Supporters of Mayor John DeStefano’s reelection bid ponied up $150 a person to nosh on antipasto with him at a private club on Whitney Avenue to start building up his campaign coffers.
According to DeStefano staffer Adam Joseph, some 25 people attended the fundraiser, which comes before the official start of the mayor’s campaign to win his 10th term in office this fall.
DeStefano faces no opponents at this point, though three men said they’re considering challenging him in a Democratic primary. (Read about that here.)
Unlike in the past two elections, DeStefano is not participating this time in the public-financing system he created. The system limits how much incumbents, say, can lean on people who do business with the city to amass campaign war chests that scare away potential challengers.
Hence last Thursday night’s closed-door event at the exclusive Quinnipiack Club on Church Street.
While the weather kept some away, numerous DeStefano administration staffers made the two-block walk from City Hall to the club to lend a hand. Just before the official start time of 6 p.m. Thursday, legislative director Joseph and other young members of the administration were on hand as volunteers for the evening (not in their official capacities as city workers).
John Prokop, head of public works, and Andy Rizzo, building inspector, were among the first to arrive to the candlelit, wood-paneled room. The mayor followed closely behind them, entering with Karen DuBois-Walton, head of the housing authority. Other city employees present included city engineer Dick Miller and parks director Bob Levine.
The campaign barred the press from the event itself.
Outside the club, many attendees declined to speak about their support for the mayor. But Curtis Robinson, who came down from Hartford for the event, was forthcoming.
“He’s a great guy,” Robinson (pictured) said of the mayor. “I like what he’s doing. He’s a good man.”
Robinson said the mayor has been very supportive of his Curtis D. Robinson Men’s Health Institute, a Hartford hospital program which targets prostate cancer in African-American men.
“He does a great job,” a man named Tony said of the mayor.
“I don’t want to talk,” said a woman in a fur coat.
Puleeeeze...can the NHI ever just write a straight news story? I'm confused as to what journalistic ethics are being adhered to at this "paper". I am able to draw my own conclusions about DeStefano and a fundraiser without all of the purple prose.
You demonstrate your ignorance of the current affairs of New Haven by describing the Quinnipiac Club as "exclusive." That was 20 years ago. In recent times it has experienced serious financial problems and will let in anyone who can pay the initiation fee. The loss of exclusivity is best demonstrated by the fact that a guy with the last name DeStefano can hold a fundraiser there. Back in the old days when it was a blue blood enclave that would have been unheard of. By the way, it's on Church Street not Whitney. Whitney begins at Grove. [Fixed. Thanks.]
Nice touch that observation of the fur coat, because we all know that a woman wearing a fur coat must be wealthy and part of the moneyed conspiracy to subvert democracy in New Haven.