Special Election Lead-Up Riles Fair Haven

How democratic are the Democrats in Fair Haven?

The question came up at a meeting of Ward 14’s Democratic Town Committee Thursday evening at the Fair Haven branch library, where the two committee co-chairs sat down to discuss an upcoming special election for the seat Alder Santiago Berrios-Bones is vacating — only to spend an hour sparring with other committee members (and ex-committee members).

The meeting, which drew about 20 people, highlighted internal tensions in a ward committee known for its rifts in the 2013 mayoral election. Currently, both Ward 14 co-chairs have Yale union ties — Mark Firla, as a former UNITE HERE Local 34 organizer, and Kenneth Reveiz as a UNITE HERE-allied New Haven Rising organizer. The committee has been roughly split between allies of the UNITE HERE-backed team that assumed control of the Board of Alders with promises of promoting democracy and transparency and supported Toni Harp’s mayoral campaign; and allies of Harp opponent Justin Elicker. Since then the two sides have sparred about not just whom to endorse in primaries, but even whether to abide by decisions made about how to run those primaries.

On Thursday night, dissidents on the committee complained that the co-chairs had recently revised the list of committee members, removing certain names, without telling anyone. Some committee members were even suspicious of how the co-chairs themselves had been elected. And at least two of the newly-removed former committee members showed up, demanding further clarity on questions of process within the committee.

“Participation,” Please

Firla began by explaining the dates involved with Berrios-Bones’ departure. The secretary of the state has notified the committee that the alder’s resignation goes into effect on Jan. 31. The ward committee must vote to nominate a Democratic candidate by Feb. 9, after which a special ward-wide election will be held (if there are challengers from other parties) on March 17 — which happens to be St. Patrick’s Day. (Often in these special elections no other parties nominate candidates, so voters at large don’t get a chance to participant.) So far no candidates have filed papers with the Town Clerk’s office to run.

Could the election date possibly be moved? asked Joan Forte. ​“We’re Irish Catholics!” she said, gesturing to her husband.

Joan Bosson-Heenan, a former staunch volunteer on the Elicker campaign, asked who exactly can vote in the March 17 election.

Reveiz tried to answer. ​“The entire ward votes on the 17th …” he began.

“Kenneth, please, just let me — ” Firla interjected. Reveiz took a back seat for most of the rest of the meeting.

Firla filled in a few more details on the special election: If an aldermanic vacancy arises with less than six months of a term left, the mayor can appoint a replacement. If that remaining term is greater than six months, town committee bylaws take over. ​“Regardless of what happens in the next couple of months, there’s going to be primaries in September,” he added, speaking of the citywide election this upcoming fall.

Esther Armmand, who recently found out she’d been removed from the ward committee, inquired into the process of that removal.

Firla detailed the process of creating the new committee list. Because the ward committee had swollen to over 50 people (50 being the cap set by the bylaws), Firla and Reveiz had the discretion to cut the list down. The co-chairs, Firla said, had taken an existing committee list and another list consisting of ​“a large number of people” not on the committee who had participated in the last two or three elections in which Berrios-Bones had run.

“And what we felt made sense was to create a hybrid list,” Firla said. Which is to say, certain committee members were removed from the list, while new active participants from the second list were added to the committee.

Armmand asked for a definition of ​“participation.”

Firla pointed to Fair Haven’s historically low voter turnout compared to other wards. He argued that good outreach should be driven through the party apparatus, so it makes sense to put engaged, active participants on the ward committee, too.

The co-chair had to clarify how he’d gotten the job in the first place. He decided he wanted it, collected 75 signatures to get his name on his ballot and then proceeded to run uncontested, he said. Reveiz also detailed how he’d been elected for the position later, admitting that he’d felt excluded from the ward committee and wanted to participate.

Firla then faced accusations of bad communication. Some said the opportunity to run for co-chair should be more publicized, as should other communications (like whether or not you’re on the ward committee).

“Trickle-Down”

Kathleen Shea (pictured), another committee member recently ejected by the co-chairs, likened the current way in which knowledge is passed around the committee to a ​“trickle-down fashion” she finds ​“not very transparent.”

Complaints of poor communication between co-chairs and the committee proliferated. Three main concerns seem to have arisen, one attendee observed: communicating dates and meetings to committee members, communicating to the ward at large and communicating on the process of the committee selection itself.

Committee member Sarah Miller returned to the issue of the committee list: ​“I didn’t know half the committee had been knocked off!” she said. ​“That wasn’t even communicated to us in the committee.”

Firla reiterated his point about low voter engagement, which prompted a rebuke from Joan Forte. ​“The people in this ward, they’re barely getting by,” Forte said, imploring that the committee not blame the ward — which she contrasted to more affluent neighborhoods in town — for its own lack of engagement. ​“There’s something wrong with the system.”

“I do not view this as a Mark and Kenneth problem,” Firla said. ​“We’re all adults.” He pointed to the number of people in the room as a sign of dedication, adding that the co-chair pair alone couldn’t possibly communicate with all 4,000 people in the ward.

“If you didn’t kick people off the committee then you might have a few more people to help,” Miller said with a laugh.

“Group Hug?”

If there was one thing committee members agreed upon, it was the disengagement of the departing Berrios-Bones, who is moving out of New Haven.

Those opposed to the current culture of the committee expressed concern that the ward will end up with yet another ​“deadbeat” alder, Bosson-Heenan said. Instead, the ward requires someone with a proven track record of working with the community, she said. Another attendee at the meeting said she didn’t want to leave thinking that the next alder has already been chosen for the committee to ​“rubber stamp.”

Miller (pictured) asked if it is a conflict of interest for one of the candidates to also be co-chair — at which point Firla revealed to the crowd that two people had expressed interest in the position: Reveiz and Miller.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Reveiz said of the meeting, adding that he is excited to continue engaging people. ​“We definitely need folks to take action.” (This isn’t the first time Reveiz’s handling of a special election has raised questions about democracy.)

Meanwhile, Miller, who said she has no political ambitions, insisted that she was not set on running, but will mount a campaign if Reveiz has no other challengers.

Over the course of the meeting, the co-chairs fielded suggestions — expanding the size of the committee per the bylaws (suggested by Miller’s husband, Lee Cruz), putting an ad for the position in the media, sending out pamphlets.

By the end, few facts had been settled. One was the date for the nominating convention for the Democratic candidate to replace Berrios-Bones, set for Feb. 8 (location to be determined).

After reminding everyone that Thursday’s was ultimately a political discussion, and that some people would inevitably be left unhappy, Firla gave Armmand the last word.

“That do it?” he said afterward to the few who remained in the room. ​“Group hug?”

The group departed without the hug.