Lee Wants To Be
Mayor — Only 5 Times

(Updated) If he’s elected mayor, former Alderman Robert Lee promised to serve no more than four, or maybe five, terms.

He made that campaign promise on Friday as he declared his candidacy for New Haven’s highest office.

Lee, a 53-year-old Sikorsky aircraft employee and former Fair Haven Heights alderman, said he plans to run as a Democrat to oust incumbent Mayor John DeStefano, who has held the office for 18 years and is looking for a tenth term. If he qualifies for the ballot, he would run in a Sept. 13 primary.

Ten terms is long enough to ​“start losing sight of the taxpayers,” Lee said of DeStefano.

That’s why a central plank of his campaign platform will be imposing term limits, Lee said.

“If I’m elected mayor, one thing I will do, I will make sure we have a term limit on me and anyone who comes after me,” Lee said.

He said ​“four to five terms” is plenty. ​“If you can’t do it in 10 years, you should look for another job,” he said.

Lee also decried the recent FBI data that some interpreted as showing that New Haven is the fourth most dangerous city in the country.

“We can’t continue to have a killing every week,” he said.

Lee, a New Haven native, served three terms as the alderman for Ward 11, which includes the Bella Vista senior housing complex. He was ousted in 2009 by Maureen O’Sullivan-Best.

In throwing his hat into the mayor’s race, he joins fellow former alderman Tony Dawson and attorney Clifton Graves in challenging DeStefano.

At 4:30 p.m. at City Hall, Lee arrived with his daughter, three grandkids, and his wife, Linda. ​“Naturally, she’s supporting me for mayor,” he said. 

Lee addressed the concern that by being the third African-American candidate, he could contribute to splitting the ​“change” vote, thereby ensuring that DeStefano wins another term.

“That is a concern,” Lee said. He said he plans to sit down with Graves and Dawson and ​“see if we can get one candidate to run.” Ideally, the three candidates would decide which of them is the strongest contender and the other two could agree to drop out and support that person, Lee said.

Lee also addressed the question of how he could expect to win the entire city when he couldn’t beat O’Sullivan-Best in a single ward race. Lee said his loss was a result of ​“the mayor and tricky games that went on in the booth.” He said Mayor DeStefano was the reason O’Sullivan-Best won. ​“I know he had his hand in it.”

Lee declined to say specifically what happened in that race. He said he didn’t want it to sound like ​“sour grapes.”

Asked about the $475 million city budget that aldermen recently passed, Lee said he wouldn’t have voted for it. But he declined to name any specific changes he would have made to it. ​“I’d have to look it over with some committees and look at the total package,” he said.

Lee said he has secured some endorsements from unions, but declined to say which ones. As far as campaign workers, he said he’s ​“getting volunteers together now.”

DeStefano Campaign Responds

Reached later by phone, DeStefano campaign manager Danny Kedem had this to say:

“New Haven in many ways does have term limits. Every two years, the voters decide who they want to run the city. The mayor in this election is excited about presenting his vision for the city. He intends to not only be tough on crime but to attack the root causes of crime by allowing kids to make positive choices with their lives, like extending school day hours, providing many afterschool programs and creating and maintaining New Haven Promise.”

Old Enough To Vote?

Lee was joined at City Hall by a group of students from the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, who had a campaign announcement of their own. They’re kicking off an effort to have the voting age reduced to 16 years old.

Robert Durant III, a 16-year-old, said he and his friends were inspired by a constitutional law class they are taking.

The city should allow 16-year-olds to vote, said Carlee Carvalko, who’s 16. ​“Most 16-year-olds know basic civics more than most adults,” she said. ​“Like who the fourth president was.”

Asked to name the fourth president, Carvalko said she doesn’t know (it’s James Madison, by the way).

“All you need to vote is to be able to value community,” said D.T. Van. He said lack of intelligence is not a valid argument for keeping 16-year-olds from voting.

Lee said he supports moving the voting age to 16 and would provide city leadership for an effort to change the state law. ​“I can start a fire,” he said. ​“These 16-year-olds here, they seem to have everything on the ball.”