To translate a prize endorsement into votes, Dannel P. Malloy came to New Haven Sunday seeking to convert skeptical independent-minded voters like Eric Hermes.
Hermes (pictured at left) came with his baby son Hal to the outdoor seating patio of P&M Market on Orange Street for lasagne, not for politics. He ended up with a front-row seat at a potentially pivotal local event for Democrat Gov. Malloy’s nail-biter of a reelection campaign rematch against Republican Tom Foley.
Malloy ventured to the market to receive the endorsement of former New Haven mayoral candidate and popular East Rock Alder Justin Elicker. The endorsement mattered because some of Elicker’s independent-minded supporters, who tend to be suspicious of traditional Democrat Party organizations and labor unions, have been on the fence about supporting Malloy. Some still hold it against Malloy that Malloy endorsed Elicker’s opponent, Toni Harp, in last year’s Democratic mayoral primary. With polls showing the governor’s race virtually tied, and with Malloy needing to meet or top his crushing 18,000-plus 2010 margin of victory in the city, Elicker’s endorsement could prove crucial.
If Elicker’s personal endorsement can translate into actual new votes.
Votes like Hermes’.
“I’m undecided. I’m pretty in the middle,” Hermes, a 42-year-old Veterans Administration hospital psychiatrist and unaffiliated voter, said after a cluster of Malloy supporters cheered Elicker’s and Malloy’s speeches.
Hermes’s top issue: Taxes, which have gone up under Malloy.
Hermes voted for Elicker twice in 2013, in the Democratic Party mayoral primary and in the general election, when Elicker ran as an independent. He remained undecided after watching Malloy and Elicker speak. But he insisted that Sunday’s event would “cause me to look at Malloy” a little more than he would have otherwise.
“I like Elicker,” he said.
His friend and lunch mate, Tim (who asked not to have his last name published), said he’s in the same boat — undecided, and more willing to consider Malloy after Sunday’s event. “I’m a big Justin supporter,” said Tim, who described his politics as “independent.” “It [the endorsement] does matter. Justin’s plans for the city are well thought out.”
“I’m here speaking to you not as a Democrat. I’m here speaking to you as a citizen of New Haven, a citizen of the state of Connecticut, a homeowner, a taxpayer, and a future father,” Elicker said during the formal portion of Sunday’s event.
He said Malloy “has exemplified the kind of courage we need” in political leaders by sticking to his opposition to the death penalty even when it cost him votes; by deciding both to raise taxes and obtain union concessions to slash a deficit without slashing aid to cities; by overseeing the country’s most successful roll-out of an Obamacare health exchange.
“I have health care today because of that,” Elicker remarked. (click on the video at the top of the story to watch his remarks.)
Malloy stressed to the gathering that “elections have consequences.” In his four years as governor, state aid to New Haven has risen $25 million a year, largely in money for the schools, he said. Meanwhile, graduation rates have risen 8.9 percent. “Not a single police officer, not a single firefighter, not a single para, not a single snow plow driver lost their job” because of state budget cuts, he said. Meanwhile, homicides have dropped 32 percent statewide. Connecticut became the first state in the country to pass a $10.10 hourly minimum wage and to require paid sick days for workers. None of that would have happened under Foley, he argued.
Democratic Town Chair Vincent Mauro Jr., far right, introduced Elicker and Malloy.
“New Haven, I need you,” Malloy said. “We had a gigantic victory here four years ago. We need to do that again.”
State Senate President Martin Looney (at left in photo at Sunday’s event beside East Rock Alder Jessica Holmes and Edgewood Rabbi Dov Greer) said Elicker’s endorsement “shows broad-based support in New Haven. There’s not any division or carry-over from the [2013 mayoral] primary.”
Malloy and Elicker popped in on East Rock merchants like East Rock Pharmacy’s Kawa Chan, who asked Malloy to help him compete with mail-order druggists.
Will Elicker’s endorsement translate into converted voters? Looney was asked.
“It certainly can’t hurt,” he responded.
Malloy stopped in at a second market, Romeo & Cesare, where owner Romeo Simeone gave him a shoulder-grab and a cappucino.
Following is an earlier version of this story, an interview with Elicker about how and why he decided to endorse Malloy.
Elicker To Endorse Malloy
Paul Bass Photo
Justin Elicker has a message for supporters bitter over the last mayoral campaign: Don’t hold grudges. He’s putting that message into action Sunday.
Elicker (pictured) is scheduled to endorse Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s reelection campaign in Elicker’s home base of East Rock — the same neighborhood where Malloy endorsed Elicker’s opponent, Toni Harp, in the 2013 New Haven Democratic mayoral primary.
Some of Elicker’s supporters have never forgiven Malloy for that primary endorsement; they vow not to vote for him on Nov. 4 as a result. (“People have something called memory,” one supporter put it in this comment thread.)
Elicker cautioned against that approach to politics.
“It’s important not to hold grudges about political decisions that were made in the past,” he said in an interview earlier this week at the B Natural Cafe (formerly Woodlands Cafe) in the Ninth Square. “We should be supporting the candidate who will do the best for the city and the state. It has nothing to do with whether I like someone personally or whether someone’s given a favor in the past.
“I think it’s important for Malloy to get support from the city of New Haven. Some of my supporters were frustrated with Malloy. It’s important for people to understand [that] we need to move on.”
Elicker’s supporters matter in this election: After coming in second in the 2013 Democratic mayoral primary, he waged a strong independent bid in the general election, pulling in 9,416 votes, or 45 percent of the electorate. The vote revealed a divided city despite its Democratic Party monopoly. Elicker constituency, while prone to vote Democratic over Republican, represents an independent-minded ascendant strain in city politics, a bloc largely distrustful of traditional party or labor-union organizations.
Malloy is widely believed to need another crushing 18,000-plus margin of victory in New Haven to win his rematch against Republican Tom Foley; that margin means overcoming an enthusiasm gap in town. So Malloy has done a two-step in his repeated visits here: Trying to ignite the loyal black-community base (as in this visit last week) while making the case to the Elicker voters concentrated in high-turnout East Rock, Westville and Morris Cove wards.
Elicker made that case in the B Natural interview.
He said that Foley had asked to meet with him earlier in the campaign. He found Foley a “nice guy” who “means well” — but evinces little if any understanding of New Haven issues and offers few if any specifics about how to tackle major challenges like the “inequities” in state policy toward suburbs and cities.
When Foley has been specific—opposing government policy aimed at getting commuters out of cars, for example—he has landed on the opposite side of the fence from Elicker and the agenda that drew his votes in the last mayoral campaign.
Meanwhile, Elicker said, he has seen Malloy show unusual “courage” in office by both raising taxes and gaining labor concessions to whittle down a deficit without harming cities through budget cuts; by sticking to opposition to the death penalty even though it almost cost him the 2010 election amid the Petit murder trial; and by sticking with Common Core educational standards.
“There are all these examples of Malloy making decisions that are not completely political,” Elicker said. “He is courageous enough to make tough choices.” He also said Malloy has delivered for New Haven with supports for projects like the proposed new Dixwell Community “Q” House.
Elicker said he never resented Malloy for endorsing Harp — because he believes politicians should choose the candidates they prefer in a primary. “We have these odd rules that we’ve created that a Democrat shouldn’t endorse another Democrat in a primary. But if you’re excited about a candidate, endorse the candidate,” he said. He never publicly criticized Malloy or the endorsement during the mayoral campaign. He did feel, however, that Malloy should have paid him that courtesy call before the endorsement, he said.
Elicker said he had already planned to vote for Malloy when New Haven Democratic Town Chairman Vin Mauro approached him about making a public endorsement. Malloy then called him to express his regrets about not having touched base with him before making the 2013 primary endorsement of Harp. Elicker agreed to make Sunday’s endorsement.
“He said he was sorry for not calling me beforehand — which I really respect,” Elicker said.
Mauro praised Elicker for making the public endorsement.
“It’s hard to take pettiness out of politics. When you see things like this, it reaffirms your belief that we’re moving in the right direction,” Mauro said. “Justin is certainly looking at this not in a political way, but in a view of what’s best for the city. I think that’s commendable.
