{news} New Haven’s Board of Aldermen voted to stop war in Iraq and stop developing nuclear weapons

[Charlie Pillsbury]

Aldermen: No Nukes

by Paul Bass | January 8, 2008 - www.newhavenindependent.org
Close your eyes, and you might have thought New Haven's Board of Aldermen
was the U.S. Senate, as city lawmakers voted to stop the war in Iraq and
stop developing nuclear weapons.

Actually, they voted to advise the U.S. government to do those things, in
non-binding resolutions.

The two votes were the only points of contention at Monday night's board
meeting at City Hall. It resembled the Senate not just because the topic was
foreign policy — but because the chambers also assumed the air of a debating
society against a backdrop of passionate citizen lobbying.

Dare we call it the city's Greatest Deliberative
Body<http://thehill.com/under-the-dome/worlds-greatest-deliberative-body-2005-01-12.html>
?

For while the two measures passed with solid majorities, both sides of the
discussion — including Dwight Alderwoman Gina Calder, attending her first
meeting — offered thoughtful and unpredictable differences of opinion. Some
aldermen voted in favor of one measure but not the other.

The first measure up for a vote, submitted by the Peace Commission, urged
"cessation of combat operations in Iraq and the return of U.S. troops."

[image: allan%20b.jpg]
allan%20b.jpg
It passed by a voice vote. Green Party Alderman Allan Brison (pictured) read
a speech in favor of the measure, twice — at a pre-meeting press conference
organized by peace activists, then again on the floor.

"Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, was a bitter enemy of al-Qaeda, and was
militarily impotent after 10 years of sanctions," said Brison, who
represents East Rock and was attending his first meeting as alderman. "This
was is about oil."

Fair Haven Heights Alderman Robert Lee said he's "tired" of young people
coming home in body bags.

"No" votes included not just the board's lone Republican, but some
Democrats, including Moti Sandman of Beaver Hills.

"I think President Bush created a scenario we totally dismembered any
semblance of government" in Iraq, Sandman reasoned. "We have a moral
obligation to be there to recreate their infrastructure, before we pull
out."

Fellow Beaver Hills Democrat Carl Goldfield, too, voted against the Iraq
resolution, echoing the "You make it, you break it" argument.

The 15 or so peace activists in attendance clapped and cheered when the
measure passed, until Goldfield, the board's president,
<http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/01/goldfield_eyes.php>instructed
them to "refrain from expressing emotions."

*Nukes Targeted*

A more extended debate took place over the second proposal. This one "urged
the United States Congress to support [U.S.] House Resolution
68<http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-hr68/show>calling for a
comprehensive nuclear disarmament program."

"We just want the [Bush] administration to follow the law" and abide by a
three-decade-plus old nonproliferation treaty, said Fair Haven Alderwoman
Erin Sturgis-Pascale. She introduced the resolution along with colleagues
Dolores Colon of the Hill and Westville's Sergio Rodriguez.

She said the U.S. spends $6 billion a year developing its arsenal. She
called "every dollar spent… a theft of education and jobs."

"In a perfect world," responded Republican DePino, who represented Morris
Cove, "I would support the principle of comprehensive nuclear disarmament."
But Resolution 68 "avoids the question of whether nuclear weapons are good
or bad for security."

DePino said she worries about "undermining" national security against
"terrorists and hostile nations."

Dwight's Gina Calder said she has the same worries. Although she voted for
the Iraq resolution, she voted against the nukes measure. She said she knew
she'd be voting on foreign policy on New Haven's Board of Aldermen, and she
thought hard about the issue.

When the U.S. first signed a non-proliferation treaty, the word knew of only
three nuclear powers, she said. "Now we're doing with nine," some of which
are "rogue states" like North Korea. That changes the issue because such
governments are less responsible, and harder to deal with, she said.

Carl Goldfield voted in favor of this resolution. He acknowledged, when
reminded, that in the 1990s he spoke out against the Board of Aldermen
taking on foreign affairs, which he considered beyond the local solons'
purview.

"I still think it's a bad idea," he said Monday night. "I gave up" trying to
fight it.

The anti-nukes measure passed 17-7, with three abstentions. Voting yes:
Brooks, Perez, Colon, Clark, Smart, Brison, Antunes, Pascale, J. Rodriguez,
Castro, Paolillo, Edwards, Jones, McCormack, S. Rodrigues, Goldfield,
Sepulveda. Voting no: Calder, Rhodeen, DePino, Morehead, Silverman,
Lehtonen, Sandman.

[image: cliff%20graves.jpg]
cliff%20graves.jpg
Activists who spoke at a pre-meeting press conference urging the aldermen to
vote yes on both measures included the NAACP's Clifton Graves Jr.
(pictured), Peace Commission macher Al Marder, Gwen Mills of the Central
Labor Council, and Gary Holder-Winfield, president of the Connecticut
Federation of Black Democrats.
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