Well…we did it! The Working Families Party of CT was given permission by the residents of this fine city to represent them on the Hartford Court of Common Council. Larry Deutch and myself were lent the positions of council person for four years and all the pundits can say is “how da hell did dey do dat!?”
Quite simply, the Working Families party worked their butts off and our message resonated with a core group of voters. We had canvassers going through the entire city spreading our message. Who is going to turn someone away when they knock on your door and say “Do you know that Hartford’s children have the highest asthma rate in the nation?” If that simple fact does not stop you in your tracks, the simple recommendations to remedy will. We scoured the city to see what were the people’s overriding concern and we sat down and met on those concerns. We sat with Mark Mitchell of the CT Coalition for Environmental Justice and received an in depth Hartford Environment 101 which would astound anyone.
I am ecstatic that we were able to elect two candidates. It’s something to build on. Unlike the People for Change party of the late 80s, the Working Families will be here well beyond myself and Larry. Our win now sets a precedent for future elections. We can only hope to show people that a 3rd, independent party can contribute to the day to day management of this city.
What now? Days after the elections the federal ‘cowboys’ known as the Immigration Customs Enforcement conducted early morning raids on the Brazilian community which netted an untold amount of arrests. Untold because ICE initially confirmed nine arrests, than amended that figure to 21 yet the Brazilian community says that 35 people have been arrested. Regardless, the absence of any written policy by the city has made this a ICE friendly city and that is unacceptable.
I attended a meeting just last night where residents expressed their fears to the Mayor. I heard them loud and clear and will work towards making Hartford safe for all of our residents. One example of an effective policy is New Haven’s General Order 06-2. Let’s put pressure on all of our elected officials to do the same in Hartford.
[...] a meeting between the police chief and Brazilian residents to discuss the raids.” Cotto described that meeting a little in a November 14 blog post, adding that Mayor Eddie Perez was there to hear [...]