A figure from New Haven’s black political history books added his voice to the endorsement chorus for Toni Harp, calling her candidacy “indeed appropriate.”
Henry “Hank” Parker made that remark in a press release circulated by Harp’s campaign for the Democratic mayoral nomination.
The campaign did not hold a press event for reporters to speak in person with Parker, who has not been in good health.
If Harp wins this fall’s elections, she’ll become the city’s first black female mayor.
Allan Appel File Photo
Parker (standing in left in this photo, taken at a 2011 ceremony near his home in Wooster Square) once sought to become New Haven’s first black mayor, period, in 1969 and again in 1979. He didn’t succeed, but he did serve as state treasurer from 1974 through 1986. (New Haven elected its first black mayor, John Daniels, in 1989.)
“Toni Harp’s historic decision to run for mayor of the city of New Haven is indeed appropriate. Her enriched experience as a public official and her
enlightened leadership hold forth the promise of meaningful efforts to address local problems that threaten the quality of life for the citizens of New Haven,” the Harp press release alleges that Parker said. “Toni Harp has been a resident of New Haven for 40 years. She understands the intricacies of the political landscape of the city, and, indeed, the state.” In the same release, Harp called Parker “one of the state’s most respected elder statesmen and a true New Haven treasure.”
Parker’s is the latest in a cascade of endorsements of Harp’s campaign by veteran New Haven politicians, including generations of city aldermen and all the top Latino elected officials in town, leading labor unions, a majority of the current Board of Aldermen, and the Democratic Town Committee. Harp’s campaign has used the endorsements to present a sense of widespread community support and inevitability surrounding her candidacy. Her Democratic opponents — Kermit Carolina, Justin Elicker, and Henry Fernandez — have presented themselves as fresh, independent alternatives to “machine” or otherwise old-fashioned establishment politics.
Meanwhile, half of New Haven's population is 28 years old or younger.
This kind of "establishment" support explains Harp's debate remarks about the need for wider roads and more parking, and the fact that less than 20% of her money was raised from among New Haven city residents, versus over 75% for Elicker and Carolina, according to NHI.