Sam Gurwitt photo
Ping Ting Chen, Alex Chen, and Regan Chen.
As two groups walked around Hamden’s West Woods neighborhood Sunday afternoon with paper maps and glossy candidate literature, they heard a lot of stories about a familiar topic: taxes.
Both were groups of canvassers, one Democratic and one Republican, making their pitch to try and capture Hamden’s Ninth District Legislative Council seat.
Sarah Gagne, a Democrat, is challenging Marjorie Bonadies, a Republican who currently serves at-large on the council. Bonadies is now running in her own district, which is currently represented by Democrat Brad Macdowall, and which Bonadies represented from 2013 – 2017 before serving at-large. They will face each other in the municipal election on Tuesday.
Many Hamden residents call the ninth Hamden’s swing district. It’s the most conservative district, and has frequently been represented on the council by a Republican, though Hamden overall tends to be a heavily Democratic town. Both parties are now mustering their strength to win what many say will be Hamden’s tightest council district race this election cycle.
From AP Government To The Doors
Gagne herself could not go out and canvass on Sunday. Instead, a few groups of Hamden High School students walked around West Woods’ pitched streets to pitch her platform.
Ping Ting Chen, Regan Chen, and Alex Chen met at the Democratic Party’s campaign headquarters on northern Whitney Avenue around noon to pick up candidate literature and get a turf assignment. All three are Hamden High students. Ping Ting and Alex are juniors, and Regan is a sophomore. Ping Ting is Regan’s older brother, and Alex is just a friend.
They started their canvass at the top of Russo Drive, and began down the hill, ringing doorbells, making a brief pitch when voters opened, and slipping candidate literature with a handwritten “sorry we missed you!” between the door and the frame when their knock went unanswered. The literature consisted of two cards: one for Gagne, and one for Macdowall, who is now running as an at-large candidate.
They used the miniVAN app, which Democratic campaigns use across the U.S., to guide them to the doors of registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters, and a few Republicans who live with Democrats.
Ping Ting usually did the talking, though Regan acted as the vanguard, running ahead to ring the doorbell before his sister and friend arrived with the packet of literature.
Talking to Bob Surprise.
“We are canvassing with Sarah Gagne for town council,” Ping Ting would begin when a door opened. “She wants to fight for an honest budget and safer roads in the West Woods neighborhood,” she said.
Gagne has never held elected office before, and this is her first time running for the Legislative Council. She works as a part-time phlebotomist (someone who draws blood) and cross-fit coach, and is the mother of two. In addition to vowing to keep an honest budget and make roads safer, her campaign literature says she wants to develop infrastructure to encourage economic development and continue with plans to rebuild the West Woods School. Gagne was unable to speak with the Independent on Sunday.
Her high school canvassers were introduced to the campaign process in school. Last year, Ping Ting and Alex took AP Government, which Regan is currently taking. Macdowall came to the class one day. According to Alex, he said that if anyone was interested, they could sign up to help with a campaign, so she signed up.
Ping Ting said that she signed up to work at the polls on election day. She showed up to the Democratic headquarters for the first time recently thinking she was going to a class about working the polls. It turned out that she was actually going to go out canvassing. So, she went and knocked doors for Gagne (though she said she will still be working at the polls on Tuesday). Sunday was her third time door-knocking this campaign cycle. According to Regan, she told him to come along.
Regan and Ping Ting live in Centreville, where their parents own Taco King on Whitney Avenue. Alex lives in the Mix Avenue neighborhood.
Handing lit to Joseph McVerry.
Joseph McVerry was sitting outside as the canvassers approached his house. Ping Ting made her pitch and asked if McVerry would like to take some campaign literature. McVerry agreed, and took the cards.
McVerry said that for him, “the biggest thing is the taxes. It’s being financially responsible. Taxes go up every year. It’s ridiculous.” He mentioned the town’s large pension obligation, which has driven up taxes in recent years. He said he’s registered as a Democrat, but is really a conservative, and will vote for Republicans this time around.
Carrie McManus was out walking her dog when she saw the canvassers knock on her door, so she called them over to her. When Ping Ting asked if she knew about Gagne, McManus smiled and replied: “Oh, I know Sarah!”
McManus said that her kids go to school with Gagne’s. “She’s a great person,” she said. “She’s a really hard worker… That’s what I know about her as a person.”
Bonadies Back In Ninth
Marjorie Bonadies.
At about 2 p.m., Bonadies was walking along Nolan Road, visiting the house of every registered voter. Bonadies was out canvassing on her own, for herself. She said she didn’t have any canvassers out knocking doors for her on Sunday.
Like the Democrats, she was using an app called Advantage, which collects voter information and guides canvassing. She also had a paper list.
On Nolan Road, few people opened their doors.
Bonadies said that most of the voters she talks to want to talk about taxes, the mill rate, crime, speeding, and education.
“What’s on a lot of people’s lips is change,” she said. Democrats have held a majority for decades, she said, and people want to see change.
“Voters are worried. They’re worried about the property values,” she said. Longtime residents are leaving Hamden, and new families are not moving in.
Once she had left Nolan Road and started on Huntington Circle, a voter echoed that statement.
“Everyone’s moving out,” said Lorraine Esposito. She said her sister recently moved to South Carolina, where she pays significantly less in taxes than she did in Hamden. “Anybody that’s retired is moving out of state because the taxes are just too much.”
Bonadies is currently the minority leader on the council. She has said she would like to hold the town’s spending in check.
During this year’s budget deliberations, she voted to flat-fund the Board of Education at last year’s budget allocation. She was not in the majority in that vote.
When it came to a final budget vote, she voted against the council’s amended budget, which would have raised taxes more than Mayor Curt Leng’s proposed budget did. Though she said she thought it was a more honest budget, she said that constituents had begged her not to raise taxes, and that she had to listen to them.
Bonadies is also one of four plaintiffs in a recent court case against the town for how the town clerk handled absentee ballot applications sent to institutions. The town and the plaintiffs settled last week. According to Assistant Town Attorney Brendan Sharkey, the plaintiffs acknowledged that there was no evidence of irregularity in how the town handled the ballot applications. Bonadies said the case was not intended to be political. She said she wanted to ensure that the town was doing everything properly. Tom Figlar, a Republican running in Hamden’s Seventh District, is one of the other plaintiffs.
George and Loretta Fracasse were outside their house when Bonadies approached. She greeted them, and they stepped onto their driveway to come talk to her.
George and Loretta Fracasse with Bonadies.
“How’s your husband?” asked George.
“He’s good,” replied Bonadies.
George said that in his neighborhood, Quinnipiac’s expansion and its students living off-campus are major issues. Bonadies replied that the university is now trying much harder to be a good neighbor, and to ensure its students do the same. She referred to a presentation that Vice President and Chief of Staff Bethany Zemba recently gave for the Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission on everything the university is doing to work with the town. Quinnipiac is now holding its students accountable if they disturb neighbors even if they live off campus in houses that the university does not own.
She explained that Quinnipiac is also trying to attract more students to live on campus by offering free laundry and more parking for on-campus students.
Both of the Fracasses said they would be voting for Bonadies on Tuesday. Loretta said that she’s been “an advocate for Hamden for a long time.”
Next door, Bonadies also caught Ed Bartolini outside his house. He was a slightly tougher pitch.
Talking to Ed Bartolini.
“I’m a very liberal Democrat, so it’s very hard for me to vote for any Republican at all,” he said, especially with Trump at the helm of the party.
Bonadies replied that she does not try to justify what Trump does. “I try to keep politics to local issues and stay away from the national.”
Bartolini had the same concerns that his neighbors did. Quinnipiac students, he said, are bad neighbors. And, of course, there were the taxes. “This town is awful with the taxes,” he said. As Bonadies left, she asked him if he might consider voting for a Republican this time. He made no commitment. However, he said, “I will remember your name at the voting booth.”