Local Party Produces Platform; Why?

Road map for the future? Intra-party attack? Statement of principles?

Hamden’s Democratic Town Committee (DTC) has released its first-ever party platform — and raised the question of why local parties go through the trouble.

Hamden’s Democratic Town Committee (DTC) has released its first-ever party platform — and raised the question of why local parties go through the trouble.

Hamden’s document was produced by members of the Democratic Party’s ascendant activist wing, which gained seats in the most recent election. They said it reflects the new energy members are bringing to the party.

This platform will be used as a way to increase transparency within the Democratic Party, according to Hamden DTC Issues Committee Co-Chair Lauren Garrett.

“The way to create transparency and accountability is to put your beliefs into words and to put elected officials accountable based on those beliefs,” Garrett said.

Anyone running as a Democrat to represent Hamden will be asked to read the platform and let the DTC know where they agree and disagree on issues.

Hamden Republican Party ​“has not yet put together a full ​‘platform,’ but we do have goals and objectives,” reported Town GOP Chair Frank LaDore. Among those goals: ​“sound management of public funds” and pursuit of ” individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government.” LaDore argued that the DTC platform represents ​“the progressive movement,” not ​“most Democrats in town.”

Across the border, New Haven’s two major parties have released their first platforms in recent years, with differing stated reasons.

“In the past, for many folks voting at conventions, you are kind of voting blind,” said Hamden DTC Chair Sean Grace. ​“You don’t have the opportunity to actually find out where people might stand on issues. You don’t really know. We are trying to change that this year so every member can be informed.”

The platform (read it here) has five main tenets: fiscal stability, transparency and accountability, education, policing, environment and housing.

Under fiscal stability, the Democrats envision a pension plan funded at 85 percent. The pension is currently 36 percent funded. They also call for lowering the mill rate. These goals would be accomplished through a five-year plan with projections.

The platform itself states that the current Hamden government lacks ​“transparency and accountability and does not provide adequate or equitable opportunities for oral public input.” As a solution, the platform proposes a new transparency policy and easier access to town documents and meetings.

The education pillar of the platform is focused on equity and accessibility, including an anti-racist curriculum at all levels of education.

As for policing, Garrett said the incident of a Black couple being shot at by a Hamden police officer in 2019 as well as the racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd inspired the DTC’s call for change in policing.

“Our town government must seek equal and restorative justice measures for our Black communities,” the platform reads. “Elected officials must demand accountability, transparency, and the elimination of systematic racism in the Police Department.”

The platform specifically calls for diversifying and demilitarizing the police department and reinvesting funds into social services and partnerships with social workers.

“We want to make sure that Hamden is a place where we have a different mindset for policing,” Garrett said. “We want our officers to understand the trauma people face when they are walking into a situation to decrease the violence that is going on, to de-escalate and help people get in touch with social services.”

Lastly, housing equity focuses on altering the zoning laws and helping those negatively affected by Covid-19.

“Democrats must work to reverse the legacy of zoning and other practices that have resulted in segregated neighborhoods in our town,” the platform reads. “Regardless of where you live and if you are a tenant or homeowner you have the right to a safe living environment. Everyone benefits from integrated neighborhoods.”

Former Hamden DTC Chair Joe McDonagh said that he and the DTC at the time tried to create a platform 15 years ago. “It was a dismal failure, so we never got around to it,” McDonagh said.

McDonagh called the new platform “long overdue.” He questioned the decision to leave out national issues, such as the local party’s stance on Medicare for All.

“I would have suggested to include something regarding some other national issues, which would probably prompt some debate and discussion,” McDonagh said. “The platform is a statement of who we are as Democrats. We are not just locally focused, I would hope.”

The people behind the new platform have been critical of current Democratic Mayor Curt Leng on the issues cited in the document.  Garrett ran against Leng in a mayoral primary in 2019, and the new DTC majority generally supported her. (Leng won the election.) Mayor Leng blasted the platform as “misleading” in this New Haven Register article. (Leng failed to respond to requests for comment for this article.)

“There is no reason anyone who wants to have our party’s values in our town government to be defensive about this,” responded Sean Grace.

“We are trying to figure out a way to get Democratic values on paper to hold people accountable,” said Issues Committee Co-Chair Alexa Panayotakis. “If it is not on paper and written down, it is just kind of in your mind.”

New Haven Dems: Platform Helps Avoid Being Used

The DTC in New Haven, a city with the highest number of Democratic voters in the state, cited that accountability goal when it drew up its first-ever platform in 2017. (Read more about the New Haven DTC platform here.)

“This isn’t intended for members of the Board of Alders, state senators and state reps,” said New Haven Democratic Town Chair Vin Mauro Jr. ​“We know them. We know who they are. We work with them on a daily basis.

“This is intended for those running for statewide and national office who come to New Haven and seek votes and plurality. Then when they get behind the big desk, forget us.”

Mauro said that some politicians believe that taking photos and doing press conferences in New Haven is enough to get the votes of New Haven Democrats. The party platform serves as a way to outline what these politicians need to do to get the votes.

“This has been going on for generations,” Mauro said. ​“With our guiding principles we say, ​‘This is what we stand for. If you actually want our support, this is what it means. If you get behind that big desk, you fulfill those promises.’”

Mauro noted that there is no one single set of ideas that every Democrat in a city as diverse as New Haven can agree on. The point of their platform is to serve as a set of guiding principles,” he said.

“It wasn’t set up to be a ​‘gotcha’ thing,” Mauro said. ​“It was set up in an organic and genuine way to say what we stand for and linking that common thread to every other organization and voter in this city.”

New Haven GOP’s Goal

Former New Haven Republican Town Committee (RTC) Chair Jonathan Wharton oversaw the drafting of the group’s first platform in 2016.

The platform included a focus on local issues like including public comment time at Board of Alders meetings and allowing for vouchers for school choice.

“I wanted to differ in many ways by saying, ​‘These are the local issues,’ as opposed to what the Democrats were saying: ​‘That’s just the party of Trump,’” recalled Wharton, a professor of political science at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). Back then, ​“many of us weren’t really big Trump supporters, myself included.”

Wharton said hoped the platform would distinguish the New Haven Republicans from the Democrats but also highlight local issues that are unrelated to then-President Donald Trump.

This mission was unsuccessful, according to Wharton, because the Democrats were able to tie the Republicans, even locally, to the president at the time.

Wharton, who has been following Hamden politics with his classes at SCSU, said creating a platform is a good way to stand out. However, he said that in Hamden the Democrats seem to be trying to differentiate themselves from some people within their own party. He speculated that the platform may be used as a litmus test for candidates who may consider running for mayor in Hamden this year.

“Maybe in some ways it is a scorecard,” Wharton said. “‘Here are the reforms; here are the things I am running on.’”

The Hamden mayoral race this year may have multiple candidates in the running on the Democratic side alone. Wharton said he believes the decision to release the platform in advance of the election was intentional.

“Maybe it’s an interesting factor to get the issues being talked about with the candidates and even the media,” Wharton said.

Grace said the timing was not about the mayoral race as much as the changing demographics of the DTC.

“The vast majority is composed of new members who are activists in one way or another,” Grace said. ​“There was a real sense we wanted to have our values front and center.”

The DTC’s goal in creating the platform os for it to last beyond this current election cycle, Grace said.

“We expect the core tenets to last some time,” Grace said.