Hartford mayoral candidates debate, with notable exception

Candidates for Hartford mayor faced off in a debate on Monday. But there was a notable person missing: Democrat Arunan Arulampalam, who could very much win the election in about two weeks.

“This is a sign of extreme arrogance that borderlines on hubris and insult to the citizens of Hartford,” said J. Stan McCauley, a petitioning candidate for Hartford mayor.

Arulampalam’s campaign tells us they had concerns about the debate’s location and how it was organized and he had another previously scheduled event.

They wrote in part:

“Arunan has participated in more than 20 debates, town halls and forums throughout this election…”

Those who did take part addressed issues including violence in the capital city. Compared to last year, some crimes are up so far this year like murder and car thefts, while others like robberies are down.

“Enforce the law. And the law includes some lower level crimes that are not getting enforced,” said Mark Stewart Greenstein, a petitioning candidate for Hartford mayor.

“We’ve lost our sense of order in the city of Hartford. We’ve lost it from the bottom to the top,” said Mike McGarry, R – Candidate for Hartford mayor.

Candidates also were focused on education. They were asked about the settlement agreement in the school desegregation case of Sheff v. O’Neill.

“The direct consequence of Sheff v. O’Neill has created an educational system of the have and have-nots. Let’s talk about that. What we’re talking about is not necessarily the delivery system it’s about the access to the system,” said Nick Lebron, a petitioning candidate for Hartford mayor.

“We need to get back to community schools, especially in the North End of Hartford. We’ve seen three neighborhood schools close,” said Giselle Jacobs, a petitioning candidate for Hartford mayor.

Democrats tend to do pretty well in elections in the city. In 2019, current mayor Democrat Luke Bronin carried it with 76% of the vote.