Susie Voigt runs the Democratic Town Committee. She is also knocking on doors in support of a candidate in Edgewood — but not the candidate her party organization endorsed.
Voigt (pictured) said she has walked the 24th Ward beside candidate Marcus Paca, rallying support for his campaign against incumbent Alderwoman Liz McCormack. The race is one of two aldermanic contests —Ward 24 and West Rock’s Ward 30 — where complaints were raised this week that political operatives with ties to the mayor and DTC are working against the candidate who was endorsed by the DTC at its July 29 convention. The complaints raise questions about what the party endorsement means as campaigns gear up for Sept. 15 Democratic primaries for alderman.
Voigt said when she went door-knocking with Paca. She donated a personal check to his campaign.
“It’s my personal choice,” she said. She said she’s acting “as a volunteer,” not as a representative of the DTC.
Eli Greer, the Ward 24 Democratic co-chair and McCormack supporter, dismissed that line of reasoning as “dishonest” and “absurd.”
“There’s clearly evidence that there’s meddling being done from the Democratic Town Committee chairwoman,” said Greer.
In both Ward 24 and 30, endorsed candidates have seen a flood of mayoral political operatives show up in their ward to work for the opposition candidates, not for the candidates endorsed by the City Hall-backed Democratic Party Town Committee.
“Not only am I not getting help” from the DTC, said Darnell Goldson (pictured), the endorsed candidate in Ward 30, “they are actively working against my candidacy.”
Petitions filed with the city clerk back up that claim. Keya Jayaram and Ben Shaffer, both paid staffers for Mayor John DeStefano’s reelection campaign, together filed five pages of signatures to help Paca petition to get on the ballot. Paca himself submitted three.
In West Rock, a team of young political operatives from outside the neighborhood rounded up signatures for candidate Carlton Staggers while the candidate himself was out of town leading a youth basketball trip. Shaffer submitted six pages of signatures. Others were filed by Laoise King, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff and Carlos Eyzaguirre, a seasoned vote-puller who’s also Voigt’s son.
Staggers’ campaign has been supported by the mayor’s allies from the start: in an interview with the Independent, Staggers said that he was urged by retiring Ward 30 Alderwoman Michelle Edmonds-Sepulveda, a mayoral loyalist, to step up to the plate when she steps down. Staggers didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article.
Shaffer, DeStefano’s deputy campaign manager and a recent Yale alum, lives in the Dwight neighborhood. He said he’s also been very active on Ward 22 Alderman Greg Morehead’s campaign. His role in the aldermanic races is purely as a volunteer, he said. He said he’s interested in the races because of their citywide impact, and because he personally supports the candidates.
Meanwhile, Goldson and Ward 30 Democratic Co-chair Honda Smith both asked Voigt for DTC resources to support Goldson’s campaign. Goldson asked for “campaign workers to canvass and leaflet the ward from now until election day, campaign materials such as brochures/flyers and campaign signs, as well as resources for election day (workers for election day pulling operations, vehicles, funding).”
Voigt refused those requests. She said the DTC’s policy for years has been to not provide any resources to candidates before the primary. The DTC’s only expenditure is paying for food for poll workers for all candidates on Primary Day, she said.
Asked why, she said, “because this is a town where there are a lot of differences between the party.” The party may endorse a candidate through the convention, she said, but not everyone in the DTC will necessarily support that pick. She said it’s better to let those differences get hashed out before the primary. After that point, the DTC will use money to support “all Democrats at the General Election in November,” she said.
What then, is the point of holding a convention to endorse a candidate before the primary?
“The endorsement is a very influential factor,” she said, in ballot placement, as well as for voters who care about who is running on the party line.
What about the young door-knockers hitting the streets on behalf of Paca and Staggers? Voigt said if someone calls her to ask how to volunteer for a campaign, she puts that person in touch with a candidate who matches his interests. However, she said she hasn’t been recruiting volunteers or organizing campaign staff for aldermanic races.
“I’m not sitting in any office coordinating these things,” Voigt said.
Paca (pictured conferring with the mayor) said he has “way more people working for me that live in my community than people from DeStefano’s campaign,” but as a newcomer candidate facing a 22-year incumbent, “I do call upon experts for their advice from time to time.”
Paca said he was not recruited to run for office, but instead earned his support from DeStefano after he decided to run. “The mayor has chosen to back me because he sees my diligence,” he said.
While he has Voigt’s support, Paca said, McCormack has her share of advantages, too. She’s an incumbent with the backing of many elected officials.
“As a candidate, I strongly value the personal support of Susie Voigt. She’s shown to be a person who cares about the community and the city,” said Paca. He said his opponent, however, has the advantage of “the official support of the DTC.”