Lemar Crushes Hauser

A spirited campaign for an open state legislative seat ended in a victory for East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar Tuesday night.

Lemar (pictured with campaign manager Mike Jones) defeated East Rock psychologist Debra Hauser by 1,420 to 796, or 64 to 36 percent, on the machines in the 96th District race.

The district includes New Haven’s East Rock, Wooster Square, and Fair Haven neighborhoods, and two districts in Hamden.

In the two Hamden districts — where the campaign was its least predictable — Lemar led Hauser 532 to 399 on the machine votes. Hauser did win in District 6, 234 – 189, but Lemar took District 10, in the Spring Glen neighborhood, 343 – 165.

In New Haven, Lemar led Hauser by just 134 to 114 on the machines in Wooster Square, not counting absentee balllots. Hauser was supported by antimachine forces in the neighborhood, who succeeded in winning a ward chairman primary earlier in the year.

Lemar demolished Hauser in Fair Haven’s 15th Ward, 122 – 39. He had a ground operation in place in the historically low-turnout neighborhood, whose neglect by politicians emerged as an issue in the campaign.

In East Rock’s Ward 10, Lemar demolished Hauser, 632 – 244.

A total of 196 absentee ballots were taken out by voters in the district. So the outcome is secure.

As in other races, one candidate — Lemar — stressed government experience, in his case as an alderman; while Hauser stressed her role as an outsider seeking to bring change to politics as usual. She poured $43,000 of her own money into the race, a fortune for a state representative primary. Lemar was able to keep up with her spending thanks to the state’s campaign financing system; however in the future candidates will not be able to obtain extra matches when opponents keep spending past certain limits, the way Lemar did in this race.

How Lemar Won

Their technology was shoe leather.

Or sneaker rubber.

Shortly before they exited to their victory party, Lemar’s campaign manager, Yale Alderman Michael Jones (beside treasurer Erin Sturgis-Pascale), showed off how the campaign achieved its decisive win over Debra Hauser on Tuesday.

“The secret of all of this is the number of people who walked and talked, and the number of houses people knocked at,” Lemar said as he entered his campaign headquarters and received the hugs of his troops.

Excited by his victory and receiving the congrats of his daughter Caitlin, Lemar said, ​“We were outspent in all areas except knocking on doors.”

He estimated that about 100 unique volunteers of all ages did that walking and knocking during the course of the three-month campaign.

The campaign for the most part shunned technologies such as robocalls.There were two, one by Juan Candelaria to Fair Haven voters and one by Lemar himself, but they went to supporters. Both the calls were made on election day.

Lemar described himself in the moment as ​“excited and proud of our team.” Then he got reflective, adding that he was remembering ​“the intimate conversations of ten or 12 in living rooms,” where voters challenged and pushed him on issues.

The campaign was an extension of that, he said.

“People were open to talking about fundamentally reforming the tax system, the transportation system, education, and pushing for meaningful energy reform.”

“Those issues defined the campaign,” he said.

As to the style of those shoe leather contacts in these issues, campaign treasurer Erin Sturgis-Pascale said that Lemar listened more than he talked.

Jones said a typical campaign encounter that he recalled in Hamden was when Lemar was talking to a family with two parents and two kids when he noticed a single car in the driveway.

So the conversation turned on a theme that Jones described as ​“it’s not fair you can’t get from downtown Hamden to downtown New Haven” on frequent and reliable bus service.

A small hitch in the campaign was the hen issue, Jones said.

During the campaign Hamden’s town government voted to allow up to six hens in a backyard, following a New Haven ordinance Lemar had helped to write,. But Hamden’s Spring Glen Civic Association was adamantly opposed to the hens.

Lemar explained himself and didn’t back off his stand to suit the anti-hen folks. ​“We lost votes because of it in Spring Glen,” Jones said

As he locked up the headquarters where he’d run his first and successful campaign, Jones said what he’d learned was that the ​“the best campaigns are simple, not consultant driven. They don’t drown out the opposition’s voice. They engage neighbors in a community conversation.”

Then he said, ​“My shoes are done. I need new shoes.”

“Debra ran a good, hard campaign. We’ll come together,” Lemar said around supporting Democrats in November.

Hauser Stays Positive

Hauser was upbeat after the vote as supporters crowded into her home on Livingston Street to nosh on Middle Eastern food and drown their sorrows.

Although exhausted from spending 14 hours at the polls, she seemed genuinely happy with her efforts, though she told supporters a couple of times, ​“I hope I didn’t disappoint anyone.”

Hauser (pictured) spent a whopping $43,000 of her own money in the campaign. A lot was spent in the last week. She estimated a third or more went for high quality mail pieces and postage; a third went for staff; and a third for her get out the vote effort.

“I had great advisers, I had hard-working people, I learned a lot and put out some good position papers; I put my nose to the grindstone,” she said. ​“We touched close to 3,000 people.”

Hauser said she couldn’t be everywhere at the end of the race. ​“I walked in Hamden early, then [New Haven’s] Ward 8 and Ward 10 last week. I kept circulating.”

At The Polls: Local Taxes, State Issue?

Proudly showing off her rusty 1992 Chrysler LeBaron with its makeshift Tweety Bird knob on the turn signal, Elizabeth Johnson said having been recently whacked for $98 in taxes on the car accompanied her into the voting booth.

“Taxes and the deficit really stink,” the captain of the Humphrey Street block watch said, after she emerged from voting Tuesday morning at the Conte West Hills Magnet School.

“New Haven is a beautiful city, but everyone is leaving,” she said because of the tax burden. To help remedy that, she said she therefore gave her vote to Dan Malloy and, locally, to East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar in the 92nd Assembly District race.

“Lemar is for a lot of things I want to see in the state,” she said.

Over at Wilbur Cross High School, taxes were also on the mind of Joan Swanekamp, a Yale administrator who moved to East Rock 13 years ago. She said she is ​“outraged” by high property taxes.

However, the issue drove her to choose the other local candidate. ​“Debra Hauser talked about property taxes more,” said Swanekamp (who did not want to be photographed). She added that although Lemar did, too, ​“his [voting] record doesn’t show that.”

The other issue that popped up most in a limited survey of six more voters emerging from Cross was clean elections.

Saying that her six-week-old daughter was ​“not one for politics yet,” Catherine McNeur said, ​“I think campaign finance reform is important across the board.” The Yale graduate student in American history approved of and voted for candidates Malloy and Lemar who are participating in the Citizens Election Program.

“Even though it’s painful for politicians, it’s an important step for people to have a real voice,” she said.