Republicans have blocked the appointment of Democrat Veronica T. DeLandro to the City Council, choosing a loyalist to Stewart-Republican political machine, instead.
In the vote, that is being slammed as both racist and sexist, Council Republicans effectively increased the number of Republican Council members from eight to nine by choosing a loyalist to Republican Mayor Erin Stewart, Paul Catanzaro, instead of DeLandro for the at-large Council seat vacated by newly elected State Rep. Manny Sanchez (D-24) before he took office in the state legislature.
“Black women continue to be a strong and powerful voting block,” DeLandro said, “yet we still lack the representation in political spaces that affect and influence our community.”
“We are often told,” DeLandro said, “when we pursue opportunities in public service that we need to wait, that it’s not our time — or just, flat out ‘no.'”
“I look at it, there’s some elements of racism, here,” said Ronald P. Davis, Vice Chair of the New Britain Democratic Party, “there’s some elements of sexism, here, and there’s elements of ageism, here.”
Rep. Sanchez, himself, supported DeLandro to be his successor in the seat. Democrats, from the other Democratic Council members, to Democratic state legislators, to the New Britain Democratic Party to others all agreed that DeLandro was their choice for the seat. DeLandro has been supported by Senator Rick Lopes (D-6), State Representative Peter Tercyak (D-26), State Representative Bobby Sanchez (D-25), Board of Education member Violet Jiménez Sims (D), Democratic City Treasurer Ron Jakubowski (D) and others. And, for hours at the beginning of two Council meetings, DeLandro supporters rallied in support of the Democrat being appointed to the seat.
Since Rep. Sanchez was elected in 2019 to the Council seat as a Democrat, the person appointed to complete the remainder of the two-year At-Large Council term must be registered to vote in Democratic Party primaries. But with control of the New Britain Council, Republicans had the power to overrule the Democrats’ own choice and name someone, who, while registered to vote in Democratic Party primaries, is loyal to the Stewart Republican political machine.
Supporters of DeLandro have been organizing since December in the wake of a Republican decision to block her appointment. In December, Republicans tabled a resolution proposed by Council Democrats for her to succeed Rep. Sanchez. Many people have criticized the process city Republicans have claimed to be following. Just two days before the Council was set to vote on DeLandro’s appointment in December, Stewart called for a “search” for the seat, calling attention to the earlier effort by the Republican Council Leader, Ald. Daniel Salerno (R-AL), “searching for a vacancy candidate,” despite wide support DeLandro already had to succeed Sanchez.
Salerno has been a frequent focus of criticism and ire for interposing himself as a “gatekeeper” to the process of choosing the new Council member. Republicans have been quoted as explaining their justification for passing over DeLandro in favor of another choice as that, “it’s a numbers game.” On Wednesday, Salerno repeated that theme, stressing that the decision on the appointment is made by a majority vote of the Council.
Undeterred by the decision by the current Republican Council majority, supporters of DeLandro, and DeLandro, herself, have pointed to the upcoming 2021 city elections as the place where the real final decision on the matter will be settled. “Your seat is not safe,” has become a common refrain among DeLandro supporters.
Over the past weeks, DeLandro supporters have been increasingly encouraging the Democrat to set her sights higher than a Council seat — with many wanting her to run for mayor.
DeLandro has served as District Director for Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-5) and now provides consulting, training and coaching to nonprofit organizations at VTD Consulting Group, which she founded. She previously had a career at ESPN before she began working with organizations with a focus on philanthropy, college access and mentoring.
DeLandro ran for City Council in 2017, very nearly winning an upset victory in an uphill race in the City’s First Ward, where Republicans have historically had the advantage in city level elections, and then was selected as the City Council’s first woman and first African American Clerk of Committees. She has also previously served on the city’s Youth & Family Services Commission and the school system’s Graduation Odyssey Task Force.
A longtime community leader, DeLandro is on the Executive Board of the NAACP New Britain Branch and serves on the Board of the YWCA New Britain, co-chairing the YWCA’s Policy Committee. She is a founding member of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving’s Black Giving Circle, and her biography notes her roles as, “Connecticut State Coordinator for the Eastern Region of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Recording Secretary for the North Atlantic Region of the National Hampton Alumni Association, Inc. and Technology Chair for the Greater Hartford Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.”
DeLandro was one of Connecticut Magazine‘s “40 under 40” of rising leaders, recognized for her leadership at the Inaugural MIP (Minority Inclusion Project) Honors Gala and was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Blacks by the New Britain NAACP.
DeLandro is married and has two children.
