Claudette Robinson-Thorpe thought she could follow in Moti Sandman’s shoes — as a newcomer breaking into politics by making an impact at the micro-level of the Democratic Party. Thursday night, in her view, she learned that in New Haven even joining a ward committee is not so simple.
Robinson-Thorpe (at left in photo above with ward co-chair Connie Perkins) is running against Sandman, the incumbent alderman in Beaver Hill Ward 28, for the Democratic nomination.
Sandman easily secured the endorsement from his ward committee at the Hillhouse High School cafeteria Thursday night. He won by a vote of 20 to 3. Robinson-Thorpe promised a rematch in Sept. 15’s Democratic primary.
For the third time this week, a ward committee meeting ended up being as much about endorsing a candidate as it was about how to endorse a candidate. For the third time, an underdog candidate objected that the Democratic Party process was clouded by confusing, arbitrary rules.
“This is not fair,” said Robinson-Thorpe, as party officials counted slips of paper she knew would not tally to her favor.
Unlike in other wards, the candidate didn’t have trouble getting the list of voting members, or finding out where the meeting was. The Ward 28 co-chairs openly supplied that information.
Robinson-Thorpe’s complaint centered on rules about how to get onto the committee itself — rules that appeared to have changed since Sandman made his debut in politics in the same room three years ago. Only ward committee members can vote to endorse a candidate. The members are chosen by the committee’s two co-chairs.
Robinson-Thorpe said she and several supporters inquired a week and a half ago about getting on the ward committee so that they could support her candidacy. One was her sister; others were new voters pumped up by the Barack Obama campaign and looking to get involved, according to Robinson-Thorpe’s campaign. They were told there are no vacancies in the 50-member group.
Her handful of supporters didn’t stand a chance at tipping the balance against the popular incumbent, in any case. Rather, her complaint highlighted the often confusing rules about the Democratic process.
On a rainy Thursday evening, only 23 members out of 50 putative ward committee members showed up to the ward nominating event. Robinson-Thorpe insisted that several people on the ward committee list have moved out of the ward, thus disqualifying them from voting. She asked for her supporters to fill those spots.
Co-chairs Don Walker and Connie Perkins said no.
“The list stands as it is,” said Walker (pictured).
He said the names remain as they were a year ago. Co-chairs had yet to cull the non-active members from the list, so “we don’t know how many positions are open,” he said. He declined to let people in the room join the committee.
“People who’ve been calling us, they’ll get the first shot,” said Walker. “In the order that they contacted us, that’s how we’ll repopulate the ward committee.” He said the repopulation would not occur until after the nominating vote.
Robinson-Thorpe asked Perkins where she could find the party bylaws. Perkins told her to write down the contact info for the party chairwoman, Susie Voigt.
Changing Times
The scenario differs from the one that played out in the same room three years ago. At that time, newcomer Sandman made a surprise announcement that he was running for alderman. The longtime Beaver Hills resident faced off against a City Hall-backed, Jamaican-born entrepreneur, Ilona Leffingwell, whose campaign was being run by the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, for the Democratic nomination.
Sandman brought several supporters to that event. Walker and Perkins welcomed them to the process: they let Sandman and about four of his family and friends sign up on the spot as ward committee members. The candidates engaged in an extensive, public discussion demonstrating their knowledge of and goals for the neighborhood.
By the end of the debate, Sandman had swayed the crowd: He earned the party’s nod by a vote of 16 to 10.
Following the defeat, City Hall insiders objected that the newcomer got an unfair advantage because he brought in supporters who swayed the vote. (By the Independent‘s calculations, they were not the deciding factor.) Leffingwell ended up dropping out of the race before the primary.
Perkins was asked Thursday why the rules had apparently changed. She said in 2006, there were many vacancies on the ward committee, so co-chairs were happy to fill seats. This year, however, she said, the committee list was maxed out at 50 people.
This time around, Sandman (pictured) won the party nod after a ten-minute speech recounting what he’s accomplished in his three years in office, including finding solutions to clean up Beaver Pond Park, get rid of a noisy firing range, and improve Whalley Avenue.
Robinson-Thorpe kept her intro to three minutes, focusing on her ability to relate to people through her tough life experience and her job as a social worker. She swung at Sandman several times, saying he doesn’t return phone calls nor represent the entire ward.
“I’m running because I believe that the current alderperson should be visible in the entire community,” she said.
Leffingwell, who’s not running this year, chimed in. She pressed Sandman to produce a newsletter to show what he’s been working on.
Sandman calmly replied that he tries to keep neighbors in the loop through his blog and by showing up regularly at the neighborhood management team. Of the communication complaints, he said, “I take that to heart.”
“I look forward to working with everyone,” he said, his opponent included.