The showdown lasted only five minutes, and in front of only three people, but it had world implications. The debate? Pension funds, nuclear weapons, peace… and the role of New Haven’s government-funded Peace Commission.
Alfred Marder, longtime president of the Peace Commission, which usually passes non-binding resolutions about world issues for the Board of Aldermen to approve, extended an invitation to East Rock Alderman Ed Mattison to discuss the group’s latest proposal, a “divestment resolution.” This one has teeth. The resolution called for all city pension funds to be divested from any company with ties to nuclear weapons.
Marder (at left) didn’t expect Alderman Mattison to attend. But Mattison did — “and with plenty to say, about the frustrations about the Peace Commission that have built up among some aldermen, who feel the Peace Commission can be a waste of time and money.
Mattison began by assuring Marder that the commission would get a hearing next month on its resolution. But where should the line be drawn? Should they hold hearings on whether to declare the United States a Christian nation or on how to abolish the income tax?
“You’re comparing issues we raise with frivolous issues,” Marder said. “We’re very careful about what we raise.”
Mattison said he had brought the resolution to the Democratic Caucus. A colleague suggested they dismiss the idea and teach the commission a lesson.
“We’ve been in existence for 18 years,” Marder answered back. “We all belong to grass roots organizations. We know our bounds.”
Marder said that certain issues affect everyone in the city — “and for 18 years the board has voted against nuclear weapons. “One cannot be opposed to nuclear weapons without looking at how we are financing it.” Who knows? Marder said. We might not even have one penny invested.
“Sure we do,” Alderman Mattison said. The issue at hand was too broad for the city not to.
“But I asked you where the national movement was behind this issue, and you didn’t show me one.” There’s nothing wrong with an organization or city saying something is wrong, Mattison said. But the line must be drawn somewhere. “Why shouldn’t we divest in all electric companies because they pollute the air? You have no limits.”
“Well, we may end up with hearings on all of these issues,” Marder responded with a laugh.
There are people who depend on these pensions, Mattison said.
People don’t need to lose money, Marder replied. Pension funds could just be moved — “say to a company that makes chocolate. Isn’t it a contradiction to finance something you’re against?
“But I’m against water pollution. What’s the limit of this? You can just name anything you don’t like. You’re setting up an argument only to have it knocked down.”
The United States is the chief polluter of nuclear weapons, Marder replied.
Mattison said he was well aware of that. He wrote his master’s thesis on nuclear proliferation. All he wanted was for Marder to know how hard he had to fight for the resolution. At least half of the Democratic Caucus wanted to vote it down. Many of them thought the Peace Commission had lost its mind. “Why don’t we have more of a relationship? I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place. I just don’t want to have trouble.”
And with that, it was over. The alderman didn’t even take off his coat. The Peace Commission called its meeting to order and passed out the evening’s agenda. Item number five? How to make next month’s divestment hearing just a little more dramatic.
