Melissa Bailey Photo
As top Democrats stood up to rally votes in their Bella Vista stronghold, they encountered a vociferous independent voter with questions about the direction of a one-party city — and a hint of what political debates may look like if a growing bloc of voters brings more democracy to New Haven in years to come.
Steve, who declined to give his last name, is among a growing bloc of unaffiliated voters in the city and country. As of Tuesday, the city had 45,603 registered Democrats, 2,441 registered Republicans, 336 supporters of other parties — and 15,946 unaffiliated voters, part of an independent bloc that has become the most influential voting group statewide and nationally.
At a campaign event Monday at the Bella Vista senior and disabled housing complex, where Democrats often march captivated legions of loyal voters to the machines on Election Day, Steve emerged as a challenge to the Democratic status quo — a challenge that may have reverberations in elections to come.
The impromptu extended exchanges between Steve and the mayor also developed into the one bonafide debate of this general-election campaign season. Incumbent Democratic Mayor John DeStefano had no debates with his independent challenger, Jeffrey Kerekes.
The event came on the eve of Tuesday’s election, in which DeStefano seeks a record 10th two-year term. Fair Haven Heights’ Ward 11 (which includes Bella Vista) is also the site of one of five aldermanic contests across town.
DeStefano’s wife Kathy and mayoral aide-turned-campaign staffer Elyse Lyons handed out hot dogs and soda.
Mayor DeStefano came across Steve at about 5:15 p.m. Monday at the Democrats’ annual campaign event in the Victoria Room, which doubles as the polling station on Election Day. DeStefano has wrapped up his campaign there every election eve since he the year he was first elected, in 1993. The room was quieter this year than last, when seniors hit the dance floor in a crowded room on the eve of a governor’s race crucial for Democrats. On Monday, about 60 people munched on hot dogs and potato chips. In a markedly relaxed mood on the eve of this election, DeStefano worked the room, accepting Tootsie Rolls and hugs and jotting down voters’ concerns.
Immigration & Education
Over the course of the evening, DeStefano kept coming back to Steve.
Steve showed up with a yellow legal pad that matched his polo shirt. As DeStefano spoke quietly to other seniors about crime, Steve called out a question in a booming voice: What about the benefits the mayor has extended to immigrants? Are they getting “bank cards” with new IDs?
He was referring DeStefano’s move in 2007 to create a municipal ID card available for all city residents, regardless of immigration status. The card aimed in part to allow immigrants to open bank accounts, but they still need another form of identification such as a passport to do so. The program met much outcry, though most of it came from out of town.
Party faithful Lenny Grimaldi picked up a free hot dog on DeStefano’s tab.
“You have to ask why immigrants come here,” began DeStefano’s reply. They come because they want to find work to support their families, he said.
He tried to make a connection with a personal story.
“My grandparents came here before the first World War,” DeStefano said. At that time, there weren’t many restrictions on immigration. He said his grandparents came here for just the same reason that brings waves of Mexicans or Ecuadorians to New Haven today.
Most undocumented workers come here legally then overstay their visas, he said. He spoke in a calm voice, pausing for one moment to apply a green tube of ChapStick to his lips.
He said the goal of the ID card — and a companion policy at the police station not to ask for immigration papers at the scene of a crime — is so that illegal immigrants would feel safe reporting crimes to police without worrying about getting deported.
“It’s very unusual for immigrants to commit violent crime” in New Haven, DeStefano later added. Most homicides and shootings in New Haven involve African-American males.
The real answer to the immigration problem lies with the federal government, DeStefano argued: He said President Obama should “do what Reagan did” and create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants — combined with greater enforcement of immigration law.
As DeStefano turned to other voters, Steve called out another question from his legal pad: “What’s your dropout rate?”
The dropout rate is 34 percent, DeStefano replied. “That’s how the state counts it.” (That’s a figure, never officially released, for the Class of 2010; the state hasn’t released figures for the Class of 2011.)
Independent mayoral candidate Jeffrey Kerekes has hammered away at DeStefano on this point. Kerekes claims the city’s graduation rate is only 51 percent, a figure based on a report in Education Week. That publication, using numbers from the Class of 2008, uses a different method of calculation that city school officials say doesn’t account for the transient urban population. Using a new method adopted by the National Governors’ Association, the district calculated the graduation rate that year to be 62 percent.
What Does “Democrat” Mean?
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro dashed to the microphone to endorse the mayor.
After chatting with Steve, DeStefano rose to the front of the room to accept endorsements from state Sen. Martin Looney and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro.
“What we have here is the core of urban Democrats,” Looney announced. He said Tuesday’s election is a reflection on the question, “What does it mean to be a Democrat?” While the national GOP tries to “dismantle” social services, the “Democratic Party is the voice of urban centers everywhere,” Looney contended.
A vote on Tuesday for DeStefano will be “a sign that the Democratic Party is strong in New Haven,” he concluded.
Steve shook his head at those remarks. After the speeches subsided, he got into a heated exchange with DeLauro over Medicaid.
Then he walked over to where Looney stood.
Millionaires & Firemen
“The Democrats are the greatest? Get out of town!” Steve told the senator. “C’mon, you guys are in dreamland. The deficit is out of control.”
“The problem isn’t the deficit,” Looney swung back. “The problem is the income inequality” between the rich and the poor.
“Are you a rich man?” Looney asked Steve.
“Yes,” Steve declared.
“Then you have an interest in voting Republican,” Looney said. Otherwise, he argued, you don’t.
Looney then argued for higher taxes on millionaires.
Steve, clearly enjoying the verbal sport, debated that point vigorously.
DeStefano reemerged with a warning: “Steve, you gotta take deep breaths.”
The mayor left to sit with some ladies (“can I have a Tootsie Roll?” he asked) and accept handshakes from others. (“I just wanted to thank you for my kiss,” said one voter.)
Before he left, he took another dose of questions from Steve.
Steve asked about the fire department equipment he sees peel up the driveway of the 2,000-person complex to respond to medical calls. It happens several times a day, Steve said. Multiple vehicles — including a large fire truck and an ambulance — often respond to the scene, he said.
Isn’t that a waste of resources?
DeStefano wished luck to both independent Alderwoman Maureen O’Sullivan-Best (pictured) and her Democratic opponent, Barbara Constantinople.
DeStefano acknowledged the problem: 80 percent of emergency calls are medical calls. It’s not like in the days of yore, when fire departments existed just to put out fires. He said the city is adapting to changing times by adding more Advanced Life Support vehicles, which carry paramedics and equipment to medical emergencies. The city has two ALS vehicles, or “fly cars,” and aims to expand the fleet to four. The fly cars would not transport patients, but they’d cut down on the number of times fire engines make extra trips to calls where there are no fires.
Steve, who said he’s undecided about the mayoral race, grabbed DeStefano’s arm between jabs and offered: “I may vote for you yet.”
After the debate ended with a handshake, DeStefano was asked if Steve represents a type of independent voter he’s trying to court this election.
DeStefano said no. He said while some people share Steve’s views on immigration, “immigration has never been a powerful issue” on Election Day, nor has it shown up as a significant factor on internal polls.
What about Steve’s assertion that the city is worse off now than it was two years ago?
DeStefano said that’s a national problem in a poor economy. New Haven bucked several trends, posting the largest grand list growth in the state, as well as job and population growth that outpaced its peers, he argued. Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy “is a better place” this year compared to last, because it was handed over to a private company as part of the mayor’s school reform drive, the mayor added.
“Maybe [Steve] doesn’t see these things from where he sits,” DeStefano offered. Bella Vista is an isolated villa, where residents don’t directly pay property taxes and may not get downtown to see the robust development there. “From where he sits, maybe it’s true.”
The mayor packed up at 6:30 p.m. and said he was done campaigning for the day. He was asked about his relaxed mood in the face of much in-your-face questioning, and on the eve of Election Day.
“A bad night is when someone gets hurt in the city,” DeStefano replied. “This is not a bad night.”