Thomas MacMillan Photo
Is Andy Ross a Democrat or a Republican?
“I’m independent,” the Wooster Square aldermanic candidate replied. “Right in the middle”
“He’s running as an independent, though he’s a registered Republican,” said Ross’ opponent, Aaron Greenberg.
With less than two weeks to go before Wooster Square’s Ward 8 elects a new aldermen on Nov. 5, Ross (pictured) and Greenberg are both looking to define themselves — and each other.
Greenberg, a 26-year-old grad student, won the Democratic primary in September. Ross, a 54-year-old registered Republican, is running as a petitioning candidate in the general election. His name won’t appear on either the Democratic or Republican line on the ballot.
Both candidates offer a similar platform: safety, taxes, constituent services. The question is who would be able to deliver for Ward 8, a sprawling territory that includes Wooster Square and parts of Fair Haven and the Annex. Each said his affiliations make him the clear choice.
Ross said that, as possibly the only non-Democrat on the 30-member Board of Aldermen, he’d have his pick of committee seats, giving Ward 8 and outsized influence on the board.
Greenberg (pictured) called it “fanciful” to imagine that Ross’ choice of committees would amount to real influence. “Instead of shouting to the wind,” Greenberg said, he would be an effective alderman because he has already forged alliances with other members of the board, and has been endorsed by Democratic mayoral candidate Toni Harp.
Greenberg, head of the Yale grad students organization, also has union support, and a large group of foot soldiers on his side. On an evening of canvasing this week, Greenberg had eight teams going door to door.
“It’s definitely an uphill battle,” Ross said, during a recent campaign event at the homeless shelter at the corner of Grand Avenue and Hamilton Street. He said his campaign has four volunteers and two staff members.
As of the end of September, both candidates had raised about $1,800 each, including $375 from AFSCME Council 4 for Greenberg and $500 from the Republican Town Committee for Ross. Ross had also spent $783 of his own money on the race.
“My Name Is Andy Ross”
Ross visited the Grand Avenue homeless shelter Wednesday evening to register voters and hand out absentee ballot applications. He was joined by his deputy campaign manager Zoe Feldman and volunteer Charlie Staten .
“These folks here,” Ross said, looking around roomful of men watching TV, eating chips, and making phone calls, “they just never get the same opportunity and choices to register and vote. They’re people, too.”
Ross said registering new voters has not been a big part of his campaign strategy. Mostly he’s been going door to door and sending out mailers. “My house looks like the post office right now.”
He’s also held a number of events with food as a draw. He handed out pie in Wooster Square, donuts in Jocelyn Square. He hired an ice cream truck to give out treats at Farnam Courts housing projects, and ended up with “500 screaming kids.”
His visit to the shelter was no different; he showed up with brownies and cupcakes that the men lined up to receive from staff.
Ross took a moment to introduce himself to the room. “You’ve got to get out and vote,” he said. “My name is Andy Ross. You’re going to see my name on the third line. I want to be your alderman.”
Ross told the men that he’s a small businessmen who has lived in the ward for 11 years, while his opponent has been in the neighborhood for just over a year.
“He’s a student,” Ross said. “I promise you I’m going to be around a lot more than my opponent.”
“Sounds Like A Republican”
“I’m thinking you’re going to win,” a voter told Aaron Greenberg as he knocked on doors Thursday evening. “I think you’re the right person for it. You’ve been around more in the neighborhood.”
That voter was Jerry Smart (pictured), father of incumbent Alderman Mike Smart, who’s not running for reelection. Smart the elder invited Greenberg and two campaign volunteers Thursday evening into his home on Lyon Street.
Greenberg was hitting homes on Lyon that he has hit before, double-checking his support.
“I’m not going to take up your time, because this is a secured house,” said Paul Walsh, after answering his door to find Greenberg on his porch. “Go talk to people who need convincing.”
Down the street, Greenberg found Ben Jerue at home. Jerue, a Yale grad student, already knew Greenberg and needed no convincing.
Greenberg nonetheless told Jerue about the differences between him and Ross, about the “gap between our visions.” Ross wants to have a youth curfew and wants to “slash” the budget for things like youth services, Greenberg said.
“Sounds like a Republican,” said Jerue.
“A Strategic Decision”
Ross is a Republican. (He called the idea that he ever advocated cutting youth programs “an outright lie.”) Up until recently, he thought he would appear as such on the ballot in November. His plan was to appear on the Republican line and as a petitioning candidate. Then the deputy city clerk told him he couldn’t do that; he’d have to pick one.
Ross chose to abandon the GOP line and run as an independent. “I wanted to be as independent as possible in the race,” he said. He called it “a strategic decision on my part,” since New Haven is such an overwhelmingly Democratic town. “People are more receptive to people who are independent.”
Regardless of whatever label he might have, Ross said, “I’m sort of right in the middle philosophically.” He said he’s “socially compassionate and fiscally conservative.”
He said he’d like to bring his fiscal conservatism to bear on the city budget, which he said he could do as a member of the Finance Committee. If he ends up as the only Republican on the board, he’d have a seat on the Finance Committee for the taking.
Ross said he’s also looking forward, as alderman, to tackling constituent services requests. “I’ll have more time to serve than my opponent. I’m self-employed,” he said. “I know how to multitask.”
At the shelter after Ross introduced himself to the room, Mark Mitchell spoke up with a question: As a business owner, he asked, “How many felons have you hired?”
Two, Ross replied. One of them is in his accounting department, he said. Ross is a small business lender. “People change.”
Mitchell, who’s 47 and homeless, said he asked because he’s a felon. “It’s hard to get jobs,” he said. Employers don’t give you a chance to show you’ve changed, he said. “That’s what a lot of us are fighting. A lot of people have given up. I’m out there every day.”
Ross later said that one of the felons he hired ended up embezzling over $350,000 from Ross’ company. “Instead of sending him to jail, I allowed him to keep working for me. He was my CFO.”
Ross said he believes in giving people second chances, in not judging them by their past actions.
Mitchell said he’s not sure yet that he’ll vote for Ross. He said he wants to check him out further.
Mitchell said the city needs to do more for people returning from prison. A lot of re-entry programs are “just window dressing,” he said.
“We’re All Working Together”
“I have a good feeling about you because you seem like the younger one in the race,” 25-year-old Josh Allen told Aaron Greenberg, at the threshold of Allen’s home on Lyon Street.
Allen and Greenberg quickly bonded over a shared appreciation of New Haven’s easy access to natural beauty, and the fact that they both studied philosophy. “I could sense that you were a philosophy major,” Allen said.
Allen, who’s from New Hampshire, said he’s been in New Haven just over a year, and living in Wooster Square for only a couple of months. He said he now works at Cold Spring School, but spent a lot of time looking for work in vain previously. He said he applied for a lot of jobs, including at Yale, where he found it impossible to get in touch with an actual person.
Greenberg told Allen about the New Haven Works job-placement and readiness center. “It’s exactly about solving this problem.” It’s an organization created by the city, Yale, and organized labor to connect employers and job seekers. The goal is to place 1,000 people in full time jobs in four years, Greenberg said. In three months, it’s found jobs for 100 people, he said.
New Haven Works is a cornerstone accomplishment of the labor-back aldermen who make up the majority of the current board, a bloc with which Greenberg is already affiliated. “We’re all working together,” he said. Greenberg has been endorsed by AFSCME Council 4 and SEIU Local 32BJ.
He said he has tapped “dozens and dozens of volunteers over the course of the summer.” He said some of those have come from outside, but many of them are from Ward 8. “We’ve been able to mobilize a lot of people in the neighborhood.”
Greenberg said he’s overcome criticisms from early in the race that he hadn’t lived in Wooster Square long enough to represent the neighborhood. When people spend time with him, they see he’s “planting roots” and listening, Greenberg said. “I’ve gained the trust of people who’ve lived her longer than I have.”
Coverage of other ward elections:
• Adam Marchand vs. Michael Pinto in Ward 25
• Sarah Eidelson vs. Paul Chandler in Ward 1