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Stratton: “I was wrong.”
Weeks after bashing them at a public rally, aldermanic candidate Mike Stratton met with leaders of Yale’s clerical union and told them: “I want to be one of your soldiers.”
Stratton made that statement in the basement of the College Street headquarters of UNITE HERE Local 34, where he and 13 others made pitches to
union leaders.
The union executive board’s endorsement interviews with the 14 candidates for city clerk and aldermen took place Monday. Labor leaders met with candidates requesting Local 34’s endorsement and their opponents, according to union President Laurie Kennington.
Kennington said she doesn’t know when the union’s executive board will vote on endorsements.
For candidates for public office, backing from Yale’s Local 34 — and its blue-collar counterpart Local 35 — means tapping into the biggest political force in town. Two years ago, labor-backed candidates swept 17 of 18 contested aldermanic races they participated in. The wins, along with union-affiliated aldermen already on the Board of Aldermen, created an pro-labor supermajority in the city’s legislative branch.
Kennington said Local 34 leadership interviewed the following aldermanic candidates on Monday: Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks and her challenger Ray Wallace; Wooster Square candidates Aaron Greenberg and Peter Webster (pictured); Rosa Santana, who’s running unopposed in Ward 13; Alderwoman Migdalia Castro, who’s running unopposed in Fair Haven; Fair Haven’s Alderman Santiago Berrios-Bones and his challenger Thomas Burwell; Stratton and opponent Maureen Gardner; and Upper Westville’s Darryl Brackeen. Brackeen’s opponent, Nick Koululias, couldn’t be reached, Kennington said.
The union also interviewed the three candidates for city clerk: incumbent Ron Smith, Alderman Mike Smart, and Alderman Sergio Rodriguez.
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Kennington (pictured) said Local 34 interviewed people who had requested its endorsement, and their opponents, if any. The union didn’t re-interview aldermen it has previously endorsed, or their challengers.
When Michael Stratton, a prominent attorney in town, launched his campaign for Newhallville/East Rock’s Ward 19 aldermanic seat, Stratton decried the union-backed supermajority’s grip on the Board of Aldermen.
He joined a slate of “Take Back New Haven” candidates united by their opposition to a “new machine” run by the unions. Stratton lambasted the unions as “special interest” groups that have been “abusing their authority.” Stratton even quit Take Back New Haven because he thought the group was too connected to unions.
Subsequently, Gardner, a Yale union member, submitted papers to run for alderman against Stratton in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary.
Since his earlier criticism, Stratton has, by his own admission, reversed his stance on the role of unions in New Haven politics. Far from being a force for evil, the union supermajority is just what New Haven needs to tackle its problems, Stratton said.
Stratton: I’m Embarrassed
He said as much to the Local 34 executive board on Monday. On Tuesday, Stratton shared some highlights from his 20-minute meeting with the board.
“My big fear about union control of the Board of Aldermen has really been more of a theoretical concern,” Stratton said. “Any time a group has that kind of power it can be used for evil. I don’t think Local 34 has any intent other than bringing about positive change.”
Stratton said the union is “genuinely interested” in “sustainable fiscal policy” and jobs for New Haveners “as opposed to people in suburbs.”
“We’re not going to make any of this change unless there’s real consensus,” Stratton said.
He said a union majority on the board will allow the city to tackle its problems, not only because it increases the chance of consensus, but because the fiscal fate of the city is so tied to its growing financial obligations to it workers, in the form of pensions and health care.
“What better Board of Aldermen could you have for that process than a Board of Aldermen that labor trusts?” Stratton said. “They should trust Local 34 and 35.”
Stratton said his main concern about the unions had been that they would use their political power to maintain the status quo. “That’s not what I heard yesterday,” he said. “I’m excited.”
“A supermajority means you can actually do things. We’re not stuck without being able to move, with one half going in one direction and one in the other.”
Stratton said his total turnaround is “what happens when you look at a situation and make a judgement without actually sitting down with the people. You see the sincerity with which they’re approaching this.”
“I apologized yesterday to the group for making what I think was too quick a snap judgment,” Stratton said. “I am a little bit embarrassed, or maybe a lot embarrassed, about my initial comments about Local 34 and 35. I was wrong.”
Stratton said he will still be on the lookout for any abuses that can come with the consolidation of power. But, “at this point I just want to work with them.”
Webster: I’m Not Distancing Myself
Kennington said this week’s interviews lasted about 20 minutes each. She said the candidates were asked about unemployment, rights of workers to organize, the struggles of workers in general, and their visions for the city.
Kennington said the union leaders also asked candidates about their thoughts on Take Back New Haven. “Most of them were distancing themselves quite quickly from the organization,” she said.
Webster (pictured), a Take Back New Haven member who’s running in Wooster Square, said that he didn’t do any such distancing. He said the Take Back New Haven slate is not anti-union, but simply pro-transparency.
Webster emerged from his interview shortly after 4 p.m. Monday, wearing a sport coat with an Actors Equity membership lapel pin, to show off his organized labor bona fides. In the hallway, he met Alderman Rodriguez, who was waiting for his interview. Rodriguez pulled out his AFSCME membership card and joked about walking into the interview while holding it to his lapel.
Webster recalled that Local 34 leaders in his interview “took issue” with the name “Take Back New Haven.” They asked, “Are they taking New Haven away from the people? And who are they giving it to? To Yale?”
“I said they were looking at the title and not the content,” Webster said. “I would say that it’s taking New Haven back from stonewalling, from opacity, from agendas, and trying to restore transparency.” Take Back New Haven’s only agenda is listening to and communicating with constituents.
“If you get stuck on the title and don’t look at the what’s inside the book, then that’s a problem,” Webster said. “The unions have a similar problem. They’re perceived as monolithic and agenda-driven.”
“We were very happy that even people who have expressly disagreed with us want to engage and discuss,” Kennington said. “If there’s other people who want our endorsement but haven’t asked for it, we’d be happy to talk to them.”