a rousing speech at Sunday’s rally, held outside the Miller Memorial Library.
Also Sunday, former Mayor John Carusone endorsed Leng’s reelection. That endorsement took place through a press release, not a public event. Carusone served as mayor from 1987 through 1991.
Hamden Historial Society
Former Mayor John Carusone.
Carusone called Leng “one of the greatest mayors in modern Hamden history. He has met every issue head on successfully, whether it be public police protection or terrible weather. He has met every single challenge with distinction. Having personally experienced dealing with a tornado as I did, I know how difficult that is. Having watched Curt deal with that kind of nasty weather has gone unnoticed by the public because he does it so well.”
Carusone also cited Leng’s family’s Hamden roots, a distinction made with Garrett: “In fact his grandparents were my Benton Street neighbors for over 20 years.”
Clayman brought up town history as well in her endorsement.
Clayman, who served in Hamden’s top office from 1992 through 1997, has lived in Long Island since 2005, where her husband now works as the executive director of the Long Island Federation of Labor. She came back this weekend to publicly support Garrett, the first candidate she has endorsed since 1991.
She also strongly urged residents not to vote for Incumbent Mayor Curt Leng, calling him part of the “old boys club” that “thrives on exclusivity and negativity.”
Clayman, right, with her husband and John Olsen, former president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, backing Garrett.
“They’re driving Hamden into the dirt,” she asserted, citing the town’s long-term debt.
The problem, she said, is that “the people who drove our town into corruption in the ‘90s are still there: In Planning and Zoning seats; in contracts; in the mayor’s office.”
In office, Clayman was the target of gender-focused attacks by male members of the town’s old guard.
In response, Leng told the Independent one of the reasons he “got into running for office” as a 19 year-old was to oppose Clayman. He said she supported the idea of a fully volunteer fire department; he characterized Garrett and Clayman as “anti-public safety candidates.”
Leng said he “respects” Clayman’s “service” with Hamden, but expressed “surprise and disappointment” that she “left Hamden right after losing her seat as mayor,” then returned decades later to “say things that are so spirited and baseless.”
“I miss living in Hamden. It kind of breaks me up,” Clayman said at Sunday’s event. When she lived in Hamden, she recalled, “it was like a Thorton Wilder story.”
“Hamden is in danger of no longer being that place,” she warned her audience.
Affordable housing advocate Rhonda Caldwell films Garrett’s acceptance of the endorsement.
Upon accepting the endorsement, Garrett agreed: “We’re losing good people in our town because they can’t afford to stay here.”
Two days away from the Sept. 14 primary, Garrett said that it has been an “exciting and fun election,” thanking the individuals who have put in “thousands of hours” supporting both her and the folks on the DTC slate this year, as well as in 2019, when she first ran against Leng.
A fraction of Sunday’s audience.
Over 40 people appeared at the rally, including fellow members of Tuesday’s “Row A” roster of town committee-endorsed candidates for seats on the Legislative Council and Board of Education, candidates, canvassing volunteers, and others who have endorsed Garrett such as State Senator Jorge Cabrera. Read more about each candidates’ lists of endorsements here and here.
Dominique Baez leads the crowd in chanting, “Row A all the way!”
After Clayman’s speech, incumbent Council candidate Dominique Baez concluded the event, as always, with a collective chant: “Row A all day!, Row A all the way!” Then the group split up to knock on voters’ doors.
I, the Hamden Town Debt, agree with conviction in the endorsements of our town's former mayors.
Garrett and Leng are well suited and viable candidates to continue to destroy Hamden's finances. Both have have diligently overseen Hamden reach one of the highest debt to capita ratio's in the country while working in the government. We, the voters, have an outstanding opportunity to continue to ruin this town's finances by voting either of these formidable candidates. Let's do the right thing on September 14th, people. We need to drive that mill rate to 100 and Garrett and Leng have the experience and know-how to get it done.