{news} RE: Register article on ward 10 campaign

[David Bedell]

And here's the Yale Daily News take on the race:

http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/28239
Yale Daily News
Published: Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Eli eyes Ward 10 seat

By Martine Powers
Staff Reporter

Ward 1 is not the only New Haven district to feature a Yale student as a
candidate in the aldermanic race. Justin Elicker FES '10 SOM '10 said
Tuesday that he will challenge Ward 10 Alderman Allan Brison for his seat,
which represents many graduate students who live in the East Rock
neighborhood.

Although he moved to New Haven just two years ago to pursue a joint master's
degree program at Yale, Elicker, 33, said has become intimately attached to
the city in a short period of time. But Brison, the Board of Aldermen's lone
Green Party member, said he believes that Elicker's inexperience and
Democratic Party affiliation will be detrimental to the city.

In an interview Tuesday, Elicker said he plans to pursue a three-pronged
platform during his campaign: environmental issues, governmental
transparency and neighborhood issues, such as crime and traffic safety.
Recently, Elicker's has been a co-leader of Friends of East Rock Park, a
neighborhood organization that organizes community get-togethers and park
clean-up projects, and he has worked to pass several pieces of
environment-friendly legislation, such as the new ordinance that requires
city janitors to use natural, healthy cleaning products.

Elicker, a native of New Canaan, Conn., and a graduate of Middlebury
College, said he also wants to encourage more Yale students to become
involved in the city's political processes. Because graduate students living
in the East Rock area often stay in New Haven for only a few years, they
usually do not know who their alderman is or where to go to vote, Elicker
said.

That, Elicker said, should change.

"Getting more citizens involved in local politics - it's pretty easy to do,"
he said. "It's a simple matter of getting the word out to them."

Although Elicker said he plans to remain in New Haven after he graduates and
is currently looking to buy a house, he has only spent two New Haven, which
may prove an obstacle in his quest for the aldermanic seat. But Elicker
maintained that he is committed to learning as much as he can as quickly as
possible.

"I'm deeply dedicated to staying here," he said. "There's so much that I
have to learn, a lot that I have to understand, but the issues fascinate me,
and I have a huge drive to understand the issues."

Brison, who is in his first term as the Ward 10 alderman, said Tuesday that
Elicker's commitment to running as a Democratic candidate will not add
anything to the Board of Aldermen. Brison said it is important that there
continues to be a third-party alderman on the board because it allows a
degree of autonomy in suggesting legislation and representing constituents.

"I have an independence that a lot of other Democrats don't have," Brison
said. "More than many other aldermen, I am able to exert that independence,
and being a Green Party candidate underscores that."

Elicker would likely become a pawn of Mayor John DeStefano Jr., Brison
argued, and would have a difficult time challenging the opinions of other
members of the board.

But Elicker maintained that his choice to run as a Democrat was a pragmatic
decision that will allow him to create more relationships with other
aldermen and help to pass meaningful legislation. But, although Elicker is
running as a Democrat in a city with primarily Democratic representatives,
has the backing that fact would not prevent him from expressing views that
run contrary to those his party, he said.

"I'm an independent thinker, and I'm confident that I can stand up for
myself and for my beliefs," Elicker said.

Elicker said he has already been in contact with several members on the
Board of Aldermen, including Board of Aldermen President Carl Goldfield and
Ward 14 Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale about the seat. Sturgis-Pascale, who
has worked previously with Elicker on the Safe Streets campaign, said
Elicker has the political finesse to build coalitions on the board and pass
meaningful legislation.

"It takes a while to figure out how things work on the board, and I think
some people are more inclined than others to step into that role more
readily," Sturgis-Pascale said. "Justin has a high capacity to deliver and
aggressively push an agenda."

So far, Elicker is running unopposed for the Ward 10 Democratic nomination.
The general election will be held on November 3.