Nicole Hobbs, President of the Yale College Democrats, moderated the debate, which featured declared candidates Justin Elicker, Henry Fernandez, Gary Holder-Winfield, Sundiata Keitazulu, and Matthew Nemerson. Several on-campus organizations and the Ward 1 and Ward 22 Town Committees agreed to co-sponsor the debate and to supply questions for the candidates. Additionally, members of the public had the opportunity upon arrival to submit questions for possible inclusion in the latter half of the debate.

“With such a competitive field of candidates, it’s important to hear from all of them about their positions on the issues facing New Haven,“ said Hobbs in a statement. “The Yale College Democrats are pleased to be able to host this debate and provide a forum for the Yale community and the greater New Haven community to hear from these candidates about their vision for this city.”

The questions at the debate ranged from economic development to a ban on plastic bags, but the topic that caused the most controversy was the Democracy Fund, New Haven’s public campaign finance system. Both Nemerson and Fernandez have opted out of the system, while Elicker, Holder-Winfield, and Keitazulu have all opted in. At one point, when Nemerson dismissed the influence of money in politics because “it doesn’t really matter how we collect money,” the crowd immediately responded with audible groans.

The event marked the first public debate in New Haven with all five declared candidates. The Democratic primary will be held on September 10th.

In a surprise, Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield (D-New Haven) introduced President Nicole Hobbs’14 on the floor of the House of Representatives and used a point of personal privilege to draw attention to the other Yale College Democrats who were sitting in the gallery watching the proceedings.

To see pictures from the event, check out the Facebook photo album.

Citing a broken Wall Street, Washington, and media, Dean praised the admitted students’ generation as a group of “Globals” who are willing to be “pragmatically idealistic.”  Though most of Gov. Dean’s talk focused on the benefits of a Yale education, he also opened up about his extensive career in politics, citing a commitment to the facts.  ”There’s no such thing as Democratic facts and Republican facts,” said the governor.

Dean’s address on April 16th drew well over 100 students into a room packed full of potential Yalies.

Though the Dems had signs up reserving only a section of a side room for the meet-and-greet, the crowd quickly swelled to take up the entire coffee shop as current members had more and more conversations with the potential Dems about the elections and legislative work the Dems completed over the last few semesters.

To see pictures from the highly successful event, check out the event on our Facebook page.

Before serving as national security policy director, Marie Harf was a CIA spokeswoman and a CIA analyst, and after the campaign she worked as the White House spokesperson for Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be Secretary of Defense.

Lt. Gov. Wyman’s visit coincided with the breaking of news early that morning of a deal between Connecticut lawmakers on omnibus gun control legislation.  As such, Wyman spent considerable time praising the lawmakers for coming to a decision and urging a swift voting process that would allow them to focus instead on other legislative priorities, such as the budget.

After then discussing her humble beginnings in politics as a school board representative and how she views the role of the Lieutenant Governor, Wyman finally opened up the discussion to comments and questions from members of the audience, who were  eager to press Wyman on advocacy projects that interested them.

The event, held in Davenport Common Room, drew a crowd of nearly 30 people.

The panel featured Bonita Grubbs, the 2012 New Haven Register Person of the Year and Executive Director of Christian Community Action, a faith-based not-for-profit social services agency located in New Haven, and Chris George, the Executive Director of Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), a New Haven-based nonprofit that provides resettlement services, job and legal assistance, education, crisis intervention, and other services to approximately 200 refugees in the Elm City a year.

Co-sponsors included BSAY, the Roosevelt Institute, the Yale Refugee Project, Yale NAACP, MEChA, and New Haven Action.

The panel featured two distinguished panelists: Professor Kelly Rader and Joyce Chen. Professor Kelly Rader teaches a Politics and the Supreme Court seminar, and Joyce Chen is an attorney and Yale graduate who is an expert on gay rights and the courts.  Both panelists began with an overview of the two cases before the Supreme Court: one out of California on Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage; and one out of New York on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which, among other things, created a federal definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

Throughout the discussion, both Rader and Chen focused on the legal arguments surrounding same-sex marriage, the political ramifications of those arguments, and the interplay between law and politics.

Both panelists predicted a middle-of-the-road opinion from the Supreme Court, one which does not go so far as to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, but one in which the gay rights movement can claim a small victory.

Professor Carroll’s presentation was followed by updates from both Voting Reform Captain Jacob Wasserman and Juvenile Justice Captain Igor Mitschka.

Ben Healy, Education Reform Captain, then ended the discussion with a path forward for the Dems: over the next few weeks, we will be researching various types of school boards in order eventually to arrive at a solid policy proposal to submit to the New Haven Board of Aldermen.

Ana Paulina Ochoa Espejo - Assistant Political Science Professor

Armando Ghinaglia - Yale student, ES ’14

Megan Fountain and Josemaria Islas – Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA)

Professor Ochoa began the evening with an in-depth analysis of the national dialogue surrounding immigration reform, noting that while “DREAMers” are “photogenic” all residents should have certain inherent rights simply because they live here.  She went on to criticize the “good moral character” language espoused by both sides of the debate, claiming such rhetoric dooms immigrants from the start, as the system necessitates law-breaking.

Student Armando Ghinaglia discussed the differences between the local, state, and national levels for immigration reform, saying, “Until you see reform at the national level, you won’t see it at the state level.”

But the harshest language came from ULA representative Megan Fountain, who pointed to sky-high numbers of deportation in the United States and the outright discrimination against gay families who are excluded from the system altogether.  Fountain then turned the program over to Josemaria Islas, the subject of recent controversy in Hartford, who told of his experience dealing with a discriminatory deportation process.

“I’m paying for something I didn’t do,” said Islas. “It’s very difficult to defend myself.”