Laura Glesby Photo
Laurie Sweet with daughter Olivia.
Galvanized by a recent officer-involved shooting in Newhallville, two registered Democrats are vying to replace the only two Republicans on the Hamden Legislative Council by running on a third-party ticket.
Those two candidates, Rhonda Caldwell and Laurie Sweet, officially launched their candidacies at a joint press conference Tuesday afternoon outside Hamden’s Town Hall.
They’re both running for at-large council seats as members of the Working Families Party, which has historically served as aa third-party haven for progressive Democrats looking to push the mainstream party to the left, as a means of sidestepping Town Charter rules that reserve at least two council seats for minority party representation.
Caldwell and Sweet both said they chose to affiliate with the Working Families Party in the hopes of unseating Republicans on the council and granting complete control to Democrats and Democratic Party-leaning members.
Democratic Legislative Council members Justin Farmer of District 5 and Brad MacDowall of District 9 endorsed Caldwell and Sweet’s candidacies at the press conference.
In Hamden, each political party can put four candidates on the ballot for at-large council seats, meaning seats that aren’t affiliated with any one particular geographical area of the town.
Rhonda Caldwell with daughter Simone.
In November’s general election, Hamden voters can then choose up to four of those at-large candidates to support.
The six at-large candidates who receive the most votes then receive council positions, joining the nine other district-specific council seat winners.
Historically, this system has allotted Republicans at least two seats on the Legislative Council. Sweet and Caldwell said they hope to change that.
Caldwell works as an affordable housing property manager for state. Sweet worked for seven years as a doula before becoming a “rapid response” volunteer for Immigrant Families Together.
Both candidates said that if elected, they would prioritize police reform.
Caldwell framed her candidacy as a response to Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton’s shooting of Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon in Newhallville in April. Eaton and Yale Police Officer Terrance Pollock are both currently being investigate by the state’s attorney’s office for shooting at the unarmed couple.
“It was then when I knew I had to do more,” Caldwell said, “as Stephanie Washington could have easily been my own daughter.”
Sweet said she supports instituting a Civilian Review Board with subpoena power to look into allegations of police misconduct in Hamden. “The police should not investigate themselves,” she said. She had worked with activists to successfully advocate for a Civilian Review Board in New Haven “with the hopes of using theirs as a model for Hamden,” she said.
Both Caldwell and Sweet criticized the town’s Police Commission for not adequately addressing the April shooting.
“At their last meeting, before their summer break in May, the April shooting of Stephanie and Paul wasn’t even on their agenda,” Sweet said of the commission. “When questioned about it, they hid from Hamden residents.” She called for the mayor to replace the commissioners.
In addition to police accountability, Sweet and Caldwell listed fiscal responsibility and educational equity as other priorities they would bring to the council.
Justin Farmer.
The idea to run as part of the Working Families Party was Farmer’s. Sweet had initially approached Farmer with her interest to run for the Legislative Council as a Democrat. “Instead of causing contention” within the party, Farmer said, he encouraged her to run for a minority seat.
Sweet said that Working Families Party officials advised her to find someone else to run for the second minority seat, prompting her to recruit Caldwell.
In a text message, Republican At-Large Representative Marjorie Bonadies accused the candidates of utilizing a loophole for “party politics” rather than “what is actually in the best interest of the town.”
“What she would like to create is an echo chamber,” Bonadies said in response to Sweet’s stated goal of electing all Democrats. “There are 4,000 registered Republicans and others in Hamden that she would like to deny representation.”
MacDowall challenged the notion that the minority seats should automatically go to Republicans. While Republicans have controlled the seats for decades, “it’s time we make them work for that,” he said.
Democrats Dominique Baez, Berita Rowe-Lewis, Jody Clouse, and Macdowall as well as Republicans Elizabeth Wetmore, Dian Lewis, Austin Cesare, and Dolphus Addison are also running for at-large seats on the council.
Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch Tuesday’s press conference.
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