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A Spat that "Looks Like" New Haven
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Business New Haven
6/23/2003
By: BNH
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When allegations of racism become a first, not last, resort in the daily political dialogue, it reminds one that citizens of our racially diverse city have a lot to learn, still, about living with one another.
And so it goes with the dustup over State Sen. Toni Harp's (D-10) inflammatory, politically motivated declaration that the city's Democratic Party chairperson ought to be a member of a minority group, someone who "looks like" New Haven.
Harp is backing the insurgent challenge of erstwhile Baltimorean Sherri Killins for the Democratic mayoral nomination against incumbent John DeStefano Jr. The Killins ticket's town chair candidate, Sally Brown, is black. The current chair, DeStefano backer Susan Voight, is white and (not insignificantly) Jewish.
Harp's ill-considered statement (or maybe not so ill-considered: Despite a searing backlash, Harp defended and even amplified her remarks June 11 on the op-ed page of the Register) likely did not do much to advance the cause of her candidate. Moreover, it raised the specter of a division along racial lines in the city's single-party polity.
Among those who consider Killins a mere stalking horse for an eventual Harp mayoral run, the incident offered a depressing glimpse into what could become the Ghost of Campaigns Future - African-American insurgents vs. old-line Italo-American machine Dems, with both sides jockeying for key swing Latino support.
Not quite what the face of "diversity" was cracked up to be.
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