It was probably “ill-advised” to accuse her opponent’s wife of having a hand in an FBI probe of City Hall — but it may or may not have been accurate.
That’s Mayor Toni Harp’s latest take on her campaign’s recent attack on the wife of Democratic mayoral challenge Justin Elicker.
Harp was asked about the attack during an interview Monday on WNPR’s “Where We Live” program, one of two morning radio interviews she did.
Host Lucy Nalpathanchil asked Harp is she still stands by the accusation her campaign manager made in a June 26 release: that Elicker’s wife, an assistant U.S. attorney appointed under President Obama, has a hand in drawing up and publicizing an extensive subpoena of City Hall records dealing with government spending. (Read about that here and here”.)
“It was something that in retrospect was probably ill-advised,” Harp responded. “In the future we will not be attacking any family members. I would hope since my husband was attacked in the first race between Justin Elicker and myself, that the same will be true of that campaign, that they would not attack my family members.”
Harp noted that in the 2013 mayoral campaign some opponents attacked her late husband.
Nalpanthanchil asked Harp if she still believes the conspiracy accusation is accurate.
“I don’t really know,” Harp responded. “It’s something that at the time he brought up. I don’t think it can be proven. Certainly I can’t say that it’s baseless either. I can’t say that there’s a basis for it either.”
Harp also made her regular appearance on WNHH FM’s “Mayor Monday” program later in the morning. She was accompanied by Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow. They spoke about the city’s efforts to repair broken sidewalks, pave streets, and remove problem trees. They also discussed their support for UNITE HERE’s “Yale: Respect New Haven” lawn-sign campaign, the administration’s efforrts to distribute air-conditiong units to people in newhallville during this past weekend’s heat wave, and their personal backgrounds teaching Sunday School.
Click on the Facebook Live video below for the full episode of “Mayor Monday” with Toni Harp and Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow:
Click on the Facebook Live video or audio file below for the full interview with Mayor Toni Harp on WNPR’s “Where We Live,” which includes an assessment at the end with Independent Editor Paul Bass.
WNHH’s “Mayor Monday” is made possible with the support of Gateway Community College and Berchem Moses P.C.
The mayor gets attacked for what her dead husband may or may not have done, all the time.
Now she needs to be asked about and attacked about one dumb press release from her 23-year old campaign manager that she already disavowed.
Meanwhile, a very real issue -- someone in a candidate's family working for Trump's DOJ -- is ignored. Elicker's initial statement says he and his wife are very careful for her to recuse from issues that affect New Haven. How does that work, exactly?
Conspiracy? -- no that was a dumb allegation. But I don't agree that the Elicker & Trump DOJ connection should be completely off-limits.