By Alexis Guerra
Jay Kaye, a manager for a private commercial company, is running against Democratic Mayor Curt B. Leng. Kaye doesn’t view himself as a “run-of-the-mill party candidate.” The general election is on Nov. 5, which will determine the next mayor of Hamden.
The Quinnipiac Republicans invited Jay Kaye to campus on Oct. 30, as an opportunity for students to ask him questions. (Credit: Alexis Guerra)
Q: Why did you want to run?
A: I personally felt that having been a registered Democrat for so long, I would always vote for who I thought was the best candidate. I didn’t necessarily just vote Democrat and usually, it turned out to be Republican because I’ve strong fiscal conservative ideals. As days went on and more people started to get involved, that’s when I made the commitment that I felt that I would be a very good candidate because for Hamden, in particular, I’m very centrist. I have very moderate social views. And strong fiscal, conservative views. And I thought that would be a nice blend to be able to relate to people in Hamden, particularly to people that weren’t Republicans.
Q: I read on your campaign page that you switched political parties. Can you speak about that decision?
A: I had to do that in order to run as a Republican. I certainly knew the ramifications of it, but I wasn’t concerned with that because I felt that my concern for Hamden far outweighed what party I was running for. I knew Lauren was gonna challenge Curt. And we had really looked at the political climate in Hamden and we knew that he was going to be challenged. Going to the legislative council meetings, you can see the displeasure with Democrats that were seated on the legislative council with the Democrat administration.
I do get a little frustrated when people try and use the party against me as opposed to doing what’s right for Hamden. I certainly am not trying to overthrow the Democrats. If every other person there was a Democrat, I would work just as well as if it was a Republican. Because that’s really not the point. The point is to do what’s right for Hamden, to use my experience to help Hamden.
Q: If you’re elected, what are you hoping to change about Hamden?
What I really would like to change at the very core is the relationship between the mayor and the legislative council. The legislative council is the fiscal authority for the town. They ultimately make almost all of the decisions as to where the money goes and where it comes from. So if you can’t cooperate with the legislative council, you’re already at odds. You’re already doing a disservice to the town. I’ve been to plenty of meetings where the administration being the mayor’s side and the council, they just argue — they don’t cooperate. And that’s one of the most important things that I would fix is letting know that the legislative council has someone in the administration that actually wants to work with them.
Q: Quinnipiac and Hamden have an inconsistent relationship. Why do you think that is?
Quinnipiac grew up here in Hamden just like I did and it was a very small, rural college. The (previous) president of Quinnipiac made a whole lot of progress growing the college very quickly. And I’ve kind of used the analogy of it’s like when a kid goes from being a kid to a teenager. You have those growing pains and you see all this rapid growth and all of a sudden they seem out of control and you’re fighting with them and you’re trying to hold them back. But in reality, you need to let them grow because that’s your job as a parent.
I’ve met people from the new administration, I’ve talked to them. What they did at planning and zoning the other night was really well received. The people on the Planning and Zoning Commission were almost speechless at how thorough, how honest, how open, the presentation (was). There were people on that committee that had been there for planning and zoning for 30 years, and they were like, ‘We’ve never seen this.’ So I think Quinnipiac deserves a lot of credit for taking that first step, even though it’s not the first step, but for delivering on what they said they would deliver.
Q: How do you plan on improving that relationship?
Just coming to campus, talking to students and talking to the administration. I know part of that plan is to have kids come on the campus, get kids to go to the games, just do whatever you can do to build that relationship. Specifically, I really would just want to be on campus more, have Quinnipiac kids be more in Hamden. Have them come to come to events, whether they’re volunteering, shopping, anything. It’s going to take a little bit at a time, but just getting it started is so important. And I have to thank the Quinnipiac administration for doing that.