Puerto Rico’s Governor Helps Malloy Court The Grand Avenue Vote

Exactly a week before Election Day, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy brought in Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to Grand Avenue help him woo the city’s Latino voters.

The takeaway message: Our policies are mirror images.

Gov. Padilla campaigned for Gov. Malloy in five cities down the state of Connecticut Tuesday, looping back up to hit New Haven in the late afternoon. Democratic state and city representatives joined with Latino community leaders to hear Padilla speak in Arte’s Inc.‘s gallery space at 19 Grand Ave. and then follow the governors as they greeted Fair Haven voters.

Malloy told the Independent afterward that the Latino community represents almost 20 percent of citizens but only 6 percent of votes on Election Day. ​“I want to drive that percentage higher,” he said.

Puerto Ricans make up more than half the Latino population in Connecticut, said Fair Haven Alder Santiago Berrios-Bones, who is Puerto Rican.

The city’s Latino voters prioritize job creation ​“above all,” he said. ​“We need to support the person” who is going to accomplish that.

Democratic leaders who spoke Tuesday focused on Malloy’s policies on immigration reform and job creation as reasons for Latinos to vote him back into office.

“We’re voting for the life of this community,” Mayor Toni Harp said.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal ventured a few lines in Spanish — to the delight of his majority Spanish-speaking audience — before switching back to English. ​“As fellow residents of New Haven, you appreciate what Dan Malloy has done for the DREAMers,” he said, referring to the state law the governor signed in 2011 allowing some children of undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public universities.

“Necesitamos que votan,” he concluded. ​“We need you to vote.” As Blumenthal returned to the side of the room, Gov. Padilla leaned over to compliment his Spanish.

Conversely, Padilla gave his pitch for Malloy almost entirely in Spanish.

Padilla encouraged New Haven’s Latino voters to choose Malloy because the Connecticut leader’s policy decisions closely resemble his own.

“If you see the decisions I’ve made and those of Dan Malloy,” they are the same, he said. Both have brought down drastic double-digit deficits; both have increased graduation rates for Latino youth; both have improved the economy without waves of layoffs, he said.

“The other candidate [Tom Foley], is a multimillionaire and he doesn’t pay taxes,” Padilla said. ​“Puertorriqueños, salgan a votar en masa! Puerto Ricans, go and vote en masse!”

Malloy drew out the comparison further. ​“The governor and I have been through hell together,” he said. ​“He had a 22 percent deficit, and I had an 18 percent deficit.”

In response to State Sen. Martin Looney’s statement that New Haven should replicate its ​“18,000 vote plurality” that pushed the governor over the edge in the 2010 election, Malloy said: ​“I don’t want 18,000 votes; I want 20,000 votes!”

The governors then invited community members to join them on a short walk down Fair Haven’s Grand Avenue, to talk to small-business owners.

“This is the governor of Puerto Rico,” 13-year-old Shaun Graham (pictured) was told in the middle of his haircut at Orlando’s Barber Shop.

“Vote November 4th… Oh wait, you can’t vote, can you?” Gov. Padilla teased Shaun.

After the politicians and their followers left, Wilkin Ramos, a barber at Orlando’s shop, told the Independent he plans to vote for Malloy. Ramos, who is Puerto Rican, said he was excited to see the territorial governor in New Haven.

But he said he wants Malloy to actually follow through in creating job and housing options for Latinos. ​“Pedimos que nos ayude a seguir pa’lante,” he said. ​“We ask that he help us continue moving forward.”

The last stop on the walk was Boxing in Faith Gym, a not-for-profit gym that trains local teens to compete in the ring.

Govs. Malloy and Padilla talked with owners and operators Marilyn and Luis Rosa, Sr. and took a short tour of the gym.

Afterward, Luis Rosa, who was born in Puerto Rico before moving to the northeast United States, said he wasn’t sure whom he would vote for, but was happy to see Padilla.

“It’s nice to see the governor of Puerto Rico come to the U.S.,” he said.