by Mike Feinstein, California Green Party
In New Haven - a Democratic Party machine town where even elected Republicans are a scarce commodity - John Halle became the first independent or third party candidate to be elected in at least 66 years. He is the second elected Green in Connecticut, joining Hartford City Councilwoman Elizabeth Horton-Sheff.
An assistant professor of music at Yale, a pianist, composer and author of articles on music and politics, Halle won a three-way partisan race July 10h in a special election to replace an Alder-man who resigned to take a job on Wall Street.
Halle won with 202 votes, compared to 149 for the Democrat and 133 for the Republican. The Ward has 1,082 registered Democrats, 631 unaffiliated voters, 150 Republicans and 32 voters classified as "other," a category that includes Green Party members.
With the local Democratic establishment focused on the November mayoral election, Hall's Ninth Ward victory caught them by surprise. Before Halle's election, Democrats controlled 28 of the 30 Alderman seats, with the other two held by Republicans. But according to the New Haven Advocate, a community weekly, the "environmentalist, pro-clean-money, reform Greens simply outhustled the other two parties. A half dozen of them knocked on hundreds of doors. They identified likely voters, then called them on Election Day and drove many to the polls. Halle personally spoke to 400-500 voters."
On the campaign trail, Halle found voters concerned about the possible restarting of an old, shuttered English Station oil-burning power plant in Fair Haven. Halle and the Greens have fought that proposal and instead advocate converting all of New Haven's oil fired power plants to gas. They see this as one strategy among many in addressing the city's horrific 25% childhood asthma rate. Halle also talked about the speeding problem on the Ward's side streets. For the safety of both pedestrian and bicyclists, he wants new stop signs, speed bumps and 25 MPH signs. He is also concerned about the noise, parking and trash problems caused by the district's booming bar trade.
Patrons of Humphrey's East Bar for example, "just use that neighborhood as their personal toilet, regularly peeing on lawns," Halle observes.
"It's indicative of this contempt out-of-towners and suburbanites have for New Haven. It's tinged with racism."
Halle strongly opposed the local State Street Merchants Association's plans to sacrifice bus stops for parking spaces for bar patrons. Instead he supported making late night bus and van service available to bar patrons so that they will have an alternative to driving after drinking. He also supported stronger enforcement of noise and nuisance ordinances. Halle pledged to challenge "corporate welfare giveaways to politically connected developers and contractors." He also wants to expand the city's living wage ordinance to include workers for the city's largest employers and not just those employed by the city and city contractors - just as have done his Green colleagues Kevin McKeown and Mike Feinstein on the Santa Monica, CA City Council. (McKeown is originally from New Haven and went to school at Yale.)
Halle's election set off a scramble to determine how to make his committee assignments. City staff contacted the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to see how they make assignments for socialist Rep. Bernie Sanders and independent Sen. James Jeffords. (The answer: You make deals.) Halle is considering whether to inherit his predecessor's seats on the Education and Human Services committees, or to join the Republican caucus and qualify for seats on more committees.
Meanwhile, it's been difficult to determine exactly when New Haven last elected a third party or independent aldermen. Democrat Toni Harp was cross-endorsed by the New Haven Green Party in 1987. But the overwhelming majority of her votes came on the Democratic line. City records don't list party affiliation of Aldermen elected before 1982. According to the definitive database of New Haven politics - the memory of Dick Lee, former city mayor - there has not been one since he began in local politics. Lee first served as an Alderman in 1939. Before that he covered City Hall for the old New Haven Journal Courier, starting back in 1935.
Halle holds his Aldermanic seat through the end of the year. He should certainly expect more of a fight if he hopes to retain it. Warns New Haven Advocate columnist Paul Bass, "look for the Democratic machine to ride into the neighborhood with elephant guns this November."
From 1985-1991 the Green Party was very active in New Haven politics, running candidates for mayor, in most aldermanic wards, and for the state legislature. Then for several years, the local party lay dormant, until the 1996 - and particularly the 2000 - Nader campaigns re-energized it. Last November, more than 300 volunteers worked at the polls across New Haven in support of Nader. This fall, New Haven Greens expect to run at least a few other Aldermanic candidates when Halle runs for reelection.
Source: The Green Pages
