Minority representation or exploiting a loophole?

Working Families Party says its a true third party, but others say it’s all about Democrat control

Local Connecticut governments are seeing more participation from the Working Families Party attempting to change the landscape of local politics.

The party has put forth candidates on its own line to take over seats held by Republicans on town councils and boards, and crossendorsed many Democrat candidates to pull the party further left.

With 92 candidates endorsed in municipal elections, its presence is larger locally than ever before.

The party has sitting representatives on the Hartford City Council and Windham Town Council, but has endorsed candidates for the first time in Hamden and West Hartford.

“It’s definitely more independent candidates than we’ve previously run,” said Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party. “We have a reputation for being strategic and targeted. Wewant to expand upon that. We’ll take the same expertise and competence we’ve used in legislative races, but we’re trying to spread our wings.”

The WFP has endorsed local candidates this election cycle in Bridgeport, Danbury, Fairfield, Hartford, Middletown, Norwalk, Hartford, New Britain, Meriden, New London and West Hartford.

In New Haven, the party has thrown its support behind incumbent Mayor Toni Harp and several candidates for the Board of Alders.

Under state statutes, a municipal governing body such as a town council and board can’t elect all its members from the same political party, unless its members only represent districts.

Those positions were a lifeline of the minority party in Hamden, said Scott McLean, a professor of political science at Quinnipiac University.

In Hamden, the two WFPendorsed candidates— Rhonda Caldwell and Laurie Sweet— are looking to replace the traditional minority Republican representation on the town’s Legislative Council as the new minority.

They’re trying to challenge Republican Legislative Council candidates Elizabeth Wetmore, Austin Cesare, Dolphus Addison and Dian Lewis.

The Working Families Party has been successful in electing candidates to Hartford’s City Council, where no Republicans are represented.

Farrell said the WFP is running the same strategy in Bridgeport’s Board of Education race and in West Hartford’s Town Council.

The Working Families Party came out of New York in 1998 to be a vehicle for people on the political left who felt they weren’t being heard by the town Democratic leadership, McLean said.

“There’s certainly a risk that the strength of the Working Families Party could diminish the right ofcenter voices that could be heard on the ( Hamden) Legislative Council,” he said.

Replacing Republicans on local councils and boards with WFP members could mean eliminating true opposition to Democrats, said Gary Rose, professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield and chairman of the Department of Government, Politics and Global Studies.

“I suppose you could call it bipartisanship, but if you lose a Republican voice on any town council that’s Democraticdominated, you’re losing representation of the electorate as a whole.

“I’m a strong believer in choice and vibrant party perspective,” Rose said. “I don’t think itwould benefit the overall electorate.”

J. R. Romano, the Connecticut GOP chairman, said the WFP and Democrats are idealistically the same so their election strategy is way to manipulate predominantly Democratic towns to not have any other voices— such as Republicans.

“It’s a work around to get around minority representation on boards and commissions,” Romano said. “Ideologically they are the same and it’s the reason their mill rates are so high and their towns aren’t runwell.”

Romano said allowing WFP candidates to count as minority representation is a way to force singleparty control over a municipality.

“Why are communities with WFP elected, constantly need to be bailed out?” he said.

The Hamden candidates said part of their strategy is to create a supermajority on the council.

McLean said while the Working Families Party is on the liberal side of the spectrum, it isn’t the same party as Democrats.

Farrell said the WFP agenda overlaps in many ways with Democrats but it also stands separate in others.

“We’re glad toworkwith Democrats on issues, but it’s not the entirety of our mission,” Farrell said. The WFP doesn’t get involved with corporate centrist Democrats and it looks for candidates to primary them, she said.

“We intend to be a real political party and that means growing and expand at municipal level,” Farrell said.

Much of the party’s work still involves endorsing progressive Democratic candidates. In legislative races the party typically endorses onethird of Democrats, Farrell said.