Thomas MacMillan Photo
Jorge Perez will probably decide first. Marty Looney will decide next. Then labor will have to decide — and an instant top contender will emerge to become New Haven’s next mayor.
That was the early upshot of one of the most important dramas of the now off-and-running campaign to replace New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, who announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of 2013 after a record 20 years in office.
The drama: Who will get the backing of the UNITE/HERE union-affiliated vote-pulling organization that has taken command of both the Board of Aldermen and the Democratic Town Committee as well as helping to elect a governor?
Labor has for years been grooming Board of Aldermen President Jorge Perez (pictured above at DeStefano’s official retirement announcement Tuesday night) as almost a mayor-in-waiting. He has toyed with the idea of running but never gone ahead with it. In the face of DeStefano’s announcement, Perez faces a now-or-never decision.
He said Tuesday evening that he will make that decision — whether to run for mayor this year — over the next week.
Prepared to face the question at DeStefano’s formal announcement Tuesday night, Perez handed out a printed response. “I have faithfully served the city for many years as the alderman of the 5th Ward, and have always intended to keep serving in some capacity,” it read in part. “With the mayor’s surprise announcement, the opportunity for me (as well as others) to explore other opportunities to continue the serve the city has arisen. In the next week or so, I will be talking to my family, my colleagues, my constituents, and others, and only then will I make a decision concerning in what role will I continue to serve the city.”
Perez: Give me a week. Looney: I’m in no rush.
Meanwhile, a poll commissioned by the unions last year reportedly showed that voters wanted a new mayor, and that two New Haven state senators — Looney and Toni Harp — came out far ahead of all other possible candidates. Harp told the Independent this week she’s not planning to run for mayor.
Looney, on the other hand, is keeping his options open. But he’s not following the same timetable as Perez’s.
“I don’t even want to discuss [a mayoral candidacy] at this point. It’s far too early,” Looney told the Independent Tuesday. He said supporters have been calling him to urge him to run since the news broke Monday about DeStefano’s pending retirement. “I’m obviously gratified by the unsolicited offers of support” and will have more to say on the subject at a future point, he said. He is currently in the midst of shepherding gun-control proposals through the state legislature; the day the DeStefano news broke, Looney was at the Capitol until long past midnight at a hearing on the subject.
Looney challenged DeStefano in a mayoral primary in 2001, which took place on the same day that terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. Looney lost that race. He has since ascended to the number-two position in the State Senate, a perch he clearly enjoys.
Two other candidates have already started running for mayor, state Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield and East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker. Neither has labor’s early support; Elicker is unlikely ever to get it. Hillhouse High School Principal Kermit Carolina also is seriously considering a candidacy, as is Probate Judge Jack Keyes.
The UNITE/HERE-affiliated labor group isn’t the only constituency in town. Its endorsement won’t automatically elect the next mayor. Besides the business community, strong independent activists groups have sprung up in town in recent years and involve themselves in political and civic campaigns on issues ranging from new-urbanist design and traffic-calming to cycling and public-art . But an endorsement from the labor group will probably mean the town committee’s support and the backing of the most organized get-out-the-vote operation in town. (In New Haven, Democratic primaries generally determine the winner of the mayoral election. No Republican has won a mayoral election since 1951. No Republicans even bothered running for any of New Haven’s aldermanic or state legislative seats the past two years.)
Laurie Kennington, president of Yale’s UNITE/HERE Local 34, said no one’s mind is made up yet.
“We’re excited to participate” in the coming campaign, she said Tuesday evening. “It seems like it’s going to be a vibrant political season.”
Let the people decide. Let the politicians that are running take their stances in their own words and hopefully the people will watch the debates and speeches and make informed decisions.