Editorial: Toni Harp for mayor of New Haven

(Arnold Gold — New Haven Register) New Haven mayoral candidate Toni Harp (left) answers a question during a debate with Justin Elicker (right) at Gateway Community College in New Haven on 10/22/2013. (Arnold Gold — New Haven Register) New Haven mayoral candidate Toni Harp (left) answers a question during a debate with Justin Elicker (right) at Gateway Community College in New Haven on 10/22/2013. Photo: Journal Register Co. Photo: Journal Register Co. Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Editorial: Toni Harp for mayor of New Haven 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

New Haven voters will go to the polls Nov. 5 to choose between two impressive but imperfect candidates for mayor.

Both state Sen. Toni Harp, the Democratic nominee, and East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker, a Democrat running as an independent, are smart, able people who are qualified to succeed John DeStefano Jr., who is stepping down after 10 terms.

Both have served the city well: Harp in the state legislature for more than two decades, and Elicker as a two-term alderman.

Where they differ, though, is in the number of quality relationships they’ve built that have the potential to help them run the city. With overwhelming support from the city’s Board of Aldermen and unions, and with close ties to the Malloy administration and the General Assembly, Harp has a coalition of support that would greatly enhance her ability to lead the city.

With those relationships in mind, we recommend that voters choose Toni Harp when they go to the polls next week.

Our endorsement comes with some reservations. Both in debates and interviews during the campaign, Harp has been vague about her vision for the city, too often speaking in generalities instead of outlining a clear vision for how she would lead New Haven.

It was in part because of that lack of engagement and specificity that we endorsed the former city economic development administrator, Henry Fernandez, over Harp, Elicker and James Hillhouse High School Principal Kermit Carolina in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary.

Our hope is that the campaign’s lack of energy is more a product of Harp’s front-runner status than an indicator of how she will govern if elected.

Whoever wins will inherit a city with a thriving downtown, a resurgent school system and the potential for a bright future.

But the next mayor also will inherit a stubbornly high crime rate that includes 16 homicides in 2013, the most recent of which took place this weekend; property taxes that discourage middle-class families from moving here; and the need to avert a fiscal crisis after the city’s bond rating was downgraded by two agencies.

The violence that broke out early Saturday morning, leaving one woman dead and five injured at a city nightclub, is yet another example of why the next mayor needs to focus on high-crime neighborhoods and curb violent crime.

Harp, 65, has limited executive experience, and Elicker has argued that there’s no reason to think her legislative experience will translate into success running an organization as large and complex as the city of New Haven.

Our hope, though, is that she’ll leverage the relationships she’s built in several key ways.

First, Harp has the opportunity to drastically improve the city’s relationship with the governor’s office, which has been particularly strained during the tenure of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in part because of the fallout from the bitter 2006 gubernatorial primary between Malloy and DeStefano.

It’s hard to quantify the damage done by that fallout, but there’s little doubt that New Haven will benefit from having a mayor with close ties to Hartford.

Harp’s rivals have criticized her closeness with New Haven’s unions, arguing the unions will get undue benefits in exchange for their support of her campaign. Our hope is that she’ll use the trust she’s built with union groups to extract the kind of concessions that will be needed to restore long-term fiscal stability to the city.

And the broad support she has from the Board of Aldermen will mean, we hope, an ability to push through an aggressive agenda focused on economic development.

Our endorsement also comes with the hope that Harp will run an open, transparent administration in which the public has easy access to information and in which outsiders’ views are welcome.

Elicker, an environmental consultant with two master’s degrees from Yale, is among the most engaging politicians in Greater New Haven. He is smart, creative and energetic. Throughout the campaign, he has given voters the impression that he badly wants the job.

He has also brought a refreshing, grass-roots approach to the campaign, building a respectable base of support without the backing of the city and state’s Democratic establishments.

It’s clear that Elicker has the potential for a bright future in New Haven politics. There’s a real possibility he is a future mayor.

What’s much less clear, however, is whether Elicker would be capable of translating his wealth of ideas into accomplishments.

Elicker, 38, has rightly pointed out that he’s as old as DeStefano was when he was elected in 1993. He is not too young to be mayor. But unlike DeStefano, who worked in City Hall for more than 10 years before being elected, Elicker’s sole experience in government is two terms on the Board of Aldermen.

In an interview with the Register editorial board earlier this month, Harp praised Elicker for his smarts and enthusiasm and said she’d be happy to listen to some of his advice on how to guide the city.

If Harp wins next week, we hope she’ll follow through on that plan.