Thomas Breen photo
One side of contested campaign flyer. Candidate info or "call to action"?
Did Mayor Justin Elicker’s reelection campaign break local public-financing rules by sending out mail urging voters to support Tuesday’s charter-revision ballot measure — when the Democracy Fund prohibits candidates from expenditures focused on supporting or opposing ballot measures?
The Democracy Fund’s board will tackle that question, after Republican Town Committee Chair John Carlson filed a formal complaint against the two-term incumbent Democrat on Sunday night.
At issue is whether a two-sided flyer sent out by the Elicker campaign late last week merely informs voters as to where Elicker as a candidate stands on the issue of charter revision and four-year terms — which would be allowed under the Democracy Fund rules — or if it steps over the line into being a “call to action” advocating for a specific ballot measure and not the candidate’s position on that ballot measure, which would not be allowed.
New Haven’s Democracy Fund provides public matching dollars and grants to mayoral candidates who cap individual donations at $445 apiece and who forswear money from PACs and special interests. Elicker is the only mayoral candidate in this year’s general election, on Nov. 7, who is participating in the Democracy Fund. He’s participated in the Democracy Fund in every mayoral election he’s run in.
The other side of the contested flyer.
The two-sided flyer that is the focus of Carlson’s complaint includes, on one side, a picture of the mayor next to several messages urging voters to support Tuesday’s charter-revision ballot question. If approved by a majority of voters, that proposal will bump up terms for mayor, alders, and city clerk from two to four years each starting in 2027, among other changes.
The other side of the flyer includes pictures of prominent local Democrats Rosa DeLauro, Tyisha Walker-Myers, Ed Joyner, Sandra Trevino, Martin Looney, and Juan Candelaria, and also urges New Haveners to vote “yes” on the charter-revision question.
Carlson’s complaint reads in part: “I have noted that the Elicker campaign has received both a substantial grant and additional matching funds for the 2023 primary and general election campaigns. These funds are issued by the City of New Haven. My understanding of such grants is that they are only to be used to promote the candidacy of the recipient. The principle [sp.] purpose of the flyer in question is certainly to promote a different issue.”
Sec. 2 – 822 (10) c. (ii) of the city’s code of ordinances, which is not cited in Carlson’s complaint, states that qualified campaign expenditures for Democracy Fund-backed candidates shall not include “expenditures to support or oppose any ballot measure, political committee, or the campaign of any candidate other than the candidate for whom the funds were originally designated.”
In a followup phone interview, Elicker told the Independent that his campaign’s treasurer reached out to the Democracy Fund administrator in September seeking guidance on this very issue.
“We asked whether it was OK to say what the candidate thinks about the ballot question,” he said. “The administrator got back to us saying that was fine. It’s no different than saying [the candidate is] pro- or anti- any other position,” thus informing voters as to what the candidate stands for.
With the flyer mailed out last week, Elicker said, “we thought we were following the guidance of the Democracy Fund administrator.” He still feels that’s the case, “especially since we proactively reached out to get clarity on this.”
Democracy Fund Administrator Aly Heimer confirmed for the Independent that, indeed, she said it was OK to send out campaign messages informing voters as to where the mayor stands on the charter-revision ballot question. “The difference would be if a piece could be interpreted as a call to action to vote on any matter on the ballot other than the candidate who has received Democracy Fund dollars,” she said. That would not be allowed.
She declined to comment on whether or not the mayoral reelection campaign’s latest flyer crosses those bounds, stating instead that it is now up to the Democracy Fund board to decide. The board will meet at 8 p.m. Monday via Zoom to discuss and vote on the matter.
“We asked whether it was OK to say what the candidate thinks about the ballot question,” he said. “The administrator got back to us saying that was fine. It’s no different than saying [the candidate is] pro- or anti- any other position.”
The flyer clearly tells individuals to vote YES on the charter revision and does not merely inform the reader what the candidate thinks about the ballot question.