Derby Board of Aldermen President Carmen DiCenso formally announced his candidacy for mayor Tuesday by vowing to do a better job than two-term Democratic incumbent Anita Dugatto overseeing ethics, communicating with residents, and shaping political consensus.
“I am confident in my leadership ability to pull everyone together to get the job done,” DiCenso said at the end of a five-minute speech. “We will do better.”
DiCenso was joined for his announcement Tuesday by about 70 people, among them most of the city’s Democratic Aldermen and a number of other notable Democrats.
Click the play button below to listen to DiCenso’s remarks, which begin about 1 minute, 25 seconds into the clip.
Born and raised in Derby, DiCenso graduated Derby High School in 1969. He and his wife, Barbara, have been married for 42 years.
A former coach of the Derby high school football team, he was the owner of the B & L Men’s Shop in Ansonia until 2009.
He has represented Derby’s Third Ward as an Aldermen since 2011, and has received the most votes of any Aldermen in each of the last three elections.
DiCenso also volunteers mentoring two men with autism and is a part-time gym teacher at St. Mary-St. Michael School, as well as a maitre d’ two nights a week at Italian Pavilion, where he announced his candidacy.
He was introduced at the event by Dan Foley, a current member of the Board of Education and himself a former mayoral candidate.
“I have a passion for this city and a tremendous desire to fix it,” DiCenso said. “I have seen our city lay idle for way too long and I will work tirelessly to change that.”
DiCenso said he had been asked to run for mayor more than five years ago, but felt he wasn’t ready then.
“I knew before I could assume a vital role in our local government I needed to first learn how the city operated,” he said. “As I stand before you tonight having been a member of the Board of Aldermen for more than five years, observing the city through two different administrations, I know we can do better.”
The saying is already a motto for DiCenso’s campaign.
DiCenso has been a critic of Dugatto’s on various issues, such as the mayor’s handling of the parking garage on Thompson Place, one of several times DiCenso has critiqued the way the mayor communicates.
“Communication is an absolute integral part of our leadership. Too many people use the word transparency while failing to communicate,” he said.
City and school officials should also talk more, he said. “I strongly feel that the Board of Aldermen, the tax board, and the Board of Education need to meet regularly to discuss all the matters that affect us.”
DiCenso went on to point out the city doesn’t have a Board of Ethics, an issue he also highlighted during a debate last year over a ballot question on possible conflicts of interest.
He said a functioning ethics board would be able to spell out such matters for residents and officials.
If elected, he said he’ll appoint one within 30 days of being sworn in.
“City Hall needs a leader that’s going to make hard decisions and to push for what’s best for our city,” DiCenso said. “We have been asking for an ethics board for the last three years. An ethics board would have solved many of conflicts our city has been facing.”
DiCenso didn’t name Dugatto during his speech. He vowed afterward not to run a negative campaign.
His candidacy is in itself a rebuke of the mayor, who first defeated Republican Anthony Staffieri in 2013 and was re-elected by a margin of about 100 votes over Richard Dziekan in 2015.
After his speech, DiCenso pointed out the narrowness of the mayor’s second-term win, saying he’d be more popular with voters.
“I think I can widen that gap,” he said.
Dziekan said recently that he plans to run for the Republican party’s nomination for mayor this year.
The Valley Indy reached out to his campaign as well as Dugatto’s for comment on DiCenso’s announcement Tuesday.
Barbara DeGennaro, a First Ward Democratic Alderwoman, said she and others support DiCenso because of his leadership skills.
“Every issue, he’ll talk to anybody and everybody that has a problem in this city,” she said. “He’s very visible. He immediately takes on an issue, handles it, and he’ll follow up to get a resolution.”
DiCenso’s campaign manager is Michael McFarland. Asked who else is helping his campaign, DiCenso named DeGennaro, Foley, Second Ward Alderman Ron Sill, First Ward Alderman Stephen Iacuone, and Rob Hyder.
The city’s Democratic Town Committee is scheduled to vote in July on who they will endorse to run for mayor.
Asked if he loses that vote whether he’d run a primary campaign against Dugatto, DiCenso said he would.
DeGennaro said she doesn’t think he’ll need to.
“It’s (still) a few months off,” she said. “Honestly, I think he’s going to get the nomination from the town committee.”
