Allan Appel Photo
It was hatched Thursday morning. It fizzled by 7 p.m., thanks in part to an obscure rule in Democratic Party bylaws.
Chris Randall (at left in photo) and a few co-conspirators put together a bid they thought could topple the head of the city’s Democratic Party with no advance notice.
Fresh off his raucous victory in Ward 8’s ward committee primary on Tuesday, Randall appeared along with the co-chairs of most of the city’s wards for the town committee’s nominating convention at the Conte/West Hills School on Thursday evening.
Longtime town chairwoman Susie Voigt was not expecting a challenge. Nobody was. No challengers had announced.
But quietly Thursday, Randall and a number of his supporters hatched a last-minute campaign.
First Ward 8 — next, New Haven?
On the floor of the convention Thursday night, rookie Ward Two co-chair Frank Douglass (on the right in the photo above) nominated him to run against Voigt.
Douglass’s reason? “I think we need a change in the town committee.”
In the end, after a roll call vote, Voigt and her sitting slate of fellow officers dispatched the insurgency, 41 to eight. Voigt was reelected to a fifth term as the city’s Democratic Party chairwoman.
If the Randall’s Revolters had their way, it would have been different.
Or at least Thursday’s election might have been delayed. That was the first strategy of the attempted coup. Thursday morning, Randall’s camp found what they thought was a reason to postpone Thursday night’s vote and give them more time: Article Two, Section Three of the city’s Democratic Party bylaws.
That obscure rule says that ward co-chairs elected on a Tuesday begin their service on Monday the following week. This convention and city party chairman vote was taking place on Thursday. That meant, it seemed, that many of the people in the room could not cast their votes under the city rules..
If he moved to invalidate the meeting until Monday, Randall would have time to garner more support. That was important to him because he’d been trying to reach out to co-chairs … but he couldn’t find out who they were.
Randall said that when he went to the town clerk’s office to get a copy of the names and numbers of ward-co chairs as well as a copy of the bylaws, he was told the clerk didn’t have that information. He’d have to get it from the party’s website or from Town Chairwoman Voigt.
The website was down. And it didn’t seem to make sense to spill the beans.
Voigt (on right in photo with Town Committee Treasurer Cathy Weber) said that the process was open. If Randall were serious about a challenge, why had he not been reaching out to co-chairs, as she had been doing, for weeks? Why begin just that morning?
“We have a lot of new faces because we have a very open primary system,” she said.
It turned out that Randall’s boning up on Robert’s Rules didn’t reap results. A researcher friend found yet an even more obscure rule that overrode the city party rule. This one was in the bylaws of the state’s Democratic Party. That rule says that a co-chair elected on Tuesday can begin to serve his or her term on Wednesday.
The nub is that the state’s bylaws supersede the city’s. So all was legal about the meeting. And so the election proceeded.
But Randall’s team decided to go for the Hail Mary pass anyway.
After Douglass nominated Randall, and fellow Ward 2 Co-Chair Greg Smith seconded, someone called out, “Who’s Randall?”
Randall was not allowed to speak beyond standing up and identifying himself, because speaking for candidates at the event was not on the agenda.
“The agenda was prepared in a manner to give the chair the upper hand.”
For her part, Voigt defended the process and pointed to the resulting overwhelming majority vote in her favor.
She also spoke of the diversity and new faces among the 60 ward co-chairs who make up the town committee. She now begins her ninth year as party leader; fewer than 15 percent of the co-chairs in the auditorium Thursday night were there in 2000, she said.
As to Randall’s not even being allowed to speak? Voigt told a few miffed co-chair that the conventions have always worked this way. She said she’s open to discussing it.
Voigt attributed her victory to the time she spends with the co-chairs, among them Ward 20’s Barry Fuqua (pictured), another political rookie (albeit with NFL experience), whom Voigt assisted in his campaign.
“She guided me to the old school politics, to knock on doors, so people know you,” Fuqua said.
Voigt speculated on another reason the vote went so overwhelmingly in her favor:t “People are interested in unity because we have a big year before us. An opportunity to elect a Democratic governor. And [U.S. Senate candidate] Dick Blumenthal. It’s a pivotal year.” New Haven has the state’s largest bloc of delegates at the state nominating convention, 81, including the co-chairs.
Although Randall’s Revolt lasted barely nine hours, it was serious business for him. “City Hall uses bullying and patronage to influence support,” he said. “I’ve spoken to co-chairs who would support me if I could win. But they are afraid to stick their necks out.”
Randall (pictured with West Rock Alderman Darnell Goldson) vowed to ensure that a viable candidate — maybe he, maybe someone else — runs in two years.
At which time, Robert’s Rules of Order may come in handier.
In addition to Voigt, others elected were: Norma Rodriguez and Darrell Brooks as vice chairs; Cathy Weber as treasurer; Art Natalino as assistant treasurer; Rose Marie Dematteo as secretary, and Midgdalio Castro as assistant secretary. This slate is unchanged from two years ago.