{news} Green mayor in Hamden?

[David Bedell]

Looks like you're keeping 'em guessing in Hamden.  I like that, but my only 
concern is the waste of paper if they have to reprint the ballots!

http://www.hamdendailynews.com/town_gov.htm
October 24, 2005

Henrici and Reilly and Gustafson on Amento
The mayoral candidates and a Green react without much reaction to the 
mayor's decision to call it a day

By Sharon Bass

The day before Mayor Carl Amento made the much-anticipated yet 
answer-already-assumed-by-most announcement that he was not going for a 
fourth term in a three-way bid, he telephoned the man who clobbered him in 
the Democratic Primary to give him the head's up.

Like virtually every other political insider, Democratic mayoral candidate 
Craig Henrici said he was not at all surprised. "I got the impression on 
Primary Night that he didn't really want to do it," he said. "It wasn't good 
for him."

Even after getting a quite dismal result at the June 13 primary, Amento made 
an 11th-hour effort last week to stay in the three-way race by running a 
poll to see if he had a shot at another term. Preliminary results did not 
hold up to his hopes. Last Friday, he made public his decision not to run on 
the Green line. The Green Party had endorsed him before the primary, so if 
he should lose he could run as a Green in the Nov. 8 election.

Henrici said it didn't really matter to him or his campaign whether Amento 
ran. "It defines the campaign a little more (now that it's known), but we're 
doing the exact same thing in our mailings and our door-to-door activities," 
he said.

He said he understands why Amento resorted to polling. "I know that Carl 
thoroughly enjoyed being mayor so if he thought there was any way he could 
win an election, he would have run," said Henrici. "I think he said it best 
in your article ("Amento Calls it Quits," HDN, Oct. 21, 2005), 'It doesn't 
go on forever.' And I think the people in Hamden want change."

Republican mayoral challenger Dick Reilly said he's glad Amento didn't 
pursue a Green bid because it could have hurt him professionally.

"To me it would have been political suicide if he wanted a state job (or to 
get) help from anybody, the state Democrats," said Reilly. "If (Democratic 
Attorney General Dick) Blumenthal ever runs (for governor) I think he would 
be a very (strong) candidate. (Amento) would have just cut his lifeline 
right off.

"I think what really happened is he got really thrashed in the primary. I 
think that threw him off. The party chairman went against him and the state 
reps. I mean I think that's unconscionable. But that's the Democrats. That's 
the way they act in this town," he said.

Reilly compared this year's primary campaign between Amento and Henrici to 
the 1997 Clayman/DeNicola mayoral election. Democrats who wanted to push out 
incumbent Democrat Lillian Clayman formed "Democrats for DeNicola." 
Republican Barbara DeNicola took Clayman's seat. (Clayman and Amento were 
both in the third-term curse when they lost. No Hamden mayor has made it to 
four.)

"If I get any sympathy votes I'd be surprised because he (Amento) got so 
thrashed in the primary. 62 percent is big. That's big. That's a mandate," 
he said. "That's why I was surprised Carl ran a poll. I think he was caught 
off guard. He wasted a lot of money in the wrong area."

And he said Amento ran a too-nice campaign. "He was touting his 
accomplishments but he wasn't attacking Henrici enough," said Reilly.

"You know politics is such a cruel game," he said with a laugh. "And not the 
best man wins every time. Voters are fickle. It's hard to please all the 
people all the time. In a tough economy, it's not easy."

Aaron Gustafson, a Hamden Green and co-chair of the Green Party of 
Connecticut, said he didn't hear about Amento's decision until after "it had 
already been broken."

He, too, figured the mayor would not seek a fourth term. But he said he 
wished Amento had, even if he didn't have a shot at winning. Gustafson said 
putting Amento on the ballot as a Green would have given everyone a chance 
to vote for him. Also, if at least 1 percent of the vote went to Amento, it 
would have given the local Green Party ballot access.

"I wasn't really surprised because he didn't really take the bull by the 
horns and keep running, after the Democratic Primary," said Gustafson. "I'm 
a little disappointed that he's not choosing to remain on the ballot and 
have a shot at helping democracy. That was one of the main reasons we were 
doing this."

Gustafson said his party might replace Amento's name on the ballot with a 
true-blue Green. He said he's got two or three people in mind, but no 
delusional thoughts about winning.

"It would be purely for ballot access," he said.