Mayor Justin Elicker is sworn in for his third two-year term as mayor, surrounded his wife Natalie, daughters Molly and April, and mom Joan Elicker.
A Democrat, a second Democrat, a third Democrat, then dozens more Democrats all at once took oaths of office Monday to inaugurate the seventh straight two-year cycle of one-party government in New Haven.
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Dereen Shirnekhi |
Jan 1, 2024 5:46 pm
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Dereen Shirnekhi Photo
Pastor Valerie Washington, Imam Omer Bajwa, and Rabbi Eric Woodward after speaking at the inauguration.
Rabbi Eric Woodward and Imam Omer Bajwa didn’t compare notes before giving back-to-back invocations at Monday’s mayoral inauguration. They didn’t need to — they knew what to say. And they had similar messages to impart.
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Thomas Breen |
Dec 20, 2023 4:00 pm
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Nora Grace-Flood file photo
Happier times: Russ Martin and Tom Goldenberg at a March campaign fundraiser.
A judge has ordered former Republican mayoral candidate Tom Goldenberg to pay his former campaign manager Russ Martin an additional $500 for partially performed, but uncompensated, political work.
Democracy Fund's Aaron Goode, Sarah Ficca, Aly Heimer at WNHH FM.
Candidates who ran for mayor under New Haven’s public-financing system raised 90 percent of their money from New Haveners, 28 percent more than clean-elections-defying rivals.
They also raised more local donations: over 47,000 (totaling over $4 million) from 2011 – 2023 versus some 16,000 donations worth $2.6 million for nonparticipants.
Those metrics emerge from a newly released study of the New Haven Democracy Fund, which has administered the city’s public-financing program since its 2007 inception.
New Haven U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, issued a pitch to un-stall renewed U.S. military aid to Ukraine after participating in a Capitol Hill meeting Tuesday with visiting Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy. She released the following statement:
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Justin Farmer and Daniel Dunn |
Dec 12, 2023 12:22 pm
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Justin Farmer and Daniel Dunn.
The following opinion essay was submitted by Justin Farmer, who formerly represented District 5 on the Hamden Legislative Council, and Daniel Dunn, a member of the Hamden Police Commission.
We were saddened and disappointed to witness Mayor Garrett cite the hiring of 29 new officers as an achievement in public safety during her campaign. Several of these officers have troubling histories.
The board for the city’s public financing program ruled that Mayor Justin Elicker’s reelection campaign did nothing wrong when it sent out a flyer urging voters to support this year’s charter-revision ballot question, and has agreed to dismiss a related complaint so long as his campaign donates its unspent election-year dollars to the clean-elections fund.
Alders-Elect Kiana Flores, Frank Redente, and Caroline Smith at WNHH FM.
Three of New Haven’s alders-elect with Fair Haven connections said they’re pumped to get to work as part of a community “team” that tackles safe streets, affordable housing, and small business growth.
Julie Parr, outside her 116 Crown home: "I felt very disenfranchised."
Julie Parr and 27 of her Crown Street neighbors didn’t get to vote in their ward’s alder race in this month’s election, because a government mess-up sent them to the wrong polling district.
By day Steve Mednick has been helping cities rewrite their constitutions. By night he has been writing songs about the storms in our political universe.
Mayor Justin Elicker won a total of 10,064 votes, or 79.7 percent of all of the votes cast in this year’s mayoral election, according to the official tally published by the Registrar of Voters office.
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Laura Glesby and Lisa Reisman |
Nov 7, 2023 9:50 pm
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Sal DeCola, reelected for a seventh term, with supporters.
(Updated) Six-term incumbent Democrat Sal DeCola has retained his seat — by winning less than 40 percent of the vote at the polls — in a three-way alder race to represent Morris Cove’s Ward 18.
Voters also overwhelmingly approved the charter-revision ballot question, by nearly a 2‑to‑1 margin. That means that, starting with the 2027 municipal election year, the mayor, city clerk, and all 30 alders will serve four-year terms instead of two-year terms each.
Overall, 13,058 people voted in the Tuesday’s general elections, including 614 absentee, meaning that voter turnout citywide was around 24.5 percent.
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Thomas Breen, Nora Grace-Flood and Maya McFadden |
Nov 7, 2023 2:08 pm
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Nora Grace-Flood photo
Cody Uman, in Ward 21: Voting yes on 4-year terms.
Thomas Breen photo
Outside the Conte West Hills polling place on Chapel St.
(Updated and corrected) Cody Uman, an undergraduate math major at Yale, was running late to class Tuesday after setting aside an extra hour to research the proposed changes to the city’s charter and bike over to King-Robinson School to cast his vote in Ward 21, which covers parts of Newhallville, Dixwell and Prospect Hill.
He said he was voting “yes” on the ballot measure in favor of four-year terms for all elected officials and increased salaries for the city’s alders to make sure they’re better “compensated for their time.”
Mayor Elicker (right) and one side of the contested flyer.
New Haven’s public financing program board members delayed acting on a complaint filed against the mayor’s reelection campaign until after the election, leaving up in the air just how directly taxpayer-funded local candidates can urge voters to support ballot measures like this year’s charter revision.
One side of contested campaign flyer. Candidate info or "call to action"?
Did Mayor Justin Elicker’s reelection campaign break local public-financing rules by sending out mail urging voters to support Tuesday’s charter-revision ballot measure — when the Democracy Fund prohibits candidates from expenditures focused on supporting or opposing ballot measures?
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Thomas Breen |
Nov 6, 2023 9:57 am
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Thomas Breen / Lisa Reisman / Paul Bass / Laura Glesby photos
Write-in alder candidates (clockwise from top left) Josh Glaab of Ward 10, Fred Christmas of Ward 21, Ira Johnson of Ward 11, Dennis Serfilippi of Ward 25, and Susan Campion of Ward 18.
A high school science teacher in East Rock, a community organizer in Dixwell, a budget watchdog in Westville, and a Tweed critic in Morris Cove are some of the five alder hopefuls this year seeking to convince voters to put pen to ballot to support their write-in candidacies for local legislative office.
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John DeStefano Jr. |
Nov 5, 2023 11:06 am
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Paul Bass Photo
John DeStefano.
Former Mayor DeStefano counts up all the elections he ran in and all the alders he served with over 20 years — and tells readers why he’s voting “yes” on charter reform, including four-year terms for mayor and alders.
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Nora Grace-Flood and Thomas Breen |
Nov 3, 2023 5:20 pm
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Paul Bass Photo
Anthony Acri (right) with Steve Orosco at New Haven Republicans' 2021 campaign HQ: Time in prison "changed my perspective on what life is really about."
Thomas Breen photo
City Clerk Mike Smart: "I like the people. I like dealing with the land records. I love dealing with alders."
A city/town clerk rematch is set to take place on Tuesday — as a veteran Democratic incumbent faces off against a Republican candidate hoping to represent his New Haven home following a recent stint in federal prison for his role in a West Texas wire fraud conspiracy.
