Politics

Labor Role At Issue In Edgewood Race

March 5, 2018 - 

The one local Democratic Party ward chair primary taking place in the city on Tuesday will pit a four-term “independent” incumbent up against a challenger associated with Yale’s UNITE-HERE unions.

Challenger Art Perlo, a longtime community activist, is running on a slate with Co-Chair Randall Furlow in Edgewood’s Ward 24 Democratic Party Ward Committee.

Meanwhile, Arthur Gary Stewart, one of former mayoral challenger Marcus Paca’s most vocal supporters, is running for a fifth two-year term as the other co-chair of the Edgewood neighborhood’s branch of the local party. He argues that he represents an independent voice in a party beholden to what he calls old-school, machine-style politics.

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New Haven “Rises” To King’s Full Vision

AME Bishop W. Darin Moore at New Haven Rising’s MLK Day rally at Varick Church.

AME Bishop W. Darin Moore at New Haven Rising’s MLK Day rally at Varick Church.

Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018 - 

On the day that slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. would have turned 89 years old, hundreds of New Haveners gathered to celebrate his legacy of racial and economic justice, and to extend that legacy to the current fight for immigrant rights.

Over 400 New Haveners packed into the Varick Memorial AME Zion Church on Dixwell Avenue on Monday night to sing, dance and listen to a three-hour Martin Luther King Day service organized by the local labor advocacy group New Haven Rising.

A diverse crowd of older African American churchgoers, UNITE HERE union organizers, and local politicians filled the pews and balcony, with an overflow audience moving to the church’s basement to watch a livestream of the festivities happening upstairs.

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The DNC Is Sorry

Keith Ellison.

Keith Ellison.

Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018 - 

Yes, the Democratic National Committee put “a thumb on the scale” to make sure Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders in 2016. But it’ll do better next time.

So Keith Ellison — the DNC’s deputy leader — promised a church full of local Democrats Saturday.

Ellison, a Minnesota U.S. Congressman and prominent Sanders supporter who was elected DNC deputy chair in February 2017,  held a community forum on Saturday afternoon at First and Summerfield United Methodist Church at the corner of College Street and Elm Street. The forum was organized by the Connecticut Democratic Party.

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Some Of His Best Friends ...

GOP gubernatorial candidate Herbst in New Haven Thursday night.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Herbst in New Haven Thursday night.

Friday, Jan. 12, 2018 - 

Ex-Gold Coast investment banker Bob Stefanowski once wiped down seats at the Yale Bowl. And Timothy Herbst? He even has gay friends.

The two Republican gubernatorial candidates made those pitches Thursday night to members of the local party.

Stefanowski and GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Herbst both attended the Republican Town Committee’s (RTC) monthly meeting at 200 Orange St. to make their cases to New Haven voters in anticipation of the state party convention in May. It was the first in a series of opportunities for the crowded field of statewide candidates this year to try to convince the small but enthusiastic GOP in Democratic-dominated New Haven that they deserve its support — and that they can sell themselves to a city that last elected, say, a Republican mayor in 1951.

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What I Learned In Democracy School

The author, with his Democracy School certificate.

The author, with his Democracy School certificate.

Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017 - 

I didn’t sign up for Democracy School because I wanted to run for mayor. In fact, I don’t want to run for any elected office.

I’m a reporter for the New Haven Independent, and when I first learned about the city’s annual two-month crash course on the ins and outs of New Haven municipal government, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to become a better New Haven journalist.

My primary responsibility as a local reporter is to write with knowledge and clarity about day-to-day happenings in this city. But you can’t do that well without understanding the long-term factors that shape and influence any given night’s assignment.

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Son’s Arrest Helped Shape Porter’s Politics

Robyn Porter (Markeshia Ricks photo)

Robyn Porter (Markeshia Ricks photo)

Monday, November 7, 2017 - 

Robyn Porter was cleaning out a cluttered back room in her home when she first learned that her son had been arrested.

She was listening to gospel music, dancing, and chatting on the phone with a girlfriend when her mom walked into the kitchen. Tears streaming down her face, she told Porter that Porter’s 20-year-old son, who had had no previous criminal record, was being held at the police station.

“It’s that call that no mother, especially a black woman in America, wants to get,” Porter recalled on an interview on WNHH FM’s “Criminal Justice Insider” program. “I was devastated. But I was also rooted and grounded in my relationship with God.”

Ten years after the experience, Porter now helps make laws governing when people get arrested and how the criminal justice system handles them, as a Democratic state representative from Newhallville’s 94th General Assembly District.

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Vote For ... What?

Candidate Graves gives his phone number to Monterey Place’s Jeanette Britt.

Candidate Graves gives his phone number to Monterey Place’s Jeanette Britt.

Monday, November 6, 2017 - 

Jeanette Britt told the candidate knocking on her door that she had been tricked.

A man came to her house a few years ago selling life insurance, and she had bought it, assuming that it was a permanent plan that could be cashed out if she were ever in financial trouble.

She later learned that the policy was for term life insurance, which has no cash value and only pays a beneficiary if the owner dies within a specific period of time.

She told this story to Clifton Graves on Saturday when Graves knocked on her door seeking her vote this coming Tuesday in the election for a new probate judge. Graves, a Democrat, is running against Republican Melissa Papantones. (Click here to read a previous story detailing the issues in the race and the two candidates’ biographies, and to watch or listen to a joint radio appearance they made. Or click on the Facebook Live video at the bottom of this story.)

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“Debate” Features Call For Democracy

Paca, Ganong show up.

Paca, Ganong show up.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017 - 

At a mayoral “debate” Tuesday night where no active mayoral candidates debated each other, two policy proposals did surface: creating a hybrid elected-appointed Board of Police Commissioners and expanding public financing for city elections.

The New Haven Democracy Fund organized a mayoral debate on Tuesday night in the library of the Benjamin Jepson Magnet School on Lexington Avenue in Fair Haven Heights.

The Democracy Fund is a city program that provides public matching dollars for New Haven mayoral candidates who abide by certain fundraising restrictions, including limiting individual campaign contributions to no more than $370 each.

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Challenger Defeats 4-Term Union Prez

New AFSCME Local 3144 President Malinda Figueroa hugs supporter Sally Brown after union election results are announced early Saturday morning.

New AFSCME Local 3144 President Malinda Figueroa hugs supporter Sally Brown after union election results are announced early Saturday morning.

Saturday, October 21, 2017 - A challenge slate of public employees calling for more democratic, transparent union leadership came into power on Friday night after a municipal union election saw an end to the current president’s eight-year tenure.

That was the result of AFSCME Local 3144 elections, held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday at the New Haven Central Labor Council at 267 Chapel St. in Fair Haven.

Malinda Figueroa, an executive assistant in the Engineering Department who has worked for the city for 18 years, defeated current union President Cherlyn Poindexter by 10 votes to become the next leader of Local 3144.

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Harp Crushes Paca 3-1

Kim Edwards, Sarah Ofosu embrace after their primary.

Kim Edwards, Sarah Ofosu embrace after their primary.

By by PAUL BASS, ALLAN APPEL, MARKESHIA RICKS, THOMAS BREEN, & MICHELLE LIU

Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - New Haven Democrats gave an overwhelming vote of confidence Tuesday to Mayor Toni Harp, as she clobbered challenger Marcus Paca in a party primary in which she won all 30 wards in the city.

Final returns showed Harp with 74.5 percent of the vote to Paca’s 25.5 percent. Counting absentee ballots, Harp received 5,788 votes to Paca’s 1,977.

Both camps had anticipated a closer race because of Paca’s energetic campaigning, contrasted with Harp’s lower-key style. Both sides in effect made the primary election a referendum on Harp’s first two terms in office, from her leadership style and budgeting record to her housing and criminal-justice and pro-immigrant policies.

Harp, Sanctuary Policy Get Senator’s Endorsement

Harp introduces Blumenthal at endorsement.

Harp introduces Blumenthal at endorsement.

Monday, August 28, 2017 - Two Connecticut politicians who have ardently defended New Haven’s status as a sanctuary city promised supporters that they would continue to protect local immigrants from what they see as unjust federal orders of deportation.

That promise came from Mayor Toni Harp and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal at a reelection campaign event Saturday.

Around 50 local politicians, labor organizers, and New Haveners gathered in a small classroom at the New Haven Federation of Teachers Union Hall at 267 Chapel St. to see Blumenthal as he formally endorsed Harp in her bid for a third two-year term as mayor of New Haven.

Harp faces challenger Marcus Paca in a Democratic Party primary on Sept. 12.

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Paca: I’m Like Yates; Harp’s Like Trump

Paca lambastes Harp administration at DTC candidate forum on Saturday.

Paca lambastes Harp administration at DTC candidate forum on Saturday.

Saturday, July 15, 2017 - 

Is New Haven a stable city that has become safer, more responsibly governed, and more attuned to the needs of its students and workers over the past four years? Or is it barely treading water, rife with violence and unemployment, led by a mayoral administration bent on political retaliation and deceit?

Mayor Toni Harp said the former, and her challenger for the Democratic mayoral nomination, Marcus Paca, offered the latter view as they pitched their candidacies Saturday morning to 60 party leaders during a forum held by Democratic Town Committee (DTC) on the steps outside the Betsy Ross Parish House on Kimberly Avenue.

Holmes Passes The Baton

Decker, Holmes at Thursday night’s announcement.

Decker, Holmes at Thursday night’s announcement.

Friday, July 14, 2017 - 

A political science graduate student who already doubles as a zoning commissioner and a union organizer is looking to pick up the batons of criminal justice reform and community engagement from an East Rock alder who has decided not to run for reelection.

The grad student, Charles Decker, a sixth-year Yale PhD candidate in political science who also serves on the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) and has been one of the leading organizers of Yale’s graduate teacher union UNITE HERE Local 33, formally launched his Democratic campaign to become the next alder for East Rock’s Ward 9 on Thursday night from his campaign treasurer’s apartment at Orange Street and Bishop Street.

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Dems Hammer Out 1st-Ever Issues Platform

Underwood presents platform to DTC Thursday night.

Underwood presents platform to DTC Thursday night.

Friday, June 9, 2017 - Candidates seeking the backing of Connecticut’s most influential local Democratic Party are on notice: They have some policy questions to answer.

Do they support eliminating school suspensions, expulsions, and arrests for all K – 12 students? How will they work towards ending institutionalized racism in the economy? Do they support drastically cutting the military budget and boosting public investment in airports, roads, bridges, and broadband?

The New Haven Democratic Town Committee (DTC) now has an official platform that embraces those positions, providing politicians at all levels of government with a template for the progressive causes that local Democrats support and seek to accomplish.

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DeLauro Pledges Support For Fasting Protesters

DeLauro joins the Local 33 fasters and their supporters in Beinecke Plaza.

DeLauro joins the Local 33 fasters and their supporters in Beinecke Plaza.

Saturday, April 29, 2017 - On the fifth day of a graduate student-teacher fast taking place at the heart of Yale University, the sun-dazed but spirited protesters received a visit of support from a U.S. congressperson with deep roots in New Haven labor history.

On Saturday at noon in Yale’s Beinecke Plaza, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro paid a visit to the eight fasters and a few dozen supporters gathered beneath the sheer makeshift protest structure that has been standing between Beinecke Library and Woodbridge Hall since Wednesday.

By not eating or drinking anything but water and staying outside for an average of 12 hours each per day, the graduate student-teachers are seeking to get the university to negotiate a first contract with their newly formed union, UNITE HERE Local 33, which held elections earlier this year.

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Call Him Sen. Relentless

Blumenthal at Cross Saturday.

Blumenthal at Cross Saturday.

February 26, 2017 - U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal promised his base at a spirited town hall meeting that he will not just vote against Donald Trump, but make some trouble.

“I will do everything I can in terms of legal action outside of the Senate as well as being relentless within the Senate to stop and to resist any infringement on the power of the courts,” he said. “We can talk about alternative facts. But nobody is above the law.”

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City Scrambles To Salvage State Millions

DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY PHOTO

DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY PHOTO

Friday, January 20, 2017 - 

City officials are hustling to secure promised state reimbursements for upwards of $5 million in road-paving money after being caught off guard by the abrupt ending of a popular capital improvement program.

Whatever happens, they promise, the city will keep patching potholes.

The scurry began on Dec. 29 of last year, when Connecticut Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes sent a letter to towns and cities throughout the state announcing the end of the Local Capital Improvement Program (LoCIP).

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2 Paths Seen To Black Power

Participants brainstormed about how to achieve women’s equality. (Thomas Breen photo)

Participants brainstormed about how to achieve women’s equality. (Thomas Breen photo)

January 4, 2017 - Fighting back in 2017 requires crafting a “black agenda” or an “American agenda” — two different approaches suggested in a passionate community discussion held Tuesday night in Newhallville.

The event, the third in a monthly post-election series of “community conversations” hosted by the New Haven Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, was held at ConnCAT in Science Park. It brought to the fore key differences in emphasis and tactics, if not necessarily in goals or good will, among leaders of New Haven’s African-American community present on the panel.

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Murphy: I’ll Vote Yes On Some Trump Picks

Murphy at Monday night’s town hall at Daniels School.

Murphy at Monday night’s town hall at Daniels School.

December 20, 2016 - Connecticut U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy lifted two fingers to count out the tests he’ll be using when Congress is asked to vote on each of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees.

“Number one, you can’t be a radical,” he said. “Number two, you should have some level of experience in the field in which you’re going to be leading.”

Then Murphy gave a New Haven audience a head’s up: “I know that I’m going to vote for some of his nominees who I disagree with, because I think the president has the right to put people around him who are going to carry out government according to his wishes. But there is a line, and already many of these nominees have crossed that line.”

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Abandon All Hope? Not Just Yet

WNHH Pundit Panel

WNHH Pundit Panel

December 7, 2016  - Amid all the talk about impending dangers from the incoming regime in Washington, Karen DuBois-Walton offered a glimmer of hope Tuesday night: Perhaps, just perhaps, there is opportunity in uncertainty?

DuBois-Walton, who runs New Haven’s housing authority, was one of three expert speakers at a “community conversation” on what New Haven should expect from, and how it should respond to, President-Elect Donald Trump’s recent choices to run federal departments. DuBois-Walton specifically addressed the selection of neurosurgeon Ben Carson’s appointment to become the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

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