One of Mayor John DeStefano’s critics has emerged as an aldermanic candidate from New Haven’s forgotten neighborhood — with a study he says shows that City Hall excludes poorer parts of town from power.
The candidate is Darnell Goldson (pictured), a longtime political activist who originally toyed with, then abandoned, a run for mayor this year.
Goldson picked up the endorsement for alderman from the 30th Ward Democratic Committee last week. The seat is open.
The ward committee also voted unanimously not to endorse Mayor DeStefano’s campaign for a ninth two-year term. No other mayoral candidates’ names were put up for a vote.
Candidate Goldson Thursday released a spreadsheet analyzing 380 appointments to city boards and commissions. Some of the appointments are made by the Board of Aldermen or neighborhood representatives. Most are made by the mayor. Of the appointments made by DeStefano, Goldson found none from Ward 30, or from four other wards, which have significant black and Latino populations: Wards 3 and 4 in the Hill, Fair Haven’s Ward 15, and Dixwell’s Ward 22.
Miguel Pittman of Ward 3 and Ward 4 Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks serve on the Empower New Haven board; Ward 3 Alderwoman Jackie James serves on a The Commission on Children and Families. The mayor didn’t make those appointments.
Click here to review the spreadsheet.
“This administration talks about inclusiveness and including people and New Haven should be part of the decision-making process,” Goldson said Thursday.
But based on board appointments, unless people live in neighborhoods like East Rock or Westville or the East Shore, “your odds of being a decision-maker or having a voice in this administration are close to none,” Goldson argued. “ You don’t sit on the police commission. You don’t sit on the fire commission. You don’t sit on the development commission. You don’t sit on the ethics commission.”
Mayor DeStefano declined to return a call seeking comment. A mayoral spokeswoman offered to issue a statement on his behalf, but he was not available to respond personally to questions.
Political Exiles?
Goldson is running to replace Democrat Michelle Edmonds-Sepulveda, who is retiring after two terms.
Edmonds-Sepulveda, who works for the Board of Education as a truancy officer, said Thursday that she has not endorsed a candidate in the race. She said another candidate might emerge.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” she said of serving as alderwoman. “But with my job, and my son in his eighth-grade year, I have to focus on other things. I need to lessen the load a little bit. It’s a little heavy.”
Goldson praised Edmonds-Sepulveda’s tenure on the board. “Michelle served the ward with distinction and honor and quiet dignity,” he said. “I don’t think I would be doing this if she decided she was running for reelection.”
Edmonds-Sepulveda was a DeStefano administration loyalist. Historically, Ward 30 has at times been a wellspring of lonely opposition politics in New Haven, periodically producing City Hall critics on the Board of Aldermen and dissenting votes in the occasional contested citywide election. In 1999, for instance, it was one of only two wards out of 30 to vote for challenge Jim Newton against Mayor DeStefano in a Democratic primary. (The other was Ward 1, which is on the Yale campus.)
Ward 30’s dissenting tradition may stem from its seclusion and low voting totals. It consists of two sections physically cut off from each other by West Rock: the West Hills neighborhood on one side, West Rock on the other. The latter area is removed from the rest of town in the rock’s shadow, behind Southern Connecticut State University, fenced off from Hamden’s border to the north. It’s made up exclusively of public housing projects, a big swath of which are in the process of being torn down.
Ward Committee Co-Chair Honda Smith said all 16 people participating in the July 14 endorsement meeting either abstained or voted no on the question of Mayor DeStefano’s reelection. Their concerns ranged from senior services to potholes, high taxes, and neglected street sweeping and snow removal in the ward.
A Political Odyssey
“For too long, wards like Ward 30 have been underrepresented and overtaxed. We should have an equal voice in this government,” said Goldson, who’s 48. He currently commutes to Holyoke, Mass., where he runs a chapter of the YouthBuild program.
Goldson’s family lives on the West Hills side of the ward. He got his start in 1982 with then‑U.S. Rep. Bruce Morrison. He ran for alderman in Ward 29 in 1997, and lost. He ran the Community Action Agency for several years, leaving amid political infighting of charges of mismanagement and mishandling of funds. (He denied the accusations.)
He and several other black activists allied themselves last year with a white suburban group fighting the DeStefano administration’s immigration-friendly policies, including the issuance of municipal ID cards available to undocumented workers, among many others. Some critics have branded suburban activists, who called themselves “Southern Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Reform“ and “The Community Watchdog Project,” a hate group. (Their web site linked to, among others, the John Birch Society.) The group’s leader, Dustin Gold, for a while promoted Goldson’s fledgling campaign for mayor against DeStefano.
“I was never involved in Dustin Gold’s group,” Goldson said Thursday when asked about the relationship. “Dustin Gold’s group was interested in my candidacy. We agreed on one issue: The ID card. I don’t have an issue with people coming to America to better their lives. I have an issue with people coming to America and asking me to better their lives. I have a hard time bettering my own life.”
Goldson said his opposition to the municipal ID stemmed from “using city resources.” (the card was supported by outside grants. A city office was established for a while to help people obtain the card.) Goldson said his concern is “even more apropos now” that the economy has tanked.
If he’s elected to the board, he vowed, “I am certainly going to be an aggressive and assertive alderman.” With his first campaign moves, he’s apparently seeking to make that point.
Interesting that Mr. Goldson would claim to be supporting hispanic interests with his "spreadsheet" but seek help from someone like Dustin Gold and other groups like Watchdog spreading anti-Latino propaganda against the ID card. Trying to have it both ways much?