Mayoral candidate Jeffrey Kerekes sought to cultivate some signatures on a ballot petition amid the organic tomatoes and squash at Wooster Square’s farmer market. Instead, he found himself kicked off the premises.
The ejection occurred Saturday morning during the weekly CitySeed farmers market at the DePalma Court plaza across Chapel Street from Wooster Square Park.
Monday afternoon CitySeed’s chief said the organization meant to stop candidates from “campaigning” but not from “petitioning.” In an interview she said she “would apologize” for any “miscommunication.”
That communication — mis- or otherwise — took place before noon at the weekly Wooster Square market.
Kerekes said he and campaign supporters came to the market armed with petitions for registered Democrats to sign so he can win a place on the Sept. 13 Democratic primary ballot. He and other Democratic mayoral candidates not endorsed by the party’s town committee have two weeks to collect 2,092 certified signatures in order to qualify. (By contrast, candidates seeking to obtain an independent mayoral spot on the general election ballot need to collect just 104 signatures; they have months to do it.)
Kerekes said CitySeed’s market manager, Keren Kurti Alexander, approached him. “You can’t petition” within the market, he said she told him.
He said she told him that several times, after seeing other supporters circulate petitions inside the market.
“Can you tell me why we can’t do that?” he said he asked Alexander.
“We were threatened by an alderman to remove our funding if we allow you to petition here,” he said she replied. He said Alexander had also told him he couldn’t petition at the downtown market on Church Street.
Alexander was reached by phone for comment Monday afternoon. She said she needed to put the call on hold while she went to another room. She came back on the line by speaker phone with CitySeed Executive Director Nicole Berube.
Berube said CitySeed does allow “petitioning” at its markets, including by candidates. She said it forbids “campaigning.”
“I don’t believe petitioning to get on the ballot is campaigning,” Berube said.
Berube was asked whether people should be able to campaign in public parks.
“That’s a good question,” she responded. “This is the first year that we’ve really undergone this with being asked to have people at the farmers market campaigning. It would be easily construed that we were supporting the candidate if we do that. We do probably need to talk to some legal entity” about the issue.
“We don’t have anything written down,” Berube said. “We can’t hold people from having a political discourse at our market. I’m sure that it happens. But it’s a space to buy and sell food. I still am uncomfortable that CitySeed [would be accused of] associating with one candidate or another. We’re a 501(c)3 [not-for-profit corporation]. We’re in a public space on a farmers market on city property. We would like to be as neutral as possible. With that in mind, I have no issue with the petitioning.”
Alexander was asked about Kerekes’ claim that he was overtly petitioning and that she repeatedly said he couldn’t petition.
“I specifically said he cannot ‘campaign,’” Alexander replied.
“If that was the case, it was a misunderstanding,” Berube said of Kerekes’ version. “We’re fine with him petitioning in the open space. We have reservations about him campaigning.”
“Aldermanic” Threat?
During the conference call, Alexander was asked about Kerekes’ claim that she mentioned an aldermanic threat to cut CitySeed’s funding. Berube said Alexander had left the room. “I cannot corroborate that at this point,” Berube said.
She subsequently called the Independent back. She reported that she had discussed the matter with Alexander.
“There was a case in Chicago that I told her about, of an alderman wanting to pull money from a farmers market because it was construed as campaigning,” Berube explained. “She apologizes. But that’s how that came to be. I think she thought that had happened to us. It had only happened in Chicago as far as I know. No one has threatened CitySeed with taking away the money.”
CitySeed is scheduled to receive $18,000 from the city this fiscal year in the form of Community Development Block Grant money. The city receives a pot of block-grant money from the federal government. The mayor’s office draws up a proposal for how to divide it among local community groups and community agencies. The Board of Aldermen then discusses, amends, and votes on the distribution.
“We would have to apologize for that miscommunication between me and Keren on a day that a market was happening,” Berube said.
Kerekes said Monday that he’s confident CitySeed has nothing against him or his candidacy.
He argued, rather, that the incident reflects the “fear” people have of retribution in New Haven’s political climate. He called his exclusion from public spaces “one more layer for preventing democracy” in New Haven.
“They’re on public property. It’s a traditional place to meet people in a public space,” Kerekes argued. “I don’t think they were saying they don’t want me to be successful. I don’t think it was personal. By giving in to the fear, they’re validating politicians keeping people out of elections.”