Sophie Sonnenfeld Photo
The Columbus statue being removed on June 24.
Two Italian-Americans are running for New Haven’s U.S. Congressional Seat, and a local Italian-American group has endorsed … their non-Italian-American opponent.
The group, Italian American Heritage Group of New Haven, on Wednesday endorsed Republican Margaret Streicker for the Third U.S. Congressional District seat.
Streicker is seeking to unseat 15-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who grew up in then-Italian-American-dominated Wooster Square as the daughter of two of the city’s most prominent Italian-American political leaders.
Laura Glesby Photo
Police unions endorsing Streicker (in photo) outside New Haven cop HQ on Oct. 5.
“If you are a proud Italian American,” the group’s co-founders Marc Conte and Louis Pane, are quoted as saying in a release issued Wednesday, “vote for Margaret Streicker.”
Streicker supported the group’s ultimately unsuccessful efforts in June to prevent the city from taking down the statue of Christopher Columbus in Wooster Square Park. Other Italian-American groups had publicly supported the removal.
Rosa DeLauro, too, publicly supported the removal. So did the Green Party candidate in the race, Justin Paglino. Read about that here.
“I am unbelievably proud to have the support of the Italian-American community. At a time when some, including my opponent, seek to erase our history, I will always protect it,” Streicker stated in the release.
Paul Bass Photo
Rosa DeLauro taking her late mother Luisa, a former Wooster Square alder, to vote at the Hall of Records in 2016.
DeLauro did not have a comment.
Paglino did. In English, partly. In Italian, partly.
“As a proud Italian American myself, ‘mi dispiace’ [I’m sorry] not to have won the endorsement of this Italian American organization, and I imagine Representative DeLauro may feel the same,” he stated.
“Robust Italian pride is of course absolutely merited, and the wounds of past anti-Italian sentiment are still remembered. I take this issue seriously. However, I argue it is mistaken to equate Columbus with Italian pride, so I don’t see Italian pride as being on the ballot. Other very important issues are on the ballot, however, including healthcare, climate, and wealth inequality. So my statement to my Italian American friends would be ‘Veramente volete affogare in un bicchier d’acqua?’”
Ko Lyn Cheang Photo
Justin Paglino campaigning in Wooster Square.
Streicker is the first opponent DeLauro has faced since 1992 who has put TV ads on the air, and sparked DeLauro to do the same in response. A social-media posting showed the Columbus statue with DeLauro’s decapitated head in his lap.
Streicker showed up in Wooster Square Park when the statue was removed and sided with Italian-American protesters, accusing DeLauro of selling them out.
Similarly, in DeLauro’s first campaign, in 1990, her Republican opponent — Tom Scott, like Streicker from Milford — came to Wooster Square Park to make a public statement accusing her of selling out her Italian-American roots by embracing liberal positions.