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(Updated) After somebody smashed the front window to Toni Harp’s Whalley Avenue mayoral campaign headquarters this weekend, a prominent supporter pointed the finger at her opponents — but the campaign itself officially held back.
The accusation came from campaign organizer and former West Rock Alderwoman Barbara Walker.
Walker was reacting to an incident that occurred at the 560 Whalley Ave. main Harp headquarters some time between Friday night and 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Police are looking into the incident to try to find out who may have broken the window.
Walker spoke out about the incident at a Saturday afternoon campaign barbecue at a building she owns on Dixwell Avenue. The event was the launch of a new Harp satellite campaign office in the building.
Walker argued that the window must have been broken by a supporter of a rival campaign, citing both Henry Fernandez and Kermit Carolina. She said she didn’t know who else it would have been.
“Let’s fight each other on the issues, not the buildings,” Walker said. “They wanted to try to destroy her headquarters because they don’t have anything to say. … It’s just ridiculous.”
Walker is one of a group of former aldermen who have endorsed Harp. She was also a signatory to a letter released by the campaign earlier in the week in which prominent female Harp supporters attacked Carolina and Fernandez for sexist “bullying” of their candidate.
Both Carolina and Fernandez reacted sharply to Walker’s remarks.
“I wouldn’t even justify that comment with any response whatsoever. You can quote me on that. It’s important to me that everyone be safe and that democracy be given the opportunity to work in New Haven, I think that’s where we’re going to stay focused,” Fernandez said.
Carolina responded by phone from a wedding he was attending in Michigan, saying he wouldn’t “legitimize” the comment with a response. Then he said that, a few days ago, signs in front of his campaign headquarters had been torn down, and somebody attempted to hack into his campaign’s computer — actions he said he never ascribed to any of his opponents.
“I never for a minute thought that the Harp campaign, or any other campaign for that matter, would stoop to that level. I simply chalked it up to some person, for whatever reason, who wanted to vandalize property,” Carolina said.
He said he hopes whoever broke the window is caught and punished accordingly, adding that such behavior is “unbecoming” of his or any of his opponents’ campaigns.
“I give the other campaigns more credit that that,” he said.
Asked for a response to Walker’s comments, the Harp campaign issued this statement Sunday: “There is no place for violence or vandalism in any political campaign. We are glad nobody was injured as a result of this unfortunate incident. Our staff has filled out a police report, and we will let the proper authorities handle this matter from here.”
An earlier version of this article follows:
Toni Harp campaign manager Jason Bartlett showed up to his campaign headquarters Saturday morning to find broken glass on the sidewalk.
Two double-plated windows on the headquarters at 560 Whalley Ave. had been smashed, Bartlett said. He made the discovery at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, he said. Harp is running in a five-way Democratic primary for mayor.
After examining the windows with a local cop, Bartlett said, he determined “it looked like a baseball bat or some other heavy instrument was used to break the glass.”
He called the incident “disconcerting.”
“We don’t know if it was knuckleheads or if it was something else,” Bartlett said.
He said police are reviewing surveillance footage from across the street.
Harp’s campaign tried to leverage the incident into a fundraising opportunity: The campaign sent out an email to supporters Saturday morning announcing the vandalism and asking supporters for donations.
“Lets show the city that Toni won’t be intimidated!” the campaign wrote.