Lamont Even Lost New Haven; City Turnout 21%

Viewing the electorate as a whole --

Malloy - 10.3%
Lamont - 9.9%
Neither -79.8%

Party leaders told New Haven Democrats to vote "Line B." They voted "Line A" instead, with one exception: They favored hometown candidate Gerry Garcia in the secretary of the state primary. Even that was close.

What happen to a mind of your own,

On the other hand, 21% is 6% better than the state total. Nonetheless, point taken.

So if a lack of a clear message was a problem, why did Johnny D wait until the day after to raise that as a concern? With half-hearted support like that, no wonder Lamont got trounced.

Wow, check out the turnout in Ward 1, the lowest in the city! Amazing what happens in a summer election when you have a ward where half the people flee the city in the summer. Mind you, I'm not in the city right now either, but I am grown up enough to send in an absentee ballot (for Ward 7 - hope it was counted!)

We remember Lamont from his irritating anti-war commericials a view years ago. His whiny anti-military ramblings didn't do it for me then and his sudden reinvention as a job creator rather than the professional complainer doesn't do it for me now.

Not that I'm happy with Malloy. I heard him on NPR last week and he strikes me as a bit icky. I voted against Ned not for Malloy.

Are the turnout percentages available by ward? In other words, who really cares who is elected around town?

[Highest turnouts: Ward 25, 44%; half of Ward 19 (the part falling in the 11th State Senatorial district) 37%; Ward 26, 35%; Ward 10, 34%; Ward 9, 31%; Ward 11 30%.]

Party Leaders did not say vote line B in the 94th. In fact much to Lamont's surprise his workers were pushing only Lamont-Glassman Garcia. And then asking people to vote line A for state representative, US Senator etc.
Alderman Paca, Jared, Lamonts field director threw Greene under the bus. And this time Greene played by the rules and still got screwed. ... Did he really think he was going to get some support? He should have. After all he was a delegate for Lamont and many thought he would bolt and give the vote to Malloy. After all he does have a relationship with Malloy.But Greene stayed with team and all were betting that he would defect to other side. He didn't. Anyway Greene had zero in the bank and no way to get his message out.

The Lamont crew spent three weeks heading in to the campaign distributing Garys literature in 20,21 and 22. Greene confronted Jared on the issue and only to be told by Jared he can't be responsible for what his workers do in the field.... Saw Greene this morning on Chapel at Starbucks and he was his gentlemanly self gave me a smile and said hello and drove off in his car. Damn either the guy knows something we don't know or he definitely marches to beat of a different drummer.

Curious,

The percentages are available as part of the breakdown provided by the registrar of voters. I haven't picked up a copy yet, but it is always infinitely fascinating. From my analysis in past years the top 1/3 of the voting wards consistently have the same voting power as the bottom 2/3.

btw, I advertently met Gerry Garcia last night at his post election get together at Christy's. You know, he seems like a very genuine person, and would love to see him get involved in politics on the local level.

Leslie,
That may mean that many students are not registered to vote in CT, or that many students are not members of the democratic party, or that many students don't care.

'The city democratic establishment had urged voters .....' Is this a subtle way of saying 'Johnny Boy ordered his dependents'. If so it looks like 'his dependents' are beginning to think for themselves. Democracy in New Haven as we know it is under threat. How sad. We may get real activist and progressive politicians who represent the citizens sometime this century.

To give some of that ever lacking context to the ward discussion, here's a link to a (slightly ginormous 1.3MB pdf) city ward map.

http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/CityPlan/pdfs/Maps/AldermanicLegislativeDistrictMaps/WardandDistrictMap.pdf

About 39,000 registered democrats voted in the past presidential election. Many of these (and I'd be interested in knowing that exact number) we're Yale undergrad and grad students.

So take away the students, take away hot august vacationers, take away the typical energy of a presidential election, add a pouring rainy election day and a wildly complicated season of electoral musical chairs and maybe 9,082 voters doesn't seem so bad.

Just sayin...

P.S. ANGELO

You don't show up to vote, you don't count.

Tough luck but its the truth. Apathy gets you no sympathy.

"Brownfield sites" sounds like just another round of boondoggles.

Will Gary and Looney go on record that a Malloy governship will put cities first? (as against the suburbs?) What will Dan Malloy do to correct the gross inequity of New Haven's 4.3% property tax rate? Would he actually suggest that a rich Fairfield County pay more into the state kitty?

My gut says that New Haven is getting used. And that the only ones to profit will be the politicians, and whoever else is for sale. (Brancati is a big Malloy booster, btw.)

But somebody please make the case that Malloy is in New Haven's best interest, and that yesterday wasn't just a matter of voter turn-off and DeStefano fatigue.

robn - It depends what you mean by "count." those who do not vote in local elections but vote in national elections are registering an opinion -- they don't care about local elections because they think those elections are meaningless. In many cases they are right. Let's take the great passion in the NHI over Lemar/Hauser. When it comes to voting in Hartford, they are likely to be virtually identical. if you don't know them and don't care about who spent how much money, what's the difference? You may take this as "not counting," but a lot of people think "counting" in a meaningless election is not particularly productive. Is pounding the pavement for Lemar a productive activity? It did help get Lemar elected, but it is unlikely to affect policy. To many of those who chose not to vote, there are other activities that count more than local elections.

Robn,

I think that is an overly simplistic analysis, and quite frankly, gives Yale students too much credit as a voting block.

I think if you research this further, you will find that even the notoriously low-turnout wards enjoyed surprisingly high turnouts in the last presidential election.

Robn,

Upon further research, comparing apples to apples, voting in the democratic primary for governor was down 39% from 2006.

Bill: I agree with you that Robn's analysis is fairly superficial, but to be fair, comparing an election in which Mayor Destefano was one of the candidates with one in which he wasn't on the ballot with regards to voter turnout in New Haven probably ignores some pretty important factors that wouldn't be in play across the state (namely, that Destefano has particularly strong support in New Haven, as well as a well-established political operation). Of course, if you were talking about statewide turnout, the comparison is far more robust.

Also, with turnout noticeably lower than that in the municipal election last year, I'm not sure how reliable conclusions about "Destefano fatigue" are. Significant vote-pulling by either side would have resulted in higher turnout than we saw this week. The results probably point more strongly to this election not being particularly interesting to most voters, as many people have been pointing out the last few days.

Finally, Robn, it is true that Yale students really didn't turn out to vote in this election, but they don't tend to make up such a huge proportion of the New Haven electorate (usually up to around 1000 Yalies vote in local elections in CT), and many who come from out of state may have decided that their votes would have a greater impact on their agenda at home than in Connecticut, where there wasn't a huge difference between most of the candidates running for office yesterday. The most marked difference, in my opinion, is probably between Rob Simmons and Linda McMahon, but then again, I doubt there are many Yalies who would even consider joining the Republican party.

Drosophila,

In looking at the statewide numbers, (2010 vs. 2006), overall voting in the Democratic Primary for Governor was down 42%.

New Haven is actually looking a little less apathetic than the rest of the state, though that conclusion may be within the realm of statistical uncertainties, or just due to the grease in the machine.

Bill,
I'm actually working on building a consolidated data set with all of the turnout data available on the CT SOTS website for statewide primary elections going back to 2000 to study this trend (in my free time; this is more a project driven by curiosity than any attempt at being productive). If there's interest, I'd be happy to share it once it's finished (should be some time this weekend/early next week, I have to call them about the 2002 data as it isn't available online).

DRO,

Wicked curious. Post it and I will surely bask in the glow of your statisticaluty.
Googlespreadsheet?

Drosophila,

Please post your analysis when complete.
It's a little more digging, but if the data could be normalized against fluctuations in the registered voter population for each year, it would be more valid.

Willie was not a delegate for Lamont. If Willie wanted to run a serious race he should have participated in the Clean elections system instead of relying on Lamont to help him.

If you don't vote, than don't bitch.

Next step is to compare who selects our political leaders to who complains about them.

Is 21% the final number for citywide Dem turnout? What about Republican turnout?

[Yes, those are the final official numbers. GOP turnout was 20%.]

To Insider: First of all I was a delegate at the convention and my run was serious. Furthermore I was made a delegate by the town chair. Also I did not depend on Lamont to finance my campaign. I place no blame on anyone but myself for my own inability to raise money for my campaign.

I did not participate in the clean election funding because quite frankly I don't believe in it. I was not the incumbent nor did I seek the endorsement of the Town Committee or the City Administration. Therefore I repeat the responsibility to raise money began and failed with me and no one else. Did conversation take place with campaign workers from the Lamont Campaign regarding my run and how we could possibly help each other? Yes. However there were never any promises made by them nor did I at anytime expect anything from them.

What I find extremely disquieting is that given the poor fiscal climate of this state we can find millions of dollars to finance the political dreams of politicians who seek office. But we can't find money to fund the dreams of our children so the can get get summer jobs or enabling cities to use that money to create and fund in some cases enhance summer programs, for our youth. We could even earmark some of those funds for elderly programs instead of cutting them.

I don't care where the money comes from to fund the campaigns, be it unclaimed or unused. Those funds should be earmarked for much more needed programs and not for political endeavors.

Also Insider not one single person can honestly step forward and say they have heard or had a conversation with me complaining about Lamont. I do believe the best man prevailed in the Governors Race and 94 made their decision and I congratulate Gary on his win and wish him all the best.

Instead of playing Monday Morning Quarterback and providing inadequate information as you have the focus should be on making sure Malloy wins in November and nothing else.

Have a wonderful and Blessed weekend.

posted by: Insider2 on August 11, 2010 6:59pm The Lamont crew spent three weeks heading in to the campaign distributing Gary's literature in 20,21 and 22. Greene confronted Jared on the issue and only to be told by Jared he can't be responsible for what his workers do in the field….

Insider2: Allow me to correct you. There was no confrontation with anyone from the Lamont Campaign. I did however send an email to Jared asking why people connected to the Lamont Campaign was passing out Gary's literature?

You stated correctly I was a delegate at the Democratic Convention. However my supporting Lamont did not mean that he or his people had an obligation to support my campaign. Jared simply replied that he was not aware of it and at no time was a decision made to pass out Gary's material. However we can't be responsible for what our volunteers do in the field. I found his response very amusing and gave it no further thought.

As I stated earlier I firmly believe that the best man prevailed in the Race for Governor and our major focus over the next few months should be spent informing our community how important it is for everyone to come out in full force in November and make sure that Malloy again prevails in the November election.

By the way I got did receive your message and I am not going anywhere. There is no truth to the rumor I am leaving town. I thank you for your support and words of encouragement you have given to me over the years. Please know that I greatly appreciate all you have done over the years as well.

I must say the remark you made about my getting my head out of Reggie Mayo's Ass some months ago did sting a little bit. I have to say it was really funny. The folks @ Leon's Restaurant got a big kick out of it.

Also Insider2. In an earlier article you stated that Paul Bass was not a friend. Well I must respectfully disagree. While in your opinion he may not be. I must state for the record in over the 20 years I have known him I have always found him to be fair in his reporting a story. During my tenure at the Dixwell Community Paul did take the time to see what actually took place in the dismantling of the Q house. After during his homework he chose not to tear into the Q house and myself. I am more than sure that a few from the administration along with those who called themselves my friends were angry because he did not write a story about the Q house.

Also the late Dave McClendon of the New Haven Register also refused to do a story on the organization because he too took the time to do some investigative work. It was not until his departure the Register decided to do a hatchet job as well as one sided Opinion piece and no one ever spoke to me or members of my board.

So I must respectfully disagree with you on that account.

posted by: observer on August 11, 2010 4:31pm
So if a lack of a clear message was a problem, why did Johnny D wait until the day after to raise that as a concern? With half-hearted support like that, no wonder Lamont got trounced.

Lamont got bounced because he didn't listen. Nothing more. He was told by many that he needed to make his campaign office more visible and approachable. He was also told he needed to get the help and support from those who knew the city and districts where he would possibly run into trouble. He and his people did not take any of the advice given. Im not a DeStefano fan but even Johnnie couldn't talk to him. He lost the race because of his over the top negative campaigning and his hiring of political novices who had their own personal agendas (Alderman Paca and poor Audrey Tyson) who doesn't know shit from shinola name a few. Can't Blame this one on Johnnie boy.