They convened, then voted, within minutes. Unanimously. When it ended, the other side had barely found its way there, Dixwell Alderman Greg Morehead had his third party nod — and for the second time in two days grassroots Democrats complained that secrecy and lack of accountability had subverted the democratic process.
The complaints came as the Democratic Party 22nd Ward Committee voted in a confusion-laced process Tuesday night to endorse Greg Morehead for a third term.
Morehead, pictured pulling away in his car, said the vote was 14 – 0.
Lisa Hopkins, who’s challenging Morehead for the third time, wanted a chance to make her case to the committee. But, she said, organizers wouldn’t tell her or her supporters where the meeting took place, despite their vigorous efforts to find out.
They showed up first at the Elks Club, where they were told the meeting would occur. By the time they found their way to their real venue — the Dixwell police substation down the street — the vote was over.
Meanwhile, one of the two ward co-chairs, responsible for holding the endorsement meeting, was nowhere to be found.
The Hopkins camp’s frustration mirrored complaints by the campaign of another aldermanic challenger, Marcus Paca, who’s running in Edgewood’s Ward 24. Click here for an extensive reader debate about charges of exclusion and lack of transparency in the wake of an endorsement vote there on Monday night.
Ward committees are supposed to serve as a gateway to political involvement in New Haven. Instead, they often meet just once a year, to nominate co-chairs or aldermen. People who try to participate often can’t find out how, where, when, or with whom.
Candidates seek their ward committee’s endorsement in order to land an automatic top spot on the ballot in the case of a primary. Theoretically the endorsed candidate also gets the financial and vote-pulling help of the official Democratic Party organization.
Lisa Hopkins is not a member of the 22nd Ward committee. She tried to find out where the meeting was being held so she could pitch her campaign planks on seniors, housing, public safety, and economic development that benefits working people.
She said couldn’t get a response from either of the co-chairs, Gina Phillips or Cordelia Thorpe, about where the meeting would take place.
She said she sent each of the co-chair letters last month asking for details of the meeting. When she got no response, she knocked on their doors. Still no response.
“The residents don’t even understand what a ward committee does because we’ve never had ward committee meetings” open to all residents, charged Hopkins, pictured standing with her daughter, Heaven, in the drizzle on the sidewalk outside the substation after the lightning-fast meeting.
“A lot of the people I talked to didn’t understand what the meeting was for. They told me they were told it was a chance to talk with their alderman and ask him some questions.
“Why can’t it be an open process?” she asked.
Susie Voigt, the Democratic town chair, said by phone after the meeting that she hadn’t attended, though she tries to attend as many of the 30 ward committee meetings as she can.
She added that Democratic Town Committee bylaws don’t provide much guidance for holding endorsement meetings. There’s one relevant paragraph: “Section 4. The Candidate for Alderman from each Ward shall be endorsed by a convention of delegates in each Ward within the time provided by state statutes. The delegates to each such convention shall be the members of the Ward Committee. The person with a majority of those present and voting at said convention shall be the endorsed aldermanic candidate from that Ward.” Click here to read all the bylaws, which indicate ward committee co-chairs are “duly elected or appointed,” and they then each appoint half the members of the committee, up to 50 members.
Voigt added that state statute clearly requires that delegates from the town committee make official endorsements of candidates, but usually recognize the will of the ward committee.
Voigt said ward co-chair Gina Phillips sent out the notice of the time and place of the meeting to ward committee members. The other co-chair, Thorpe, didn’t respond, “but I said to go ahead because I didn’t want there to be no meeting.” She said she had “no idea” how some interested parties were directed to the Elks Club instead. (Thorpe told the Independent that the meeting would be at the Elks. She did not attend.)
Greg Morehead said he had no idea, either. Besides serving as alderman, Morehead sits on the ward committee. He said the meeting started promptly at 7 p.m., the vote was taken, and then he spoke briefly, thanking his supporters and reviewing his past accomplishments and what he hopes to do if reelected. Hopkins arrived while he was speaking, but since the vote had already taken place, she was not given an opportunity to speak.
“If she’d come on time,” he said, “she would have been given an opportunity.”
Thorpe couldn’t be reached for comment for this story. Phillips couldn’t be reached for comment later Tuesday night. She did hang around the substation for half an hour after the meeting, but the Independent didn’t get the chance to question her.
Hopkins said she plans to petition her way onto the September primary ballot. Her campaign positions, she said, will include promoting transparency and accountability.
Previous coverage of the Ward 22 race: