Rep. Minnie Gonzalez The fight over Hartford’s 54 delegates ended last night when state Rep. Minnie Gonzalez and political boss Nick Carbone withdrew a complaint alleging not all of the city’s delegates were qualified. Gonzalez said she proposed a compromised slate, with her 12-person district split six-six, but “the mayor [Eddie Perez] didn’t want to negotiate.” So she said she withdrew the complaint “for the good of the party.” “Let me tell you, it was hard for me to do that,” Gonzalez said. Perez and Gonzalez are political enemies. The reason Gonzalez withdrew: “Our desire is to get [New Haven Mayor John]DeStefano elected,” she said. DeStefano is vying for the Democratic gubenatorial nomination Saturday.
“They were using DeStefano as a racist card,” saying he was trying to squelch the Latino voice, Gonzalez said. Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy didn’t go that far for the record. “I would just say you have to be very careful about disenfranchising a whole city,” said Malloy, who is vying for the Democratic gubenatorial nomination. “I believe that we had the support within the [credentials commission] group but I did not want to hurt DeStefano,” Gonzalez said. Windsor Councilman Al Simon, a member of the Convention Certification Committee that would have decided the matter, said Friday that, in short, they decided to withdraw their complaint.Simon said the only remedy available to the Democratic State Central Committee was to seat the entire Hartford delegation, or to get rid of it – meaning Hartford wouldn’t have had a voice at the convention. The rift started in March when Hartford’s Democratic Town Committee picked its delegates. Carbone and Gonzalez protested the number of delegates based on the bylaws last filed by the town committee with the Secretary of State.At the time, Carbone argued that the last copy of the bylaws on file with the state said the committee shall select one member for every 1,124 registered Democrats, which would lower the number of delegates elected from the city. However, Party Chairman Noel McGregor said the committee amended that rule in December 2003 and lowered the number to one delegate for every 550 registered Democrats.New Haven Independent reporters Melissa Bailey and Tess Wheelwright contributed to this report