Sam Gurwitt Photo
Mayoral Candidate Jay Kaye.
Jay Kaye has spent 30 years restoring buildings. Now, he said, he would like to do the same to his hometown of Hamden by doing away with political impasses in town government, creating balance, and restoring the town to a stable fiscal position.
Kaye, a Republican, announced his run for Hamden mayor Tuesday evening in front of about 60 cocktail-sipping, mussel-munching supporters at Bugsy’s Dueling Piano Speakeasy.
“My 30-year career’s been in the protective coatings and restoration industry, and it’s taught me how to properly restore, protect, and finish projects,” he told the crowd. Kaye is a production manager for Ferarro’s Painting and Restoration, which is based in North Haven.
His campaign, he said, “is about restoring Hamden as an economically viable place to raise our families and to run our businesses.”
After his speech, Kaye explained how a restoration works.
“The way you restore something: You peel away the failed layers. You get down to the original substrate. You find out what’s wrong. You fix it. You don’t just keep applying layers,” he said. “My goal would be to get everyone to sit down together and focus on the problems that need to be fixed and effectively communicate those problems to the residents of Hamden so they can better understand what it would take to solve them.”
Kaye grew up in North Haven, “but right behind the Dairy Queen,” just over the border with Hamden. He said he spent most of his time in Hamden when he was growing up. He went to Hamden Hall, then graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., in 1988. He moved back to Connecticut and started a painting business in Branford. After he got engaged, he moved to Hamden. He now lives in Spring Glen with his wife Karlen Meinsen, and is the father of four.
Kaye does not have a Republican challenger. He is the third candidate to file paperwork to become Hamden’s next mayor, after current Mayor Curt Leng and Councilwoman Lauren Garrett, both of whom are Democrats.
Read more about all three candidates here.
Balance, Cooperation, Stability
A Republican has not been mayor of Hamden since the end of Barbara DeNicola’s second term in 1999. The Legislative Council is currently composed of 13 Democrats and 2 Republicans, and those two have their spots because the town charter requires that two spots be given to members of the minority party.
“Hamden needs balance,” Kaye said. “Hamden has the opportunity to restore balance to Town Hall.”
He argued that Hamden has suffered from one-party control and from widening divisions between members of the Legislative Council and the mayor. Leng has repeatedly faced off with members of his own party over the way he has handled the town’s finances. Council members, including Garrett, have blocked multiple attempts to use money allocated for the town’s pension to pay for overages in operating accounts. (Read more here, here, here, and here). On Friday, with insufficient funds in the water account, Leng declared a public emergency to pay the water bill at the Laurel View Golf Course.
Deputy Chief Bo Kicak.
“Hamden needs leadership that understands the importance of having a cohesive team of representation that puts Hamden first,” Kaye told the crowd. “There is no reason that the administrative leadership and fiscal authority of Hamden should not have been working together alongside each other as a team throughout the budget-making process,” he said. “We all have to be able to work together in a constructive manner.”
Kaye said that he will end the fiscal practices that have gotten Hamden to where it is. His effort, he said, “will start with abandoning the practice of mismanaging our spending. Abandoning the style of government that pits the mayor’s office against the Legislative Council. Abandoning the accumulation of debt. Abandoning the underfunding of pension and benefit accounts. Abandoning the reliance on poorly projected revenues. Abandoning these practices that have nothing but provide a shovel to dig a deep financial hole that now requires a taxpayer to pay for those practices.”
“Broad Appeal”
Campaign Manager Gregg Hannan.
Many of Kaye’s supporters acknowledged that it’s an uphill battle for a Republican to become mayor in Hamden. They argued that he will appeal to members of both parties, as well as to independents.
“He’s not partisan,” said council Minority Leader Marjorie Bonadies. “He’s just got a very broad appeal.” Independents, she said, are “that middle ground I think we can capture.”
As of the end of April, Hamden had only 4,049 registered Republicans and 11,914 unaffiliated voters. It had 17,107 Democrats.
Campaign Manager Gregg Hannan said that he thinks Kaye will be able to appeal to a broad enough array of voters to win. “There’s a lot of people who I think share Jay’s view of reasonable solutions to Hamden’s problems,” he said. “That’s our thought, is that it will be a broad spectrum of voters.
The Independent Vote
Mark Ceccorulli.
Based on who showed up on Tuesday, Kaye has already begun to attract a few independents.
Mark Ceccorulli was one of them. He is registered unaffiliated, and said that he usually votes Democrat. This time, he said, he will likely vote for Kaye, as he did for the Republican candidate, Salman Hamid, two years ago.
“I think it’s time for a new approach, and I don’t know, but I think Jay is the guy,” he said. “The people in the town are getting fed up and it’s getting to a boiling point.”
Lynda Burke used to be registered as an independent, she said, but she recently reregistered as a Republican so that she could help Kaye get elected. She has joined the Republican Town Committee (RTC), and she is helping with the campaign.
“He’s very open. He’s very welcoming of everybody,” she said of Kaye. “He honestly wants everyone’s opinions.”
She said that he genuinely wants to hear what people have to say, and that he listens when they tell him.
Lynda Burke.
Many of the prominent Republican players in Hamden politics showed up on Tuesday to give Kaye both their financial and verbal support. Among them was Michael Iezzi, who cahirsthe Police Commission.
Iezzi said that he will be supporting Kaye in the election on Nov. 5.
“I like that he’s transparent,” he said. “I like that he cares about the town. I like that he’s not more committed to party than town.”