News Quiz Nov. 3 – 10, 2023

Note: Answers appear at the bottom of this story along with links to relevant news stories from the past week.

1) New Haven had 52,419 registered voters as of Tuesday. How many voted in Tuesday’s mayoral election (according to initial unofficial tallies)?
A) 7
B) 12,815
C) 10,000
D) 18,304
E) 26,209
F) 52,419
G) Tabulation machines broke, so we’ll never know

2) Which political candidate told supporters on Tuesday evening that ​“The people voted for honesty and truthfulness”?
A) Gino DiGiovanni, who lost his bid to become the mayor of Derby after the feds arrested him for breaking into the U.S. Capitol while participating in the Jan. 6 election-denying insurrection
B) Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, who eked out a slim reelection victory thanks to absentee ballots after a ballot fraud scandal in September
C) Sal DeCola, who was reelected as New Haven/Morris Cove alder after fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run in February, privately calling a police supervisor after someone discovered his role in the crash, and emerging without an arrest or a police report on the incident, without ever apologizing
D) Tom Goldenberg, the Republican Party candidate who lost his campaign to become New Haven’s mayor while insisting throughout that he wasn’t the ​“Republican candidate”
E) Pinocchio, after falsely claiming it was ​“opposite day”

3) Sec. 2 – 822 (10) c. (ii) of the city ordinances prohibits mayoral candidates receiving public money through the Democracy Fund from making any ​“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.” What did Mayor Justin Elicker do after it was revealed that he did exactly what the law plainly states he may not do — by putting out a flyer specifically urging voters to cast their votes to support a charter revision ballot measure?
A. He doubled down and argued that he didn’t violate the law because his campaign (mis)interpreted an answer from a Democracy Fund staffer to a vague general question about what the law permits
B. He said, ​“I apologize for the obvious, unintended mistake”
C. He refunded the cost of the mailing to the Democracy Fund
D. He enrolled in a four-week political reeducation camp operated by Common Cause

4) What did the Democracy Fund say about the matter when it held an emergency public meeting about it?
A. They said they would take prompt action so voters would know when they went to the polls on Tuesday that the mayor had broken the law and misused campaign money to influence a referendum that would restructure city government
B. They recommended the mayor attend a four-week political reeducation camp operated by the League of Women Voters
C. They said nothing
D. They said a lot, but said most of it in an undemocratic executive session called with no apparent legal justification

5) Who wrote the following text message to whom? ​“Hey Rodney. Your paper been submitted. The press is out to get a story. Please don’t respond to any Reporter yet, especially the New Haven Independent Paul Bass or Tom Been”
A. Democratic Town Chair Vin Mauro Jr. to city attorney Rod Williams in reference to a pending lawsuit
B. Ex-Alder Jill Marks to alder candidate Henry ​“Rodney” Murphy after learning from fellow Democratic Party members that reporters were interested in interviewing candidates for public office
C. The Shubert theater’s executive director to comedian Rodney Dangerfield in reference to an upcoming performance
D. Plush promoters to freestyle and street pro Rodney Mullen about an upcoming visit to their Orange Street shop

6) Who is in the above photo, and why were they in the news this week?
A. David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls, who were caught on video harvesting absentee ballots for New Haven’s municipal election
B. Members of the New Haven-based progressive rock band Head with Wings, who released a new album called Without Intervention
C. Union reps from The New Haven Public Schools HVAC department, who held a press conference to call attention to how understaffing was preventing them from performing routine maintenance
D. Organizers of a new graduate-student teacher union organizing drive at SCSU
E. Reporters who were locked out of a Democracy Fund executive session held to discuss a nakedly unauthorized use of Democracy Fund money by a mayoral candidate
F. Members of a UNITE HERE/Democratic Town Committee enforcement squad tasked with preventing candidates for public office from speaking with reporters

7) Who made the following remark, where, this week? ​“Parishes, at minimum, should have good websites, which is often not the case”
A. Theology professor Katherine Schmidt at an Albertus Magnus Eckhart Center lecture entitled ​“Gold in the Furnace: Theology and the Digital Age”
B. Archbishop Leonard P. Blair of the Archdiocese of Hartford on efforts to attract new parishioners to Connecticut churches
C. Common Ground Director of Community Impact & Engagement, Joel Tolman at a strategy session on broadening public participation in its community organics-collection project
D. An unnamed New Haven Democratic Town Committee operative on efforts to reach more GenZers for the 2024 election

8) Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim won his third election in four years in which he lost at the in-person polls but then made up the difference with absentee ballots. What happens next?
A. Ganim is sworn in for another term as mayor
B. Ganim and leading challenger John Gomes face off in a round of ​“rock, paper, scissors“
C. A court-ordered do-over of the Democratic mayoral primary takes place, after which the victor is named mayor
D. The New Haven Democracy Fund board counts ballots and declares a victor in executive session
E. A court-ordered do-over of the Democratic mayoral primary takes place, after which another general election may take place

Answers to the puzzle, along with links to the relevant news stories, appear after the following video of more headline talk amid musical interludes in a Thursday episode of WNHH FM’s​“Dateline New Haven” program. (Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of Dateline New Haven.)

1) B. Elicker, Charter Changes Sail To Victory
2) C. DeCola Prevails As Challengers Split Ward 18 Alder Vote
3) A. Decision Delayed On Elicker Flyer Flap
4) D. Decision Delayed On Elicker Flyer Flap
5) B. 3 Vie For Open East Side Alder Seat
6) B. Two Bands Move From Darkness To Light
7) A. God & The Internet Meet At Albertus Magnus
8) E. Ganim wins Bridgeport mayoral race, setting up a new primary with Gomes

Laura Glesby contributed.