Smart Makes It 3 For City Clerk

Michael Smart brought 60 allies to the office he hopes to take over after the next election — and signed onto one of the more curious campaigns in ​“New Haven Spring.”

Smart, a 43-year-old five-term Wooster Square alderman, Wednesday afternoon filed formal papers to run for an office New Haven rarely pays much attention to: city/town clerk.

In a conversation before his formal remarks at the event, Smart, who is African-American, also put a new spin on ​“diversity” as a political issue: He said he wants to see the City/Town Clerk’s Office, all of whose employees are African-American, ​“diversify” so that ​“it represents the whole city.”

Smart became the third official candidate running for the part-time office, which rarely attracts competitive elections — and never in memory saw candidates with field directors or press secretaries.

Chalk it up to a season of flowering democracy in New Haven, unleashed, like the Arab Spring, by the departure of a longtime leader. Seven (count ​‘em) Democrats are vying to succeed retiring 20-year incumbent Mayor John DeStefano. That zeal for public office has apparently trickled down to the city/town clerk position. Smart joined two other Democrats running for the same office: 10-year incumbent Ron Smith, and Westville Alderman Sergio Rodriguez, who have been holding their own public events and, in the case of Rodriguez, initiated phone-banking.

A fourth candidate, Anne Weaver Lozon of Westville, is also planning to run for city clerk on a ticket with Democratic mayoral candidate Kermit Carolina. The candidates will compete in a Sept. 10 Democratic primary.

The part-time clerk’s position pays $46,597 a year. A full-time deputy clerk, Sally Brown, runs the office day to day. The city/town clerk is legally responsible for the office’s management and for taking attendance and recording votes at Board of Aldermen meetings. The office plays a crucial public function: It records all land transactions, local business filings, election campaign filings and results, campaign contributions, and dog licenses.

“I want to show it’s an important position,” Smart said.

“It’s an office that needs to step up to the bar,” Smart (pictured with his daughters, father, and sister to his left; and campaign press spokeswoman Michelle Lee Rodriguez to his right) told his crowd of supporters gathered Wednesday afternoon outside the entrance to 200 Orange St., the government building that houses the city/town clerk’s office. He called for adding some night-time hours to accommodate business people who work during the day and need to file official papers. He also called for making more public records ​“easily accessible” and ​“downloadable” online.

Andy Consiglio, a real-estate developer, retired police sergeant, and president of the Mary Magdalene Society, which is based in Smart’s ward, called Smart ​“an honorable and enthusiastic person.” Consiglio recently won a city competition to buy underused Wooster Square parking lots and build new homes on them.

Two former assistant police chiefs, Petisia Adger (pictured above in the background center) and Ariel Melendez, came out in support of Smart’s candidacy …

… as did a slew of current and former aldermen. Freshman Dixwell Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison told the crowd that Smart ​“has taken me under his wing … He can take [the clerk’s office] to a whole new level.”

After the brief speeches, Smart led the high-spirited crowd up to the second-floor clerk’s office, where he and campaign Communications Director Rodriguez, who works for the housing authority, submitted formal papers to officially launch the campaign. Smart said that two women from his ward, Carmen Rodriguez and Mona Berman, are serving as field directors for the campaign.