Laura Glesby Photo
Brother Born at giveaway: “Conservatism is the new rock and roll.”
Congressional candidate Margaret Streicker arrived in Newhallville with 5,000 child-sized masks and a “Blue Lives Matter” message — the latter of which sparked lively discussion.
Streicker, a Milford Republican who’s challenging 15-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of New Haven in Tuesday’s election, and members of her campaign handed out the masks Sunday at the Learning Corridor on Hazel Street and Shelton Avenue, surrounded by the vibrant orange leaves along the Farmington Canal Trail. (Green Party candidate Justin Paglino is also running for the seat.)
Streicker is the first Republican to mount an active challenge (involving visible campaigning, surprise endorsements, TV ads) to DeLauro since 1991, forcing the incumbent to campaign harder than she has for decades. Sunday’s Newhallville visit also showed the Republican’s willingness to wade outside her natural base and into deep Democratic territory to make her case.
Streicker worked on the giveaway in collaboration with Newhallville contractor Rodney Williams, who has been running free mask distribution efforts throughout the city.
“I appreciate her donating kids masks to the community,” Williams said. “My job is identifying the resources and bringing them into the community.”
By the end of the event, Williams estimated that he and Streicker had distributed 2,700 adult-sized masks. Of the 5,000 child-sized masks that Streicker donated, 4,000 were given out that morning.
Streicker at giveaway.
As the morning chugged along, Streicker and her team of campaign staffers handed out masks to both pedestrians and drivers, occasionally switching into fluid Spanish with some recipients.
“You got masks?” one driver, Charles, called from the other side of the street. He already had a Margaret Streicker flyer on his windshield. He stepped out of his car eagerly, blocking traffic for a moment, to express his enthusiasm: “I’m voting for her.”
Brother Born.
Brother Born, a Newhallville activist who assisted with the event, said he was looking forward to having a Republican Congressional candidate to vote for. He wore a Trump 2020 face mask along with a Make America Great Again cap. He said his largest motivation for supporting Streicker is his interest in prioritizing the growth of businesses in Newhallville.
“Conservatism is the new rock and roll,” he said. “You wanna be against the system? Be a conservative. Everyone here is liberal.”
Before he left, Streicker slid a campaign lawn sign into the back of his wheelchair.
Not everyone was on board with Streicker’s message.
“I’ve heard of you,” one driver said as Streicker approached. “You shouldn’t have supported Columbus, though. He killed my ancestors.”
The driver, who did not provide his name, was referring to Streicker’s support of a Christopher Columbus statue in Wooster Square that was ultimately removed this summer amid a nationwide reassessment of the historical legacy of figures commemorated by public monuments.
“History is a fact,” Streicker replied. She argued that taking down the statue was an “erasure” of past events.
The driver agreed that history shouldn’t be rewritten. “But to say he was a national hero?”
“I’m not saying that,” Streicker said. But the statue’s intended meaning — “to honor Italian-Americans” — should be respected, she argued.
As neighbors collected free masks, Williams and Streicker stressed that that they aimed to place the issue of mask distribution and public health above politics.
“I don’t want nobody to get the virus. No Democrat, no Independent, no Republican,” Williams said.
Blue & Black Lives
Rodney Williams.
Political debate still wove its way into their interactions as the morning progressed.
At one point during the event, Streicker mentioned that in her conversations with Newhallville residents, most have been concerned about public safety. She cited specifically the state police accountability bill passed this summer, which has become both a talking point for both Democrats (who support it) and Republicans (who oppose it) in this fall’s campaigns. Among other measures, the law limits police chokeholds, requires officers to intervene if colleagues violate citizens’ rights, and makes it easier for victims to sue officers who engage in “malicious, wanton or willful” misconduct.
Streicker has throughout the campaign sided with critics of both the bill and the Black Lives Matter movement, from her Facebook posts to an event outside New Haven police headquarters when she received the city officers’ union’s first-ever endorsement.
At Sunday’s event, she argued that the new law has contributed to rising crime rates by lowering morale among officers.
Williams had a different perspective to share. He attributed the spikes in crime to a “lack of opportunity and jobs.”
“I don’t disagree with that,” Streicker responded.
Williams recalled an experience he had with a police officer while working with his company Green Elm Construction at the nearby 201 Munson development site. The officer pulled a gun on him, Williams recounted.
“When you look down the barrel of a gun, that traumatizes you,” he said. “They ‘fear for my life’ — what happens when I fear for my life?”
“Why would you assume that I haven’t looked down the barrel of a gun?” Streicker responded.
(Asked later to clarify about whether she had stared down the barrel of a gun, Streicker’s campaign declined to comment, stating that the dialogue about public policy during the campaign event was a “personal conversation.”)
“White people don’t get killed like Black people do,” Williams continued, calling police accountability an essential success for Connecticut. Over the past five years, Black Americans have been twice as likely to die from a police shooting than white Americans.
“I see it differently,” Streicker simply responded. “The police are demoralized.”
“Positive policing requires funding,” she added.
Shirley Lawrence Shows Up
Shirley Lawrence.
Midway through the giveaway, Shirley Lawrence, the co-chair of the Newhallville Community Management Team, approached to collect packets of masks for her grandchildren. She initially took two packets for her five grandchildren.
“You got five? Take five,” Williams urged. She took a handful more.
“I’ll be honest,” Lawrence, who wore a Black Lives Matter mask, said to Streicker. “I’ve been a DeLauro supporter since day one.”
“You don’t look old enough to be a DeLauro supporter since Day One,” Streicker replied.
Lawrence brought up a campaign statement from DeLauro that called Streicker a “slumlord” and criticized her property management practices. (Streicker has was sued by a former New York Attorney General, which alleged that she violated tenant buyout and rent stabilization laws. She paid a $1.2 million settlement without admitting guilt.)
“Is it true?” Lawrence asked. Streicker denied the allegations.
Lawrence expressed a general concern about large landlords who buy up properties in Newhallville, only to neglect to care for the buildings or contribute to the neighborhood.
“That’s the opposite of what I do,” Streicker said. As evidence, she pulled up a video tour of an apartment that the Connecticut outpost of her real estate firm, Newcastle, manages in East Rock.
Streicker shows Lawrence the video tour.
“That’s beautiful,” Lawrence said, peering at the video. “What street is that?”
“State Street,” Streicker replied.
Before she left, Lawrence turned to Streicker’s campaign staff.
“I shouldn’t say this, but you got some Republicans on West Ivy Street,” Lawrence remarked.
Streicker is a slumlord for the poor and gentrifies for the rich. She sues working a middle class families to kick them out of rent-controlled apartments so that she can turn them into luxury housing for the rich or single professionals. If these families fight Streicker, she makes their lives miserable and their apartments uninhabitable. This is why she was named on of New York City's 10 worst landlords by the village voice and fined by New York's Attorney General.
The last thing we need is another elite elected official who works with Trump's GOP to hurt most families in Connecticut's 3rd district.
Turn out to vote, and let's defeat the candidates like Trump and Streicker!!