Hamilton Ends Campaign With Yale “Ode”

by Paul Bass | Sep 18, 2019 12:34 pm

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With a poetic last jab at New Haven’s ivy behemoth, mayoral candidate Wendy Hamilton submitted papers Wednesday to remove her name from the Nov. 5 general election ballot, while Mayor Toni Harp continued weighing whether to continue her own third-party quest. Hamilton served written notice — a legal requirement — of her decision to the City Town Clerk’s Office shortly after 10 a.m. She endorsed Justin Elicker, who defeated incumbent Harp by 58-42 percent in last week’s Democratic mayoral primary. Hamilton bowed out with one final flourish. In addition to a two-page statement on her decision and the challenges facing New Haven, she submitted three addenda including the ode to Yale’s role in society as well as a progressive “wish list.” You can read the full statement and addenda further down in this story. Harp’s name is set to appear on the Working Families Party line on the ballot. The party endorsed her candidacy and devoted volunteer support during the primary, though its statewide chair now said it doesn’t plan to do so in the general election. Some core supporters have urged Harp to continue with her campaign. Activist Urn Pendragon also petitioned to have her name appear on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate. Under state law, candidates have until 21 days before an election to file notice to have their names removed from the general election ballots before they’re printed. However, absentee ballots are printed and made public starting Oct. 4. So failure to make a decision before then means some people would be voting for a candidate who may later drop out. A candidate who waits until after the 21-day deadline can still make a decision to withdraw a candidacy. But then municipal election officials must decide whether to go to the expense of printing new ballots or manually cross out the candidate’s name on tens of thousands of printed ballots, according to the secretary of state’s office. Text of Hamilton’s Withdrawal Statement To State Board of Election Dear Board: Thank you for your labor in the past. I filed to run for mayor of New Haven around Christmas 2018 because I was tired of the outright corruption and angry that the mayor raised our taxes by 11%!! and then within the same week or so gave herself a $10,000 raise and within the same month gave raises to her cronies. I should mention the trip to China, the car and bodyguard service, the free meals, and city credit cards which were discovered. I am not stupid. That was a stupid move which might have gotten past me if I was. New Haven is a poor black city with some wonderful poor black people in it and I want more for them. I believe in black reparations and full integration. I believe in open borders and open minds. I choose to live in a sanctuary city and I took a course in Spanish language at SCCC years ago. The poverty of mind, money, and spirit in this city hurts me. I see the richest school in the world sitting in this city while it goes bankrupt and homeless people live right outside the school gates. This is unbelievable greed and I will fight it. The city and state govt. must DO something. In the meantime, Justin Elicker has ALWAYS been the frontrunner…and I like him. I think he “gives a d___”. So I am requesting that you take my name off the ballot and save the ink. Thank you. Thoughtfully,

wendy hamilton Hamilton Addendum 1 Yale Sins

1. Arrests and fines student demonstrators

2. Age, race, and gender discrimination at Yale

3. Corey Menafee/Calhoun dorm debacle

4. Vicious debt collection practices

5. Anti-union

6. Understaffed school and hospital

7. Use of shell companies to hide $$

8. Hires war criminals to teach

9. Shuts down city streets at will

10. Supported Trump and Kavanaugh

11. Advances wealth while charging scholarship students $6000 yearly

12. Allows city to go bankrupt while using city services and owning >50% of the land

13. Expels homeless and non-paying clients from hospital (patient dumping)

14. Ignores homeless living outside Yale gates. Hamilton Addendum 2 ODE to YALE I want to be a Republican, not a liberal, not a Democrat

I’m not cut out for that Business school here I come

Medical school is no fun

Poli Sci and economics

are so easy like reading comics Get recruited by the CIA

Rendition and torture are OK

Good ideas in moneyland

Life is easy when well planned I dont care about divestment

just how to make a good investment

I want a hedge fund I can play with

It’s a career I could stay with So Yale, I miss sex week

not demonstrations or science geeks

God, make me wealthy with several homes

and grant me entry into Skull and Bones Hamilton Addendum #3 POLITICAL WISH LIST FROM A PROGRESSIVE IN NH 1. It’s time for Yale Corp. to support their share of the city burden. Improving our lives will improve theirs. It doesn’t take a Yale degree to figure this out but Yale hoards its $$ while the city taxpayers suffer the consequences with unfairly high and impossible taxes (for most of us), homeless people in the streets and parks, city slums and blight, unaffordable housing rents and prices, bad public schools, poor city services, and impending bankruptcy just to name a few of our problems. The city is in debt (a Billion according to Register and half a Billion according to the budget office).

2. Race relations and income inequality are the two biggest threats to our city, our society, and our country.

3. The city must be merciful to the little guy and the small business, the renter, and the home buyer.

4. The city needs a strong CRB yesterday to curb the cops.

5. The cops need a better contract.

6. The schools need MORE staff and teachers but less admin.

7. The city must break any contracts with builders and developers and contractors and start fresh. All new apt. buildings must house 50% Section 8 which is actually a boon to landlords and existing buildings must start to do the same. Small landlords are exempted.

8. Avoid all corporate welfare and advantages.

9. Eminent Domain for blighted or unpaid properties.

10.*

11. Change Bus routes and schedules (state run) to suit drivers and their customers.

12. Use Liam Brennan’s Housing Plan in its entirety.

13. Enlarge and reorganize LCI with more building inspection focused on the Hill/Dixwell.

14. Encourage solar panels and fight the utilities who are robbing citizens with unfair charges—the highest in the US.

15. Demand infrastructure and track improvement from Amtrack/Metro North. Demand lower prices—-Amtrack is unaffordable for most of us ($150+ one way to NYC from NH on Acela which still runs at 40 mph).

16. Stop funding Tweed and stop building garages and lots for cars. Our air is dirty and we already have 3 power plants, sewage treatment, and a huge tank farm. We need a cleaner Long Island Sound as well.

17. Do not allow city police to arrst and fine peaceful demonstrators, students or adults.

18. Do not assist ICE in any way or engage with them at ictyhall> Cityhall must be a sanctuary for the undocumented and for the homeless who want a roof. * line missing on print-out of submission.

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posted by: mmrmike1 on September 18, 2019 1:27pm Wendy glad you dropped out of the race for mayor because obviously you don’t have any idea of what you’re talking about.

1st of Yale doesn’t own the hospital it is a separate entity. 2nd Yale didn’t close any streets the city did. 3rd Menafee destroyed private property. 4th Yale owns 50% of New Haven? Really? 5th Yale is so anti union they just signed a new contract with their unions.

You sound more like Trump than anything else.

posted by: formerNHIT on September 18, 2019 1:58pm Well, she’s spot on about Yale. It is the reason the city is held back from being so much more and that you have so many poor and.. that taxes are so high. Its one big reason New Haven is a failure. I doubt any mayor can stand in its way. Yale is backed by secret societies and the federal government. At least she was able to make a stand, that offers hope that this country may not turn into more of a mess, free speech is still possible.

posted by: Patricia Kane on September 18, 2019 2:32pm It’s fair to say that the general election campaign and debates will be less entertaining without Wendy’s provocative, but well-informed jabs at the status quo, accompanied by a string of zingers and one liners honed from her stand up comedy gigs.

But it’s her passion and compassion for people that defines her - even it is sometimes expressed with some obscenities for emphasis.

I’ve met former patients of hers from YNHH and they adore her years later with a reverence that’s unusual.

She can’t walk around Chapel St and Green with stopping to talk to people about how they are doing and to press a few dollars discreetly into their hands. She even tells them when they should see a doctor and why.

She can be a real pain if you’re her target - but she punches “up” at big institutions and big names. Her slams are generally on target because she is probably one of the best read people on a variety of topics you’ll ever meet. With a severe hearing loss, one of her remaining pleasures is consuming 4-5 books a week on an ongoing basis. Her summaries are as good as the NY Times Book Review section of the Sunday paper.

We need more provocateurs like Wendy to rattle the establishment, so it will be interesting to watch her next re-invention.

Full disclosure: I have known Wendy about 15 years and we inexplicably remain friends.

posted by: anonymous on September 18, 2019 3:04pm Many jobs depend on Tweed, especially in the food and hotel services industries, which are disproportionately comprised of Black and Latino workers. There are also many Black and Latino entrepreneurs within that industry who are growing their business and making a good living. It would be a mistake to hamper Tweed’s operations. In fact, adding a few flights each day (which can be done without expanding the airport boundaries) would create hundreds if not thousands of jobs for struggling communities in the city. Harp and most of the state delegation realize this, which might be why they are supporters of Tweed. Of course, the “leaders” on the East Shore don’t seem to care about this population, which is no surprise given that East Shore’s homeowners are nearly all white and/or retired. They only care about property values. That is really a miscalculation, of course, since if New Haven grew at a rate similar to other cities with airports, property values on the East Shore would basically double within a few years. Look at the run-down tiny homes that practically sit at the end of the runways in Boston, Queens, and DC. They used to be worthless, but due to the economic dynamism in those areas (which is largely dependent on airport connections), those properties have risen in value by about 1,000% during the same decades in which East Shore’s home values have stayed stagnant. It’s virtually impossible to attract meetings, business events, etc., to say nothing of companies themselves, to New Haven with the current one flight within a 90 minute rush hour drive.

posted by: Checking on September 18, 2019 3:14pm So, will the NHI stop printing her diatribes? She is clearly not well.

posted by: 06511 on September 18, 2019 4:22pm “New Haven is a poor black city with some wonderful poor black people in it and I want more for them.” “I choose to live in a sanctuary city and I took a course in Spanish language at SCCC years ago.” Does Wendy get away with these kinds of statements only because no one takes her seriously?

posted by: Elmer's Glue on September 18, 2019 4:30pm Wendy is awesome. As for Yale, the school is busy converting Freshman Commons into a shrine for Donald Trump’s chief fundraiser.

posted by: 1644 on September 18, 2019 4:53pm formerNHIT: Yes, absent Yale, New Haven would be an economic dynamo like Bridgeport, Hartford, and Waterbury.

posted by: steve on September 18, 2019 7:33pm What a wish list. She needs to move to the wonderful “Land of Oz and the Emerald city.” People really think things will improve or go back to the good old days. This is the new normal, we hear the word change all the time and the only change is for the worst. Cities dying, taxes, crime are up, morals are in the toilet and some pollyanna thinks just writing down a wish list is all that’s needed to correct all the area’s ills.

A wise adage says,“Don’t put your trust in nobles”. This world is beyond fixing not just in New Haven but all over the earth.

posted by: vpaul on September 19, 2019 1:57am Thank you, Wendy, for provoking discussion of some real issues! I know you will be disappointed in the juggling, guitar-playing candidate you are endorsing, but I’m sure we’ll hear more from you in the future. Thank you for participating in public discussions and taking on the grueling task of getting on the ballot in the first place. It’s good to have a leader that takes responsibility to make systemic changes and not wallow in the despair expressed by commentators such as Steve.

posted by: tmctague on September 19, 2019 9:35am Adding on to 06511’s list: “I’m an angry black man trapped in the body of a white woman,” she said. (NHI) I agree with her stance on several issues, but they are always overshadowed by deeply problematic statements.

posted by: CatDude on September 19, 2019 10:48am Holy cow…my posts get censored but this gets printed?? “poor black city full of poor black people”

posted by: CatDude on September 19, 2019 11:26am The white supremacy of her comments is insane. Very similar to Biden’s thoughts that “black families need to turn the record player on at night.”

posted by: Checking on September 19, 2019 12:16pm I agree that she gets special treatment… She frequently posts things that are a combination of rude, racist and crazy… Her self-aggrandizement is truly annoying… [Paul: Thank you for the comments. I have indeed wrestled with this issue. I posted this piece because it was an official submission from a candidate for public office, so I felt it was fair to publish the document and let people debate it. I draw a distinction— perhaps I’m wrong about this — between official figures’ official actions (newsworthy, even if people disagree with them) and reader comments, which are submissions to an Independent-only discussion board in which we are responsible for the tenor and for the kind of discussion we add to the civic sphere. You are assuming she gets special treamtment. In fact many of Ms. Hamilton’s submitted comments have been rejected for the reasons you cite; and when she disagreed with those decisions and refused to stop submitting them, she was actually banned from posting comments.]

posted by: mom247 on September 19, 2019 6:55pm @wendy There is a new director AT Emanuel Shelter who I think it would be great if you lent some support too. He is new to the halls of NEW HAVEN despite being born and raised and we now your heart is huge for those without

posted by: yankeecutter on September 20, 2019 8:50am Paul — that’s a thoughtful response on Wendy’s concerning sentiments. One twist here is that she is a public figure who at least in theory was running for public office. If she has said/written things that raise concerns about her racial attitudes, do we have a right to know about them — even if they’re comments on a board like this one, rather than “official” statements? I understand your desire to keep this conversation civil and productive, and I don’t know that I disagree with anything you’ve done here. But it would be a shame for people to support and even vote for Wendy without knowing that she espouses views that are, at best, racial essentializing and condescending.

posted by: steve on September 20, 2019 3:16pm @ vpaul, ” It’s good to have a leader that takes responsibility to make systemic changes and not wallow in the despair expressed by commentators such as Steve.” What systemic changes are you talking about? I do not wallow in despair but view things as they really are. Making a wish list is what children do, Everybody wants things to get better but wishing accomplishes nothing. Any time someone runs for office and fires up the crowd with wish list items, the crowd cheers as if they will get their wishes, they never do.

People never learn and always think this time will be different but it never is. We only have control over our own lives but to make our lives better means changing the way we treat others, “treat others the way you want to be treated.”

Most today put themselves as number one and care very little about others. I consider myself a realist and try to see things as the really are and not candy coat the terrible things going on today.

I think much of the depression people have is due to believing what politicians say and then are always let down. Politicians care about one thing, getting elected. No matter what party is in power, look at the last 50 or so years, are things improving? Racism, terrorism, tax hikes, bad school conditions, high medical costs, government corruption, telephone scammers, child abuse, etc are all on the increase.

Take charge of your own life and don’t think politicians can effect change for the good, its a pipe dream to think so. Talking with a man a few years ago and he was saying he was disgusted with the choice in an upcoming election and he was going to vote for the lesser of two evils, I replied, you are still choosing evil.

posted by: vpaul on September 20, 2019 5:29pm @steve - Thanks for proving my point. The outlook from your easy chair is bleak, pointless and non-productive. Wendy at least has a positive spirit, and the brains to keep thinking of ways to improve our society.

posted by: steve on September 20, 2019 7:52pm @paul “Wendy at least has a positive spirit, and the brains to keep thinking of ways to improve our society.” It’s all talk, how many times have similar statements been made and what is the world today? Is it a better place? I don’t sit in an easy chair all day but I am active in the local area helping those truly in need.

Those words of Wendy are nothing new, today millions of teens protested global warming, will it do any good? Remember the million man march, what was the lasting effect of that?

Talk is cheap and it’s just a temporary feel good moment, like a child when scared hugging a teddy bear.

If that kind of talk makes you feel good, so be it. However, look at all the hotspots around the world, marching and protesting accomplish nothing of lasting value.

It’s who we are as people that matters, love your neighbor as yourself, be that good Samaritan, be honest in all your dealings,share what you have with those in need,be a friend to those who have none,lose all prejudice,don’t let the love of money rule you,do for those who cannot pay you back, consider others superior to you. All these qualities require action as action speaks louder than words. “Faith without works is dead”.

The next time you hear someone on the soap box espousing nice sounding words, remember, they are just words, what sacrifice have they made in helping others? Politicians are the worst role models, they have learned to tell people what they want to hear and it’s always the same thing, “I will effect change for the good”, and all the sheep in the crowd cheer and clap as if it’s all going to happen.Gotta hand it to them, they are a resilient bunch, they always come back for more.