Little Miss Mess-Up has reappeared on New Haven’s mayoral campaign trail — with a 3‑minute narrative video endorsement.
Little Miss Mess-Up is the cross-dressing persona of local artist Bill Saunders, who performed for a local band (The Mess-Ups) and ran for mayor in 2001 in character and costume under the banner of “The Guilty Party.” (He lost to John DeStefano.) The Guilty Party subsequently ran for Ralph Ferrucci for mayor. Ferrucci made an awesome poster; he also collected 16 percent of the vote, earning the GP minor-party status. Leslie Blatteau carried the party’s banner in 2005’s mayoral election.
This year the Guilty Party is not running anyone for mayor. Instead, Little Miss Mess-Up reveals — in a process beginning with a “confession” — that he will not be voting for Democratic mayoral candidate Toni Harp. Instead, as the video closes, he flashes the name of the preferred candidate: independent Justin Elicker.
But that’s the short version. Click on the video for the full story.