Not a typical candidate: Kokta will make a difference

After three hours of procrastinating and discussing everything from the pains of midterms to the food at a new Indian restaurant called "Mom's," a friend of mine introduced the final issue of the night--New Haven politics. "That Kokta guy looks like a dork," my friend said, referring to Bob Kokta, BK '00, the Aldermanic candidate for Ward One.

My friend--let's call him Tom--had seen a photo of Bob in (excuse the reference) the YDN, and knew that Bob was running against "this Gonzalez guy," a Democrat. Since Gonzalez was a Democrat, Bob was obviously a Republican, and he "sure looks like one." The case was pretty clear to Tom. If he ended up voting on November 4 ("or was it November 5?"), Tom would vote for Julio Gonzalez, the "better candidate."

Another one of my friends--let's call him Dave--explained that he didn't really know much about either of the candidates but said that he would vote for Gonzalez because he probably cares more about New Haven "than this Republican guy." My other friends agreed.

And although I have known Bob Kokta for over a year now, and knew he was different from what my friends had assumed, it was late and I was simply too tired to set things straight.

Or maybe the three hours of procrastinating had made me feel sufficiently guilty about not starting to write my paper. For whatever reason, I decided to leave the conversation at that point, and find the nearest computer cluster.

Here I am though, taking time to say a few words about Bob. I think that anyone who tries to fit Bob into a political stereotype, or simply dismiss him as "the Republican candidate," is doing him a great injustice. In truth, he is a very unlikely candidate. He is a much bigger fan of jazz music--he plays the trombone--than he is of the stuff we usually associate with politics.

So why is this Kokta guy running for Alderman, and why as a Republican? Well, the last part is pretty easy. Bob simply didn't want to conform to party lines, but that's exactly what he would have had to do in order to become the Democratic candidate.

The other reason is that Bob is not a Democrat, at least not in New Haven. If a city manages to stay chronically ill for five decades while other cities have prospered, at least part of the reason is systemic--how things are run. The Democratic power structure in New Haven has an ingrained interest in preserving the status quo. What New Haven needs today, however, is radical change, not the status quo.

Bob Kokta is running as a Republican, but it would be more accurate to describe him as an independent whose views are a promising alternative to the Democratic lock on power.

The reason why Bob is running at all is subtle. Think about it: Would you throw your name in the ring against a Democratic candidate who is virtually guaranteed to win? Would you expose yourself to the kinds of personal, partisan attacks that have been made against Bob in the past few weeks? I wouldn't.

What distinguishes Bob is that he doesn't care about inconveniencing himself by running as the underdog. Bob cares deeply about making life better for people in New Haven, and that's what drives him. He's an idealist. He simply refuses to believe that the city is forever doomed to its current state of economic and social hardship.

If a Ward One alderman can make any difference in New Haven affairs, Bob will.

John Mihaljevic is a senior in Davenport.

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