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Credit Where It's Due
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Business New Haven
11/25/2002
By: BNH
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Frankly, it may have been an accident. But whatever the reason, New Haven voters made a sound decision November 5 when they rejected charter "reform."
The ballot question, defeated by a narrow 6,405 to 6,158 margin, would have doubled the mayoral and aldermanic terms of office from two to four years. It would also have freed the city from being forced to choose from among the top three scorers on civil-service examinations for government jobs.
Voters were not asked whether they thought any of those changes were good ideas; they were simply asked to approve "proposed changes to the city charter" as a package. Slightly more than half said, "No dice."
The reasons for their rejection are murky. Although some unionized city workers, notably firefighters, mounted an active campaign against charter change, it may be that voters are loath to approve changes they don't feel they understand.
Or maybe they did. Maybe voters concluded that an entrenched Democratic mayor in a city where Democrats hold a gargantuan voter-registration advantage already has enough power. Maybe they didn't buy the argument that having to "run" for re-election every two years dilutes the chief executive's effectiveness in actually governing. Indeed, the sort of "running" Mayor John DeStefano Jr. typically engages in each odd-numbered year would hardly break a sweat.
Moreover, civil-service hiring rules exist precisely to function as a brake on the vastly expanded power to hand out patronage plums City Hall would have if the charter didn't force it to select from only the most qualified.
Many voters may not have known exactly what they were doing when they rejected the sweeping - some would say sneaky - charter question. The alternative is that they're smarter than they're often given credit for being.
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