Sam Hadelman Photo
Lauren Garrett at WNHH FM.
Lauren Garrett logged in 15,000 steps walking six miles a day, and she’s not complaining. In fact, she said, she feels energized. And she’s keeping going.
Garrett logged those steps knocking on doors of registered Democratic voters in Hamden to collect names on signatures to place her name on the Sept. 10 mayoral primary ballot.
She and five campaign supporters succeeded in turning in 1,200 signatures, more than the 835 needed to make the ballot. Garrett now faces incumbent Mayor Curt Leng, who won the party’s endorsement at a July 16 convention, in the primary election.
So she’s keeping up all those steps, knocking on voters’ doors.
“My legs are short,” she said on an interview on WNHH FM’s “Dateline Hamden” program, “so I get there quickly.”
The steps were worth it, Garrett said: The process of seeking a ballot spot gave her an opening to pitch her candidacy, which is focused on Hamden’s finances. (Click here and here to read previous stories about the debate between Democratic factions during the recently concluded budget season.)
“People were so willing to sign” her petitions to secure here a ballot slot and offer voters choices, Garrett said. People including Leng himself.
One especially productive petitioning spot was outside Government Center as people left after paying taxes, she said.
So far, Garrett said, her campaign has knocked on the doors of 14,000 out of Hamden’s 17,000 registered Democratic voters. She said she speaks first and foremost — and hears first and foremost — about the town’s high debt and high taxes.
Garrett has been active with Hamden’s Progressive Action Network, which supports left-leaning candidates for local and state office. As in other communities, progressives have been pushing during even-number-year legislative campaigns for expanded government at the state level — paid family leave, increased taxes on the wealthy, a higher minimum wage — while campaigning for fiscal austerity in local municipal races in odd-number years. A split has developed on Hamden’s council among PAN-backed progressives and other Democrats; PAN-allied council members aligned with Garrett have been consistently critical of the Leng administration.
“We are seeing Hamden’s finances declining. We’re not addressing the issue,” Garrett argued. “Families cannot afford to pay more taxes. They are already getting taxed out of their homes.”
She acknowledged that no quick easy fixes exist to avoid tax increases. She said “right now it’s not realistic to lower the mill rate” because of an anticipated $4 million hike in debt payments next year. She called for aggressively promoting new business development to grow the tax base and targeting cost overruns in line items like police overtime.
She was asked about the difference in experience between her and Leng. Garrett has served one term on the Legislative Council. Leng has spent decades in town government, as a legislator and in various top Town Hall jobs.
“His experience has brought us a billion dollars in debt,” she responded. Leng argues that his experience has helped the town begin to stabilize finances and tackle a decades old problem of underfunded pensions.
In response to a listener question, Garrett agreed that vaping has become a big problem in town schools. “Bathrooms are being locked” and kids sometimes can’t relieve themselves as a result, as administrators struggle to find a way to contain widespread smoking in the loos. Asked about the role a mayor can play in the issue, Garrett said she would work with the Board of Education to research fixes. “We’ve got to find out what’s working” in other school systems that also wrestle with this problem, she said.
The full interview with mayoral candidate Lauren Garrett on WNHH FM’s “Dateline Hamden” appears in the video below:
Mayor Leng isn't the only one responsible for Hamden's dire financial situation. All of the Democrat controlled mayoral administrations and legislative councils for 28 of the last 30 years are the culprits. Hamden's plight is the result of extended one-party rule. Hamden's Democrats do not serve the taxpayers because they believe they cannot be voted out. They have shown no inclination to be fiscally responsible. Their mantra is tax and spend. A "progressive" Democrat will only add to Hamden taxpayer's woes. It's completely disingenuous for Garrett to claim that "Families cannot afford to pay more taxes." She herself voted for a budget that would have made the mill rate 49.99. Clearly she believes that Hamden taxpayers should pay more.