Local 34 Endorses Russell, Bond

New Haveners Erick Russell and Maritza Bond notched more organized-labor endorsements for their respective runs for statewide office — this time from the local political powerhouse that is Yale’s clerical and technical workers union.

UNITE HERE Local 34​’s executive board made those endorsement announcements in a Thursday morning email press release.

The union, which represents several thousand clerical and technical workers at Yale University and which for the past decade has played an outsized role in local politics, formally endorsed Russell’s campaign for state treasurer and Bond’s campaign for secretary of the state.

Russell, a local attorney and former vice-chair of the state Democratic Party, is running in a three-way Aug. 9 Democratic primary for treasurer against Karen DuBois-Walton, who heads the city’s public housing authority, and Dita Bhargava, a Greenwich-based former Wall Street trader.

Bond, the city’s current health director, is running in a two-way Democratic primary against party-endorsed candidate and current Norwalk State Rep. Stephanie Thomas. Thomas’s campaign Thursday released a list of 128 state and municipal legislative and party officials from across the state — including Hamden — who have endorsed her campaign. (See the list here.)

Russell has already won the endorsement of New Haven Rising, a local labor advocacy group that works closely with Local 34 and Local 35, which is Yale’s blue-collar union.

Bond has already won the endorsement of the state AFL-CIO.

“Erick clearly understands the struggles of working families, and his commitment to standing with workers made him standout among the candidates seeking the office of Treasurer,” Local 34 Vice President Elia Vollano is quoted as saying in the press release. ​“We are proud to join other labor and community organizations in supporting Erick for Treasurer.”

In support of Bond’s campaign, Vollano is quoted as saying: ​“Working people need a bigger voice in our elections. Maritiza cares about working families and it isn’t a surprise that she is backed by labor. Our state can trust that Maritza will make sure elections are accessible and fair.”

Click here to read the endorsement press release in full.

The treasurer is responsible for managing the state’s pension funds, managing state banking relationships and short-term investments, issuing and managing state debt, and handling property like uncashed checks and proceeds from stocks and bonds and mutual funds whose owners can’t be located.

Besides overseeing elections, the secretary of the state is in charge of business filings and maintaining the commercial registry. The secretary of the state also proposes and lobbies for new election laws while promoting voting and participation in elections — serving as the state’s top​“civics” official.