Bond Eyes Secretary Of The State Job

• City health director forms exploratory campaign committee.
• Jacqueline James said she’s running for the office.

Bond has filed papers to form an exploratory committee for state office. Bond, who is 44, plans to make a formal public announcement of her exploratory committee’s formation at an event next Wednesday in Criscuolo Park in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood, where she grew up.

Bond said she is weighing a run for the Democratic nomination for secretary of the state, one of the only statewide positions expected to be open in next year’s election. Incumbent Denise Merrill is stepping down after three terms in the office. A host of Democrats have already filed ​“exploratory” committees with an eye on replacing her, including New Haven Alder Darryl Brackeen, Hamden State Rep. Joshua Elliott, State Sen. Matt Lesser of Middletown, and Meriden State Rep. Hilda Santiago.

Meanwhile, James told the Independent Friday that she plans to announce her own candidacy in three weeks — not an ​“exploratory” campaign, but a full-out quest for the secretary of the state position.

“I’m committed to running. Our residents in the state of Connecticut need someone who’s committed,” James said.

Bond: Covid-Tested

Besides overseeing elections, the secretary of the state is in charge of business filings and maintaining the commercial registry. The secretary of the state also proposes and lobbies for new election laws.

Perhaps as a result, for decades — since 1991 — the position has been filled by state legislators who already had experience drafting and voting on such legislation: Merrill, Susan Bysiewicz, Miles Rapoport, Pauline Kezer.

Bond was asked on Friday what experience she would bring to a job usually held by people with legislative backgrounds.

She spoke about her day-to-day work helping small businesses stay open safely in the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the work she did in conjunction with others in city government on enabling people to vote safely. Bond has served as the public face of the city’s Covid-19 response and earned plaudits for her work, in which she formed coalitions with ministers, Yale’s public health school contact tracers, pharmacies and hospitals. (Click here to read about that and about her background.) She argued that the administrative skills she developed would fit neatly with the secretary of the state’s mission.

“I have a unique story. I’m not your normal politician,” Bond said.

“Being a leader and an administrator already, I ran the largest health department in Connecticut, in Bridgeport. I now run the third-largest city in Connecticut in the middle of a pandemic that heightened a lot of different social issues in our country. I want all our residents to trust the government again. Right now we see the challenges with vaccination rates in our community. We can undo this with new leadership, trusted people who care about meeting people where they are at, instead of at the voting booth. It’s bigger than all of us, and I’m excited to be a voice for those who’ve never had a seat at the table.

“I’m exploring for statewide office because we need a new type of leadership for this post-Covid world, people who are battle-tested to get the work done. I feel I embody those qualities and look forward to the road ahead.”

Much of Bond’s work in New Haven — and before that in Bridgeport and the Naugatuck Valley — has focused on health equity, on bringing information and access to care to communities of color and other marginalized groups.

“Through this pandemic, I spearheaded and demonstrated strong leadership as an administrator in an executive role and collaborated with many different sectors to ensure a safe reopening and ensure small businesses can thrive.”

Bond said she will continue working as city health director at least through the fall, restricting her exploratory campaign efforts to nights, weekends, and personal time.

“I will reassess in December and determine whether I need to take a leave of absence. My goal is to work as long as I can. I love public health. There are different goals I need to finish,” she said.

Bond’s exploratory campaign treasurer is Jenell Lawson, a deputy director and vice-president at Community Action Agency of New haven.

Mayor Justin Elicker, for whose administration Bond works, endorsed Brackeen’s secretary of the state ambitions at his Aug. 19 exploratory launch party.

James: Not Just ​“Exploring”

James, who is 51, pointed to elections and small business-development work she has done in New Haven and statewide to answer the ​“Why me?” question.

As head of New Haven’s small business development office under former Mayor Toni Harp, James created a Small Business Academy that she said has helped 300 grassroots New Haveners develop business plans and seek funding to start their own enterprises. ​“I wrote my own small business curriculum and created a roundtable to support and start businesses.”

She also launched New Haven’s successful food truck festival on Long Wharf, again tapping aspiring entrepreneurs at the grassroots level and connecting them with government opportunities.

As the official in charge of running elections, the secretary of the state works directly with local registrars of voters. James noted that she did that in New Haven when the Harp administration hired her as a consultant to help iron out problems with the city’s elections process.

James was also the first Black woman to serve as New Haven’s Democratic Town Committee chair. She served on New Haven’s Board of Alders for 13 years, six as president pro tem. She said her supervisory campaign work for many local and statewide candidates, including U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, Gov. Dannel Malloy, and State Sen. Martin Looney. She served as manager of Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim’s 2018 gubernatorial candidate. In that race, she said, ​“we made history with getting 35,000 [petition] signatures and getting a convicted felon on the ballot.”

If elected, James vowed to ​“continue the work Secretary Merrill has been doing” on early and expanded absentee-ballot voting.

“I’ve done the work. I’ve seen what is needed in regards to going out and seeing people are registered to vote,” James said. ​“There needs to be this energy of people wanting to come vote.”