Bickering Trips Up Hartford Democrats

March 23, 2006
By OSHRAT CARMIEL, Courant Staff Writer

Mayor Eddie A. Perez has largely been able to have his way as he navigates the tricky waters of Hartford politics.

But his latest move may backfire on him.

Perez's effort to shut a political rival out of the statewide Democratic nominating convention has sparked a complex dispute that now threatens to rob Hartford of any representation at the convention.

And it's all happening just when Perez is trying to help Stamford Mayor Dannel P. Malloy win the nomination for governor. It was only Monday that Perez, who has been rumored as a potential running mate, publicly embraced Malloy at a city hall press conference.

But if the dispute is not resolved by March 28, the third-largest delegation to the state convention could be a no-show, with no say on who the Democratic candidate for governor, the U.S. Senate or any other public office will be this year.

The matter has elevated a clannish urban street fight in Hartford into statewide political theater, as the mayor and his declared nemesis, state Rep. Minnie Gonzalez, battle this one out under the gaze of party heavyweights.

"It's very unfortunate," said John B. Kennelly, a member of Hartford's Democratic town committee, "that personality differences couldn't be overcome to ensure that the city of Hartford's delegation was properly selected [Tuesday] night."

"I do believe that had there been more of a spirit of compromise, we would not have reached the impasse we did," he said.

The impasse came down to this: Gonzalez and her 12-member district of the town committee were completely excluded from a proposed list of 54 delegates to the state convention in May. The town chairman, a lockstep ally of Perez, said Gonzalez and company don't deserve to be delegates.

Their attendance at other Democratic Party functions has been spotty in recent years, the chairman, Noel F. McGregor Jr. said.

So Gonzalez and veteran Hartford politico Nicholas Carbone, another Perez detractor, found a loophole - and stuck their fists through it.

They discovered that the Hartford Democratic Town Committee had not updated its party rules with the secretary of the state's office since 1983. And so, they said, the party itself and all of its committee members were illegitimate.

If the illegitimate party were to go ahead and select delegates, they argued, those delegates would be illegitimate, too. And the whole illegitimate matter, Carbone said, would surely end up in court.

The challenge forced Tuesday night's committee meeting to immediately dissolve without any delegates selected, leaving prominent Democrats statewide shaking their heads in disbelief Wednesday. None wanted to be quoted in a newspaper story.

In this critical week, when every town in the state is picking delegates to the convention, the question of who will get the party endorsement - Malloy or New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. - has political junkies counting heads. The flap also caused some buzz at both Malloy and DeStefano headquarters, observers said.

"Even though there's 1,600 delegates, most are pretty much locked up by now," said George Jepsen, former state Democratic chairman. "With fewer and fewer uncommitted delegates, it becomes a small numbers game. Every delegate counts."

The majority of Hartford's 54 proposed delegates were expected to commit to Malloy. Even though Gonzalez backs DeStefano, her inclusion as a delegate would not have altered the balance of support for Malloy in Hartford.

Malloy campaign manager Chris Cooney said Wednesday he was sure the matter would be resolved, and when it was, the result would stay the same. "It would have been nice to have it locked up at this point - not really for our sake but for the sake of the political process in Hartford," Cooney said.

Derek Slap, spokesman for the DeStefano campaign, took a different spin on the news out of Hartford. "It represents that there is strong DeStefano support in Hartford," he said.

Party insiders say the scenario of Hartford fading to meaninglessness as the Democratic Party gears up for a fall campaign against Gov. M. Jodi Rell is so extreme it will no doubt be diffused.

The Gonzalez camp is offering what it sees as a simple solution. Should the town committee revise its list to include Gonzalez and her friends, they said, the challenge might disappear, and the Hartford delegation, with its 54 votes, would have a smooth path to the state convention.

"The choice on where we end up on this is in the hands of others," Carbone said Wednesday, adding, "I would hope that the mayor doesn't act in a stubborn way."

But Perez did not appear interested in that solution Wednesday.

"This is a procedural question," Perez said. "And we're going to address the procedural question."

"There's plenty of time to do research," the mayor added. "There's been enough recording of the information. There's been an election held."

State elections officials Wednesday could not say for sure what would happen if the dispute ended up in their hands. A spokesman for the secretary of the state's office said that the statute of limitations has long passed to file a legal complaint in court.

They said the matter, most likely, would have to be resolved by the state Democratic Party. Justin Kronholm, the party's executive director, said he could not comment on the merits of the case because it may end up before the party.

Democrats in Hartford will meet again Tuesday.