Emily Hays Photo
Carlson: In.
Both candidates in New Haven’s mayoral election this year will run with the help of public financing, now that John Carlson has qualified for his first disbursement from the Democracy Fund.
Carlson, the Republican Party’s mayoral candidate, has provided the Fund, which administers the city’s public-financing program, the first 229 names of local donors, according to Administrator Alyson Heimer.
So the Fund will cut his campaign a check for $29,148: a $20,000 grant plus $9,148 in matching funds.
Incumbent Justin Elicker, the Democratic candidate, has already received $61,534 from the Fund, according to Heimer; he began raising money months earlier for an expected Democratic primary that ended up not happening. Elicker’s campaign manager, Kim Agyekum, confirmed that the candidate will be submitting paperwork to continue participating in the Fund and obtaining money for the general campaign.
Candidates who participate in the Democracy Fund agree to limit individual contributions to $390 (rather than $1,000) and forswear political-committee donations in return for a $20,000 grant and 2 – 1 matches of the first $30 in contributions from registered New Haven voters. To qualify, candidates must raise at least 200 donations of at least $10 apiece from registered New Haven voters, and have raised and spent at least $5,000 in total. New Haven has the state’s only municipal public-financing program; it covers just mayoral races.
Participants in the program may spend up to $390,000 on their campaigns.
Carlson promised when the campaign began to stop raising money once he collects $75,000, at which point he will ask donors to contribute instead to a food bank, homeless shelter, or “environmental cause.” (Read a previous story here about that and Elicker’s reasons for not setting a similar limit.)
On Wednesday Carlson said he’s sticking by that $75,000 pledge, vowing to “demonstrate I am better at managing funds than my opponent who will probably spend five times that.”
He said the Democracy Fund money he’s receiving “will be a tremendous help to getting my message out and restoring democracy to the Elm City.”