Hartford Mayoral Candidates Forum: A Whole Lot of Meh

Earlier this evening, I attended what I believe was the first forum/debate between the people who would like to be our new mayor. I expected it to be like most of the debates I’ve attended in the past few years — short on substance and long on canned campaign statements. Overall, my expectations were met. The situation was made worse by a terrible format for this event and a moderator with no moderating skills. There were a few interesting moments, however.

First surprise of the night? There are six candidates, not five. And the sixth candidate is the only woman running for mayor. That’s right, the field stands as follows:

• Mike McGarry (the lone Republican and a self-professed “placeholder” for some yet-to-be-identified Republican candidate who will jump into the race later)
• Edwin Vargas (retired teacher)
• Mayor Pedro Segarra (current holder of the coveted office, also a West End attorney)
• Reverend Patrice Smith (anti-violence activist, head of Saving Our Kids from the Streets)
• J. Stan McCauley (former Republican now Democrat)
• Shawn Wooden (West End attorney at Day Pitney, formerly Day Berry & Howard)

At this point, the more, the merrier, I suppose. But I hope the field thins out a bit more as this process plays out, so we can actually hear some real, thoughtful discussion and debate.

The format of the forum left a lot to be desired. It was moderated by Jeannette DeJesus, an advisor to Governor Malloy on healthcare reform, which seemed like a very odd selection. We were never told how she ended up as the moderator. The candidates started with 3-minute opening speeches. In sum:

• McGarry: Hartford has a problem, just one problem, and that’s economic development. To create jobs and attract investors, we need to have a more balanced government, instead of one dominated by one party and supplemented by the left-wing Working Families Party.
• Vargas: Lived in Hartford 40 years, retired Hartford public school teacher. Lived here continuously and never left. Thinks Hartford should be a beacon in the state. Wants to be “a mayor for all of us” and plans to have a special focus on young people. Hartford should be a safe, clean, healthy, green city. We heard that message again and again and again throughout the night.
• Segarra: Took office at a difficult time for the city. Inherited a lot of problems. Fortunate to have worked as a social worker and attorney, then in the corporation counsel’s office and on the City Council. Feels he’s the most qualified. Has been working collaboratively to reach out to all.

  

  Edwin Vargas

• Smith: Lived in Hartford for more than 50 years. “Always on the streets.” People have seen her work with the youth — she’s all about the youth of Hartford. She can create jobs because she’s done that in her work with the youth. Also, the elderly pay too much for prescriptions. Someone should do something about that. She’s heard enough talking — people need to do something, because “we have a darkness over this city.”
• McCauley: This is one of the most important elections in the city’s history. His vision and platform include economic development, housing, education and public safety.
• Wooden: “My name is Shawn Wooden and I’m running for mayor because this city has failed its citizens” on the issues of education, crime and jobs. Youngest of six kids, grew up in the North End. “I’m running for mayor because City Hall has failed us. . . . I find these conditions unacceptable.” He is a fresh face with fresh ideas.

Then we went to a segment of questions prepared by a committee. I assume that committee was from the Hartford Votes Coalition, which sponsored the forum, but again, that wasn’t explained. The questions were posed to specific candidates and then each candidate had the opportunity to “cash in” a card to answer a question posed to someone else.

The committee questions were terrible. There was no follow up from the moderator. Some of the responses made absolutely no sense, but it’s tough to fault the candidates for that when the questions made no sense. For example, one question posed to McGarry was about the “New Haven to Hartford busway.” Huh? Last I heard there’s a New Britain to Hartford busway and a New Haven to Hartford railway. No idea what that question was intended to refer to. (Although I have to say that the terrible question didn’t entirely excuse McGarry’s oddball response about robocars being the future.) A question about corruption and ethics interested several of the candidates, but prompted a completely incomprehensible response from Smith. First she was against public officials accepting money from contractors, then she said it was OK as long as they didn’t pocket it. Huh? A question posed to Vargas asked about how he would avoid a fiasco like the Bridgeport election last year, when there weren’t enough ballots for the voters. He went on about how the registrar should be tightly regulated by the Secretary of State’s office. OK — but that has little to do with being mayor. Similarly, a question posed to McCauley asked him about whether he has a plan to help out homeowners who have “overextended” themselves financially. Again, huh?

That round of questions was a total bust.

Half an hour after the forum started, we got to the audience questions. Each candidate could again “cash in” cards to choose to answer questions. The moderator prefaced the questioning with a statement that most of the questions that had been submitted focused on quality of life issues, such as noise, safety and blight. No surprise there.

The first question asked what plans candidates had to deal with blighted properties when no one is interested in buying and renovating them. McGarry took that on that question first, with what became a familiar refrain: “I’m embarrased to say it, but” when he was on the Council, they handled the same problem by using his idea to board up those properties in accordance with HUD standards and paint them. Somehow the painting means people didn’t even realize they were abandoned. Not sure how that works. (As an aside, I was tweeting about the forum and when I mentioned this idea, COO David Panagore told me that the city currently follows HUD standards in boarding abandoned properties up.)

Pedro Segarra

Segarra, in what became his familiar refrain, said that he’d been dealing with that issue “as recently as this morning,” when he was talking to NRZs. (He also mentioned talking to the governor “as recently as today” about crime in Hartford. Busy guy.) Like many issues, Segarra noted, the problem is not necessarily how to deal with blight, but how to pay to deal with blight. Segarra is apparently working on a plan to deal with the six most blighted areas in the city (he didn’t specify which areas those are) that will be rolled out soon.

McCauley had the most interesting idea. He said his plan for blight is to use it as an opportunity to help with prisoner re-entry and at the same time increase the percentage of city teachers, police officers and firefighters who actually live in the city. Give prisoners two houses at a time to work on rehabbing. Provide training and resources. They learn a valuable new skill, they get invested in the homes, and they get a cut of the profits made in selling the homes. (I wasn’t entirely clear on whether they get to keep a house free and clear or they sell both.) Obviously not something easy and simple to implement, but a novel and potentially effective idea.

J. Stan McCauley

There was the inevitable question about how to bring business to Hartford, and the ho-hum answers about reducing crime, promoting arts and culture, lowering taxes. Meh. McGarry chastised Segarra for having lots of programs “in the works” but not actually implemented. His idea? Turn the landfill into a big greenhouse. Have up to 150 Hartford residents employed by the end of the summer, growing things. I’m not clear on whether that food would then be sold to residents or businesses or what. Or how that’s really bringing in business at all.

Wooden said he knows about bringing in business “as an investment lawyer.” I call bullshit. The vast majority of attorneys are not businesspeople. Not even remotely. A brief glance at Wooden’s law firm bio shows that he deals with hedge funds, commodities, broker dealers. Trust me, that is in no way related to getting, for example, a movie theater into the empty Front Street development. Also, he claimed more than once that he works for the largest firm in Connecticut. Day Pitney is not a Connecticut firm. Not any more. Also, it doesn’t employ as many people in Connecticut as it used to. And honestly, is that supposed to be a selling point? I think he needs to play down the whole “investment lawyer” schtick.

For some reason, Smith used this question to rail against the CT Science Center, which she claims is a “billion dollar” development that doesn’t employ Hartford residents. She brought up the Science Center more than once, as a symbol of things the city is doing wrong. Not sure any of those around me understood her point.

None of the audience questions were particularly notable. Nor did any of the candidates score many points with their answers. The audience favorites were Segarra and Wooden, with McCauley and Vargas not far behind. I thought the audience response to Wooden was very disproportionate to his performance. His introductory 3-minute speech was stilted and he seemed very nervous, but his supporters went crazy about it. There’s no question that Wooden had the largest number of supporters, both in the room during the forum and outside before the forum started. He also had the glossiest and flashiest collection of campaign materials, but he was the only candidate handing out materials that were not also in Spanish.

While we’re on the subject of campaign materials, Segarra’s materials bothered me. He had a typical piece of campaign literature clearly labeled as such. But each seat also had a brochure and a cover letter that read “A message from Hartford’s Mayor Pedro E. Segarra.” The cover letter talked about Hartford’s challenges and problems and Segarra’s “proposed ongoing effort to gather all sectors of Hartford’s community together to identify and then expand and enhance the best and most promising opportunities that already exist in Hartford.” The attached brochure was intended to be a report on the “first phase” of that effort, which is known as “Opportunities Hartford.” The glossy brochure contains several pictures of Segarra. I question whether that material was inappropriately distributed during the forum as a not-so-subtle campaign piece for Segarra disguised as information for residents.

Granted, the brochure was an effective way of telling residents about this effort and reporting on what information has been gathered. On the other hand, the overall impression is that a piece of campaign literature for one individual was distributed to residents using the mayoral seal and presumably using taxpayer funds. That’s a problem, especially in light of the climate of distrust and corruption that Segarra inherited. I hope his campaign refrains from similar behavior at future events. Yes, there’s an advantage to being the incumbent, but that advantage should never extend to misusing — or even giving the appearance of misusing — taxpayer money to promote yourself.

I’m happy to see a woman in the mix. But frankly, this city should be able to put up a stronger, more viable female candidate. Smith is passionate and loves her city, but no serious candidate can stand in front of an audience and tell them that “someone needs to do something.” We know that. We expect our government to do something, and you’re running to be the head of that government. You need to have actual plans.

And those actual plans need to not sound insane. Apologies if I offend anyone here, but McGarry comes across as an endearing crazy old grandpa. I don’t doubt that he cares about the city. I don’t doubt that he is passionate about changing the status quo in Hartford politics. I actually agree that having one-party rule is bad for the city. And I respect that he’s trying to make sure his party has a candidate in the mix. But honestly, he doesn’t represent that party well any more.

There were no big winners tonight, and that means Segarra is still the clear front-runner. It’s going to be tough for any new candidate to gain traction against such a popular mayor, and I didn’t see anyone come close to rising to that challenge tonight. Wooden seemed to have a lot of support in the room, but he didn’t offer any concrete plans or seem particularly comfortable up there. He also focused way too much on negative comments — City Hall has failed us, our government has failed us, Hartford is adrift. Meh. We need to hear new, creative ideas. The only one who seemed to offer them tonight was McCauley, but he needs to knock on a hell of a lot of doors to stand any kind of chance against Segarra. So do the other candidates.

It’s going to be a loooong campaign season. Make sure to check out Real Hartford for her take on the night.