Gonsalez to head mayoral bid

New Haven Alderman Julio Gonzalez, CC '99, who announced that he will not seek re-election when his current term ends, plans to move into a leadership role in Mayor John DeStefano, Jr.'s re-election campaign. His decision has triggered several Yale College undergraduates to consider running to succeed him. Gonzalez has served as Alderman for New Haven's Ward One—a district inhabited predominantly by Yale students—since he won election for the first time during his sophomore year, at the age of 20.

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Gonzalez first declared his intention not to seek re-election at a Dwight Hall-sponsored community service project last September. "I was asked to give remarks that I've given every year," he said. "I thought that would be the appropriate venue to say, `Hey, I'm not running again. Anybody who wants to run, do it!'"

Though Gonzalez will be busy with Mayor DeStefano's campaign, he is stepping down for other reasons. He said he is no longer as involved in undergraduate life as he used to be, adding that it was several months after he made his announcement that Mayor DeStefano asked him to join his campaign. Gonzalez's decision to retire as Alderman "was an independent choice," he said.

DeStefano plans to publicize details of Gonzalez's position in his campaign in the following weeks, but Gonzalez said he will be doing "a bit of everything," from managing and organizing to helping with the campaign and mobilizing DeStefano's supporters.

Gonzalez speaks highly of the Mayor's accomplishments. "I think his vision of City Hall is one driven by policies that work. [He] really turned around a city where he inherited a gigantic budget deficit, crime, and overall dissatisfaction with government to budget surpluses, decreased crime, and a steadily improving school system.

Despite his important role in DeStefano's campaign, Gonzalez says that he will be happy to complete the rest of his term, which ends on Mon., Dec., 31, 2001. "We've accomplished a lot, and this year will probably be our most productive," he said. "I think I've matured in terms of using the legislative process."

Gonzalez also speaks admiringly of his past work with current Yale students. "There's a deep and wide base of Yale undergraduates that I've successfully worked with [in terms of] city activism and electoral politics. I'm looking forward to working with a lot of them on a diverse set of projects."

Several Yale Democrats have declared their interest in succeeding Gonzalez, including Lex, Paulson, ES '01, Michael Montaño, TD '03, and Irene Liu, SY '02, former Campus Coordinator for the Yale Dems.

Of his possible successor, Gonzalez commented, "My priority is on endorsing the strongest candidate and then fully supporting her or him."

As for his own future, Gonzalez has no grand plans—only a commitment to stay involved. "At this time, I don't have any other political aspirations except to win this election for our current mayor and to strengthen the Democratic Party," he said. "My main desire is to integrate activism that prioritizes social justice with electoral politics. I think that this campaign will be an opportunity to do that. And I think my future work, at the end of my term, will be an opportunity to do that. In that way, I'll always be involved—in one way or another—in electoral politics."

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