Former Main League Baseball supervisor and participant Bobby Valentine scoffs at any suggestion he is likely to be out of his league working for mayor in his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut’s second-largest and fastest-growing metropolis.
The 71-year-old rookie mayoral candidate rattled off a listing of accomplishments, from his years managing baseball within the MLB and Japan to proudly owning a sequence of eating places and serving as Stamford’s public security director.
“I’ve ardour for this metropolis. I’ve a talent set that meets the necessities of management, administration, of workforce constructing,” Valentine stated in an interview. “I imply, I’d suppose if there was a job description on the market for a mayor, these issues could be in it.”
With the Nov. 2 normal election looming, the previous Republican who submitted 188 signatures to get on the poll as an unaffiliated candidate finds himself in a intently watched, aggressive race in opposition to Caroline Simmons, a 35-year-old Harvard-educated state consultant who already upset the shoreline metropolis’s two-term mayor within the Democratic major in September.
The race has attracted nationwide consideration, with former Republican President George W. Bush, who was a managing accomplice of the Texas Rangers when the workforce fired Valentine as its supervisor, contributing $500 to the previous skipper. Simmons, whose marketing campaign has obtained contributions from well-known performers akin to Michael Douglas and Bette Midler, was endorsed by former Democratic President Barack Obama.
Valentine, who managed the New York Mets, Boston Purple Sox and the Japanese Pacific League’s Chiba Lotte Marines throughout his profession, has outpaced Simmons in marketing campaign fundraising, amassing greater than $520,000, in contrast with almost $430,000 she raised as of this month. Every has obtained endorsements from organized labor in a metropolis the place Democrats outnumber Republicans by greater than 2 to 1. The upkeep and repair staff and native firefighters are backing Simmons whereas town’s lecturers and police unions have endorsed Valentine.
The Republican candidate within the race, a former metropolis police officer, withdrew final month and is backing Valentine.
The race has gotten testy at instances, with Simmons accusing Valentine of “abandoning” town when he was the general public security director and left city earlier than Hurricane Irene hit in 2011 to broadcast a baseball recreation in Texas. He shot again that Simmons would have identified it was “one of the protected conditions that ever occurred” if she had been within the metropolis — a dig at her for having moved to Stamford in 2013.
Simmons, who grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, co-chairs the Basic Meeting’s Commerce Committee and works at Yale College on maternal psychological well being coverage. She beforehand labored 4 1/2 years on the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety on home and worldwide terrorism points, touring to Afghanistan a number of instances.
She says Stamford voters need somebody together with her background who’s “prepared on day one.”
“They’ve appreciated our message of eager to make our metropolis work higher for folks,” Simmons stated of voters in an interview. “And I believe folks acknowledge that he could also be an incredible baseball participant and have that celeb standing, however they don’t essentially need him as mayor or don’t suppose that interprets into being an excellent mayor.”
A surge of newcomers, particularly New Yorkers who moved to Stamford throughout the peak of the pandemic, has introduced advantages and issues to a metropolis of greater than 135,000 the place hovering property values have exacerbated a dearth of reasonably priced housing.
The Rev. Winton Hill, a longtime Stamford resident and former pastor of Bethel AME Church, stated Simmons has articulated a imaginative and prescient for town extra clearly than Valentine, who appears to be “simply a person celeb working for workplace.” Hill, after attending final week’s ultimate mayoral debate, acknowledged Valentine’s enchantment however stated he’s somebody who represents the previous.
“He’s an older white male who’s been very profitable in life and whose persona is charismatic, and (Simmons is) a younger woman who nonetheless has loads to be taught, however has a complete life in entrance of her and who’s far more consultant of the long run,” stated Hill, who’s 73. “And so, my intestine feeling is to take a position sooner or later.”
Valentine insists he’s “not an unusual outdated white man.” He factors to his time as a workforce supervisor dwelling in Japan and as a younger participant dwelling within the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
“There’s no likelihood of a 35-year-old woman who grew up in a non-public setting, going to a non-public faculty in Greenwich, Connecticut, may probably relate to the various tradition of Stamford, Connecticut, higher than I do, it doesn’t matter what the age is,” he stated. “It’s an absolute impossibility in my thoughts.”
Linda Berkoff, a retiree who lives in Stamford, stated she hasn’t determined which candidate to assist on Election Day. Whereas she’s all the time voted Democratic, Berkoff stated she may find yourself voting for Valentine due to his assorted expertise, on and off the baseball subject.
“He appears to have sufficient historical past in managing issues … and to me, that makes a distinction,” she stated. “I’m actually occupied with somebody who will handle town with out going to at least one aspect or the opposite. … Consider all of us. You’re not a Democrat otherwise you’re not a Republican. You’re the chief of Stamford. You’re the supervisor.”
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