Two mayoral candidates offered two takes on how to run a clean-money campaign in visits to government offices two floors apart Friday afternoon.
Matthew Nemerson was visiting the second-floor city clerk’s office at 200 Orange St. to file official papers to run in the Sept. 10 Democratic mayoral primary. He is one of at least four candidates seeking to replace retiring 20-year-incumbent John DeStefano.
Nemerson was accompanied by Newhallville Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards, who has signed on as campaign chair; and Fair Haven community activist Angel Fernandez, Nemerson’s treasurer.
As he filed, Nemerson used the occasion to try to get ahead of criticism he’s already facing for declining to participate in New Haven’s public-financing process, in which candidates agree to limit how much money they raise and from whom in return for matching dollars. (Read about that — and Nemerson’s initial campaign platform—here.)
He announced that his campaign has signed on an independent “finance ombudsman” who won’t be involved in raising money, but instead will “oversee” the process to make sure it’s open and honest. That person is Edwin Van Selden, who represented Beaver Hills on the Board of Aldermen from 1982 to 1986. (Click on video above to watch Nemerson discuss the position in more depth.)
Nemerson also promised that details of all campaign contributions will appear on a website within 48 hours of being received — “so people can scrutinize in real time who’s giving us money.”
In the process, he sought to shift the debate over clean elections from public financing to “transparency.”
The “real issue,” Nemerson said, isn’t whether someone gives a campaign $370 (the limit under the Democracy Fund, New Haven’s public-financing system) or $1,000 (the state legal limit). “The real issue is who’s giving money and real transparency.”
“We’re going to do this is a way that’s above board,” Nemerson said. “We’re each going to be contributing our ethical and moral standards that we have been living our lives by.”
Three Democratic mayoral candidates — Justin Elicker, Gary Holder-Winfield and Sundiata Keitazulu — have signed up to participate in the Democracy Fund; Hillhouse High School principal Kermit Carolina said he, too, will participate if he enters the race. Nemerson and Henry Fernandez have declined to participate.
Elicker arrived on the fourth floor of 200 Orange St. as Nemerson was leaving the building. He showed up at the city accounting office to pick up $19,000, his latest installment from the Democracy Fund.
It’s the second check the Elicker campaign has received from the Democracy Fund. The Democracy Fund handed out the $19,000 grant because the race is officially contested and Elicker has raised more than 200 donations of at least $10.
Elicker (pictured with city accounting staffer Andre Wilson) dismissed the news of Nemerson’s new “finance ombudsman” appointment. “Transparency is important,” he said. “It already exists in the system.”
Campaigns are already required to keep records of who gives them money and release that information to the public at regular intervals, he said. They aren’t required to do so within 48 hours, but that time limit isn’t the real issue, Elicker said.
“Either you’re going to participate in public financing or you’re not going to participate in public financing,” Elicker said. “Candidates can choose to do tokens” as a way of “avoiding” the fundraising limits placed by the Democracy Fund. But that doesn’t change the fact that they are not swearing off donations of over $370 and money from PACs.
The larger the donation, the more a candidate is beholden to a donor, Elicker said. “It’s the same thing DeStefano has been doing for 20 years.”
Elicker said Democracy Fund participation forces his campaign to engage with more people, since he needs more small donations to counter a single large donation to an opponent’s campaign. Elicker treasurer Melanie Quigley said the campaign’s median donation is $25.
Another issue that has surfaced in the Democratic primary free-for-all: Whether a candidate who loses the primary will run in the general election as an independent. Elicker said that he will. Holder-Winfield said he won’t; click here for a story in which they offer differing views on that.
Asked if he would run as an independent, Nemerson said no. At least “at this time.”
“I’m a Democrat,” he said.
“Given the candidates who are running now,” he said, if he loses to any of them, he will not enter the general election campaign as an independent.
He does plan to win the primary, he said.
Paul Bass Photo
Alfreda Edwards congratulates Nemerson upon his official filing Friday. Edwards is an alderwoman in the 19th Ward, where Nemerson serves as Democratic co-chair.