Coordinated Campaign For Influence? Or Just Concerned Citizens

As Democrats in Hamden prepare for a contentious town committee primary next week, people on both sides of a political divide in the town said the other side has mounted a coordinated campaign for influence.

Their own? Not so much.

The primary takes place this coming Tuesday. While voters in other parts of the country determine the future of the national party, registered Democrats in seven of Hamden’s nine Legislative Council districts will determine the future of the town’s.

This year’s primary for the town’s Democratic Town Committee (DTC) seats shatters a 1966 record for the most DTC primaries in town history. Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 all have contests for the party’s leadership, surpassing the 1966 record primaries in five districts.

Read previous stories on this year’s DTC races here and here.

Hamden politics in the last two years has been marked a split in the Democratic Party, the dominant party in town. The split peaked over the summer and fall when Lauren Garrett challenged Mayor Curt Leng for his seat in a Sept. 10 primary. (Leng won.) It continued as candidates fought for seats on the council, including two registered Democrats who ran on the Working Families Party ticket.

Now, with two opposing slates of candidates going up against each other in seven districts for town committee seats, it seems easy to boil Tuesday’s primary down to a contest between two opposing, coordinated factions.

Yet as many people involved insisted to the Independent, the fault lines are not quite that simple. They said only one side is a team. Coordination, they said, only exists on the other side of the contest, not their own.

What’s At Stake?

Hamden’s DTC is composed of 63 members, seven from each district. Before each municipal election, it votes to endorse candidates to head the Democratic ticket in municipal elections. Candidates who don’t get the endorsement must petition their way onto a primary ballot.

DTC members also endorse candidates for state races, and help choose delegates for the Democratic National Convention.

In January, each district held a caucus to determine which seven Democrats to endorse for the committee. In seven districts, opposition slates organized to launch a primary challenge against the people that got the endorsement.

On both sides of the party’s split, candidates for the committee have painted Tuesday’s primary as an effort by the other side to secure the mayoral endorsement for their candidate at the next party convention. Some accused Leng of trying to stack the committee with his supporters to keep it friendly to him, or his allies, come the next convention. Some accused Garrett and her former supporters of trying to do the same.

Candidates on both sides the party’s split said that the other side has mounted a coordinated effort to secure or maintain power in the party’s leadership. Yet both sides deny the claim that they have any more coordination than a few friends helping friends they agree with. Likewise, both sides vehemently denied the claim that their slates have anything to do with endorsing a mayor at the next convention.

This fall’s Leng-Garrett race had its main battlefield in the realm of finances, and on the question of change versus experience. Garrett was highly critical of how Leng had handled town finances. She said his decisions to use borrowed funds to close budget holes and to fund the pension less than financial analysts recommended was just kicking the can down the road and creating future debt. She was one of a number of relative newcomers to town politics who accused Leng and his administration of a lack of transparency and said the town needed a change from the same politicians who had run the town for decades. Leng, on the other hand, argued that the town was taking steps to fix its financial situation, and that a drastic change in the budget’s pension allocation would mean a harmful tax increase on already overtaxed residents. He also noted that his critics did not actually provide concrete alternatives, and pointed to the fact that he had funded the pension more than any other mayor in the past. He argued that the town was in a tough situation but was digging itself out, and that that was precisely the time when the town needed experienced leadership.

Public safety was another flashpoint of the fall elections. Garrett and some council candidates, including Brad Macdowall and Justin Farmer, showed up to many of the protests following the April 16 shooting of an unarmed couple by a Hamden cop. Garrett, and other younger candidates, called for structural change in the police department, greater accountability, and less heavy policing. Leng, on the other hand, stood behind the department and said the town needed to beef up its police force and focus on community policing.

Garrett, Macdowall, and Farmer also drew ire from longer-serving Democrats and those who supported Leng for backing Rhonda Caldwell and Laurie Sweet, both registered Democrats who sought council seats as Working Families Party candidates. Both are now on challenge slates for the DTC.

Joseph McDonagh, a veteran of decades of Hamden Democratic politics and the DTC’s recording secretary, said the DTC races have proven so contentious this year because the party’s divide did not end with the September primary. Indeed, the same debates have continued after the fall elections, and on the council, voting records show that some of the same dynamics still split the party.

While everyone who spoke with the Independent acknowledged that there is a divide in the party, real or imagined, Hamden’s Democrats are no exception to their party’s penchant for defying order. The lines between the two ​“sides” of the split are clear in some districts, but in others, the races have complex flavors, fault lines, and motivations that cannot be characterized as the result of simple factions. And in most cases, coordination and political calculation only exist on the other side of the ballot, and not one’s own.

What Is This Split?

When people talk about the ​“sides” in the town’s Democratic split, they sometimes call a slate the ​“Garrett slate” or the ​“Leng slate,” then add, ​“for lack of a better term.”

More often, they stutter over how to refer to what they know to be their opposing slate, and slates they would oppose in other districts, because they cannot come up with a shorthand that’s accurate.

Macdowall and Farmer, both still members of the council, have been outspoken Leng critics and generally voted with Garrett when she was on the council; but neither one officially endorsed her when she ran for mayor. At the caucus, Macdowall and Garrett ran on a slate together. After the slate lost, Garrett removed herself. She said she did so precisely because she wanted to make it clear that the DTC primaries are not about her. Her husband, Dan, is on the slate in the ninth district.

“I don’t think you can say that people are getting involved in their community out of some sort of affiliation with me or with Curt,” said Garrett. ​“To shut them out and say it’s all about me, frankly, that’s why I chose not to run.”

“It’s unfair that any time someone has a critique it’s because we’re supporting an individual candidate in the future,” said Cory O’Brien, who is running on the endorsed slate, opposing the slate that includes Leng, in the sixth district. O’Brien was on the council until Kathleen Schomaker unseated him in the Democratic primary in September. He has been an outspoken critic of Leng’s handling of town finances.

Likewise, those who supported Leng in the September primary bristled at the claim that they are a part of ​“Curt’s slate.”

“I don’t see primary elections as choosing representatives supportive of me or supportive of Mrs. Garrett, although certainly there are groups and common goals shared after a long campaign and town wide debates of key issues,” Leng wrote to the Independent. ​“This is instead an election focused on allowing Hamden Democrats to choose people they trust to represent their town and who share their vision and values.”

“I’ve only ever been my own person,” said Jim Pascarella, a former council member running on the endorsed slate in the eighth district. ​“Don’t dare suggest I’m on there for somebody else’s personal gain… To pigeonhole somebody to be a reflex vote for anybody — it just indicates a lack of knowledge of what the town committee is about, and I question their motivation, because if you accuse one side of essentially being a rubber stamp, then you want to go on the committee with the sole purpose of opposing somebody.”

While many of the people on slates that people have called ​“Leng slates” did support Leng in the last election, many said those slates by no means represent a monolithic voting block.

“I’m not running, because I’m supporting Curt Leng,” said McDonagh. ​“I was invited to be on [the slate]. I have problems with what I would describe as rigid thinking on the part of the challenge slate, so that’s why I agreed to have my name put on the slate in the ninth district.” He said that no one he had spoken to was running to vote for Leng or any other candidate in two years. He added that he likes some people on the slate opposing him, and that he might decide to vote for one of them instead of for himself.

Pascarella originally said he thinks the other side is trying to secure the endorsement at the next convention, but after thinking about it for a few seconds, he changed his mind. ​“I don’t really think it’s about who nominates who, when I think about it for five seconds,” he said. ​“I think for a lot of the opponents of our slates, it’s all about using the town committee as a check against the mayor.” That’s not the role of the DTC, he said, as the DTC is not a government agency.

PACs, ​“Coordination”

Multiple sources who supported Leng in the fall told the Independent that the primaries show a coordinated effort on the part of a group of progressive Democrats (including Garrett) who have been critical of the town’s administration to consolidate power on the committee.

“There seems to be a small group of individuals who are looking to consolidate power on the DTC among themselves and likeminded folks, and those views that they hold are not necessarily representative of the greater Democratic party in town,” said Walter Morton, who is the town’s legislative affairs director, a member of the Board of Education, and is on a slate in the ninth district.

He pointed out that, while some people think of Hamden as a very liberal town, the town’s voting history shows otherwise. In the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, Hillary Clinton got 57 percent of the vote, while she got only 52 percent in the state overall. At the DTC convention over the summer, Leng squeaked by with an endorsement by capturing 34 of 61 committee member votes, or 56 percent. When it came to the actual primary, Leng captured 61 percent of the vote.

Multiple participants on the other side of the party’s political divide said the same thing of Leng and his supporters. Macdowall, who is on a slate that is challenging Morton’s, said he sees an attempt at ​“maintenance of the power structure” on the part of Leng and his supporters. Multiple people also pointed out that a single political slate committee, or PAC, is supporting slates in five districts, including the slate of which the mayor himself is a part in the sixth district.

“We know for a fact that there is a coordinated effort based on how they are funding their election,” said Phil Nista, who is running on the slate opposing Leng’s in the sixth district.

The PAC, called ​“Democrats for Progress,” is backing five slates. One of those is the slate in the sixth district that includes Leng, BOE Chair Arturo Perez-Cabello, former Interim Finance Director Myron Hul, Councilwoman and Energy Efficiency Coordinator Kathleen Schomaker, and BOE member Melissa Kaplan, as well as two candidates who are not town officials. It is also backing the endorsed slates in the seventh, eighth, and ninth districts, and the petitioning slate in the fourth district.

Councilwoman Valerie Horsley, who is on the fourth district’s petitioning slate, said she had agreed to join the PAC so the members of her slate would not have to fundraise independently. She said it saved time, money, and effort.

As of Tuesday, when the PAC’s filing was due to the town clerk’s office, it had not yet spent any money. The treasurer, Alyson Heimer, mailed the filing on Tuesday, and as of Thursday, it had not yet arrived. Morton said the PAC would be spending money in the last few days of the campaign on door hangers and other election materials.

Two other PACs are funding other primaries on Tuesday, though each is only backing a single slate. In the third district, ​“Third District Strong” is supporting the petitioning slate. Its Tuesday filing showed that as of Sunday, it had raised and spent less than $1,000.

In the sixth district, the endorsed slate has also formed a PAC: ​“Hamden Sixth Endorsed Political Candidates Endorsed Committee.” As of Tuesday’s filing, it had spent a little over $1,000, mostly on cards to leave at people’s doors. It is backing six of the seven people endorsed at the caucus. Mike Lockett, who got an endorsement, was originally part of the slate opposing the rest of the slate of which he is now a part, and was not included in the PAC.

Some candidates pointed to who had circulated petitions to prove that the other side was being coordinated by a few people. In order to get on the primary ballot, petitioning slates had to collect the signatures of 5 percent of the Democrats in their districts.

For the most part, people collecting petition signatures were on the petitioning slates themselves. In some cases, though, people from outside of the district helped by circulating petitions. Slates on both sides of the party’s divide got out-of-district help.

In the eighth district, the petitioning slate (which includes former Working Families Party candidate Rhonda Caldwell) had the aid of Dan Garrett, who collected 21 signatures. The other six circulators are on the petitioning slate.

In the fifth, where the petitioning slate contains only Laurie Sweet (a former WFP council candidate) and Marnie Hebron, Lauren and Dan Garrett circulated eight of twelve petition forms. Sweet and Hebron walked the other four.

The petitioning slate in the seventh district, where Sean Grace (Garrett’s former campaign manager) is running, did not get any help from outside the district.

In the fourth district, Perez-Cabello, Morton, and Pascarella all helped circulate petitions, as did Mick McGarry, who is the current council president and supported Leng in the last election.

Schomaker, Morton, and Councilwoman Berita Rowe-Lewis (who is on the endorsed slate in the ninth) also helped circulate petitions for the petitioning slate in the third district.

Elected Officials On DTC?

Over the last few weeks, cards have shown up at people’s doors in the sixth district with a picture of six candidates smiling in front of the Ridge Hill School, where the district votes.

“Vote Row A,” it says at the top. On the other side, it makes a pitch. ​“Our community deserves a truthful, collaborative, and transparent Democratic Party. We need to honestly address the challenges facing out town and party. Registered Democrats endorsed Row A to represent our Ridge Hill and Spring Glen communities at a record-breaking caucus on January 7th, 2020. Our challengers are high-ranking town officials who ALREADY have a voice.”

O’Brien said that for him, the primary in the sixth district is about whether elected officials should be on the DTC. Though the law includes no prohibition on elected officials serving on the committee, he and other members of his slate said the committee should be about building out the bench, not giving those already in power a voice in the party.

“The party should be able to stand for things that maybe an elected official can’t,” he added.

“I think that people in power should make room for different voices and perspectives,” said Megan Goslin, who is on the slate with O’Brien. ​“There is an inherent at-least-potential for a conflict of interest.” She said it is odd for a sitting mayor to be a member of the committee.

Mayors have been on the DTC in the past, though not for many years. Multiple sources said the last mayor they could remember being on the committee was Lillian Clayman, who left office in 1997.

McDonagh said he thinks that in general, elected officials should stay off the DTC, though he added that nothing prevents them from running.

“When I became chair, I asked that elected officials not run for the DTC, and I was ignored,” he said.

Hul, on the other hand, said it’s a good thing to have elected officials on the committee. He said it gives elected officials a chance to hear from a large group of people representing their party. He said he thinks the issue of elected officials being on the DTC is being specifically targeted to the sixth district, where one slate contains some of the town’s highest-ranking elected officials, and the other does not. He pointed to the fact that Farmer is on the endorsed slate in the fifth district, and Macdowall is running in the ninth.

“The interest of elected Democrats in participating in the DTC shows their level of concern and commitment to continue working on fixing Hamden’s challenges, restore respectful and productive collaboration, and prevent a reckless transition and takeover driven by personal agendas and external interest groups,” Perez-Cabello told the Independent.

Whether or not elected officials should serve on the DTC, many of them do. Of the 12 Democrats currently on the council, only two are not seeking seats on the DTC: Kristin Dolan and Jody Clouse. In both cases, their spouses are. Every Democrat elected to the Board of Ed is also seeking a seat on the committee.

Members of the petitioning slate in the sixth district have also said their slate better represents the district. They point to the fact that they have one Latino member and one Black member, and live in both the Spring Glen and Ridge Hill neighborhoods, while their opposition lives mostly in Spring Glen

While the endorsed slate is all white, it is not composed entirely of Spring Glen residents. Phil Nista, for example, lives just off of State Street, which is not in Spring Glen.

Third, Fourth, And Fifth Break The Binary

Races in the third, fourth, and fifth districts break down the party divide that is evident in races in the other four districts.

In the third district, three endorsed candidates dropped out of the endorsed slate to join a seven-person petitioning slate: Councilwoman Dominique Baez, Joe Baez, and Councilwoman Athena Gary. Joe Baez said they had been a part of a slate they did not want to be on at the caucus, and decided to drop out to form the slate they originally wanted to run with.

In the fifth district, the caucus ended with an endorsed slate cobbled together from three different slates.

“I look at the slate that was [endorsed] in the fifth district, and I think: ​‘that’s a pretty darn good slate,’” said McDonagh. He said that everyone should be disappointed, meaning it is a balanced slate.

Justin Farmer, Alan Graham, and Elizabeth Hayes had all run on the same slate at the caucus. Kyle Blake and Seth Rosenthal had run on another. Shequerra Hobby ran on a third. Kathleen Kiely ran on both Farmer’s and Blake’s slates.

Hebron and Sweet are now launching a challenge to try to take Blake and Rosenthal’s seats.

In the fourth district, the endorsed slate was also cobbled together from multiple slates at the caucus. Though its members had originally opposed each other, they have since embraced running together.

The slate includes former Councilman Eric Annes. On the council, Annes proved himself an independent thinker and voter, sometimes casting votes with the younger, progressive wing of the party, and sometimes voting in favor of Leng’s bills.

“Honestly I could not tell you, if they were nominating people for council or for mayor, I could not tell you who people would be supporting,” Annes said of his slate.

Analis Quintman, who ran against Annes at the caucus but is now on the endorsed slate with him, said the slate does not have any kind of ideological unity. She said the slate is composed of people who are not ​“entrenched in Hamden politics.”

Horsley said she decided to launch a primary challenge because she did not think the caucus was the best way to choose the district’s slate. She said she also thinks her slate better represents the district because it includes people from all over the district, rather than just from Spring Glen. The fourth district extends from Spring Glen all the way up Whitney Avenue north of Centreville, almost to Mount Carmel.

Below is a list of the slates in each district, their funding sources, and polling places. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. All registered Democrats in the third through ninth districts are eligible to vote.

District 3 – Endorsed
Lamond Battle
Eric Daniels, Jr.
Greta Johnson
Abdul Osmanu

District 3 – Challenging (supported by ​“Third District Strong” PAC)
Dominique Baez
Joseph Baez
Mark Buono
Cynthia Cardo
Athena Gary
Christopher Holland
Cherlyn Poindexter

District 3 polling place: Keefe Community Center, 11 Pine St

District 4 – Endorsed
Eric Annes
Vanessa Crawford
Brian Murphy
Analis Quintman
Sana Shah
Janina Tauro
Grace Yukich

District 4 – Challenging (Supported by ​“Democrats for Progress” PAC)
Chris Daur
Patricia Gambori
Jaimie Garretson
Valerie Horsley
Karen Kleinerman
Bill Lavelle
Stephen Mongilo

District 4 polling place: Spring Glen School, 1908 Whitney Ave

District 5 – Endorsed
Kyle Blake
Justin Farmer
Alan Graham
Elizabeth Hayes
Shequerra Hobby
Kathleen Kiely
Seth Rosenthal

District 5 – Challenging
Marnie Hebron
Laurie Sweet

District 5 polling place: Board of Education Central Offices, 60 Putnam Ave

District 6 – Endorsed (supported by ​“Hamden Sixth Endorsed Political Candidates Endorsed Committee” PAC)
Elaine Dove
Megan Goslin
Art Hunt
Patrick Johnson
Mike Lockett
Philip Nista
Cory O’Brien

District 6 – Challenging (Supported by ​“Democrats for Progress” PAC)
Rochelle Cummings
Myron Hul
Melissa Kaplan-Charkow
Curt Leng
Arturo Perez-Cabello
Vaughn Scanterbury
Kathleen Schomaker

District 6 polling place: Ridge Hill School, 120 Carew Rd.

District 7 – Endorsed (Supported by ​“Democrats for Progress” PAC)
Thomas Alegi
Michael Colaiacovo, Jr.
Deborah DiLeone
William Doherty, Jr.
Janet Draughn
Scott Howland
Doris Marino

District 7 – Challenging
Scott Beck
Tracy Bowens
Sean Grace
Dave Hannon
Diane Hoffman
Karimah Mickens
Alexa Panayotakis

District 7 polling place: Dunbar Hill School, 315 Lane St.

District 8 – Endorsed (Supported by ​“Democrats for Progress” PAC)
John DeRosa
Michael Dolan
Larry Esposito
Angela O’Brien
James O’Brien
James Pascarella

District 8 – Challening
Christopher Atchley
Phaedrel Bowman
Rhonda Caldwell
Michelle Gibbs
Kenneth Kirchoff
George Levinson
Jennifer Schenk Sacco

District 8 polling place: Bear Path School, 10 Kirk Rd.

District 9 – Endorsed (Supported by ​“Democrats for Progress” PAC)
Betsy Gorman
Joseph McDonagh
Walter Morton IV
Nicholas Rogers
Gabe Rosenberg
Berita Rowe-Lewis
Melinda Saller

District 9 – Challenging
Karen Bevins
David Canton
Steve DeGrand
Daniel Garrett
Nancy Hill
Brad Macdowall
Roxana Walker-Canton

District 9 polling place: West Woods School, 350 West Todd St.