Courtesy of Liam Brennan

Liam Brennan LAW ‘07 “quickly fell in love with the city” when he came to New Haven as a law student in 2004. Now, he hopes to lead New Haven with a progressive platform as its mayor. 

Brennan is centering his mayoral campaign around ending the war on drugs, tackling gun violence, increasing affordable housing and improving the city’s education system. Promising a shift away from current New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, Brennan argues that he brings both “vision” and “two decades of public service” to the table. 

“We can do [all of] this by reimagining how our city government works and committing ourselves to making it work better — by having city government work with the people of New Haven instead of standing in their way,” Brennan told the News. 

After forming an exploratory committee earlier in the campaign cycle, Brennan announced his candidacy through a two minute campaign video released on Feb. 22.  His video features prominent New Haven backers including community organizer Kerry Ellington, Narrative Project founder Mercy Quay, SeeClickFix founder Ben Nerkowitz and artist Daniel Pizarro. 

Originally exploring a run in 2019 to challenge incumbent mayor Justin Elicker, Brennan bowed out of the race to take care of his young children. Brennan, Elicker, former Beaver Hills Alder Shafiq Abusabdur and former McKinsey consultant Tom Goldenberg are the four candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for mayor in this year’s election. In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 15 to one, the Democratic primary on Sept. 12 is widely  viewed as the real race for mayor, rather than the general election in November. 

“Liam has the values and clarity of vision that New Haven needs and I’m thrilled to support his candidacy,” Marisol Orihuela LAW ’08, current clinical professor of law at Yale Law School, told the News. “He possesses a deep reservoir of love for New Haven and is deeply committed to making it a better place for all of its residents.”

Brennan has confirmed that he will participate in the Democracy Fund, a public financing program for candidates in New Haven who pledge to limit donations and not receive Super-PAC money. All candidates except Goldenberg have committed to the Democracy Fund. 

Sathvik Kaliyu, the CEO of New Way Forward Strategies, will manage Brennan’s campaign. Kaliyu has previously worked to elect Democratic U.S. Rep Mary Petola in Alaska. Abdul Osmanu, a Hamden Legislative Councilor who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, will serve as field director. 

From Yale Law School to prosecuting Gov. John Rowland for corruption

During his time at Yale Law School, Brennan worked at a legal aid clinic assisting non-profit organizations Junta for Progressive Action and Unidad Latina en Accion. He was part of a team that developed the Elm City ID Card — a system that allows for legal immigrants and undocumented immigrants to register for an ID to access government benefits. 

After graduating in 2007, Brennan accepted an offer from the Department of Justice to work in D.C. as a prosecutor. Brennan moved back to New Haven three years later to work in the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

As an assistant U.S. attorney in Connecticut, Brennan climbed the ranks to serve as the director of the Public Corruption Task Force. In this role, he served as the lead counsel in the prosecution of former state governor John Rowland, who served one year in prison for campaign finance violations and the falsification of records provided to investigators.

“Over the last two decades, I’ve fought corrupt hedge fund managers and dirty politicians, advocated for affordable housing, educational equity and a more just legal system,” Brennan said. “And like so many before me, I’ve found a city rooted in community, culture, and the promise of a brighter tomorrow.”

After leaving the US Attorney’s Office in 2018, Brennan joined the New Haven Legal Assistance Association clinic working in community economic development, and was part of the “A Room for All” coalition providing solutions for affordable housing in New Haven. 

He also served as the director of the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center to provide resources to veterans recovering from homelessness, addiction and mental illness. 

“I came to know Liam when he was working at Legal Aid as an attorney,” vice chair of the Dixwell Management Team Crystal Gooding told the News. “I needed guidance on an issue that was going to impact the neighborhood long term, during our conversation I became immediately aware that Liam was community-oriented, community concerned and true to his word. I believe Liam will make a great Mayor.” 

Brennan became Hartford’s inaugural inspector general in January 2022 and is also the chief investigator for Hartford’s Civilian Police Review Board, where he looks into allegations of misconduct. 

Ending the war on drugs, expanding housing and revamping education

If elected, Brennan hopes to shift the city’s response to drug use from a police issue to a public health issue. 

“The war on drugs is over,” Brennan said. “There’s nothing that obligates the city to continue to enforce an ineffectual war on drugs. And we can pull our police out of that and have them focus on guns and things that really hurt people that aren’t really public health issues.”

Under Brennan, the New Haven Police Department would continue to stop the open-air use or sale of drugs but would no longer make arrests for drug use. Instead, NHPD would be encouraged to prioritize solving violent crime aided by gun control legislation Brennan hopes to pass through the Board of Alders. 

His proposed municipal gun regulations would keep tabs on guns involved in criminal investigations through a city registry and attempt to confiscate guns before use in violent crime.

“I personally know people who use and distribute drugs,” Brennan said. “If they’re not going to jail, no one should go to jail for drugs. But, if someone is doing crime, whether it’s doing violence related to drugs or anything else, we should prioritize dealing with that.” 

Brennan would also expand the city’s COMPASS crisis response program, which responds to certain emergency calls between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day of the week and is composed of six social workers and peer recovery specialists. One of their areas of expertise is drug use. 

“I think that COMPASS should be fully integrated within police dispatch so that it’s the same person thinking about who to deploy,” Brennan said. “I’m glad that it’s been launched but don’t think it should have taken two years kind of like the Civilian Review Board where somebody thought that it would be a good publicity hit but didn’t care to put enough attention to it.”

Brennan said he would also strengthen the Civilian Review Board, which reviews the conduct of city law enforcement agencies, by endowing it with independent investigative power through an Inspector General similar to his role in Hartford. Currently, no such role exists in New Haven’s CRB.

In conjunction with policing reform, Brennan hopes to expand housing and reevaluate the 2021 property tax revolutions in New Haven. 

To expand housing, Brennan believes that the city should update zoning policies to allow for more naturally occurring affordable housing like multi-family units. 

He would also eliminate parking minimums to reduce the cost of housing. Currently, many homeowners have to subsidize parking since city ordinances require a minimum number of parking spots for many homes and buildings. 

New Haven’s 2021 property tax revaluation saw a 32.6 percent reported increase in property values since 2016. To soften the ensuing rise in property taxes, the Board of Alders implemented a two-year phase-in for the increase in taxes. Elicker had recommended a five-year phase-in.

“There needs to be a whole reassessment of revaluation because if you look at small buildings which are normally owned by homeowners or Mom and Pop LLCs, they are being valued at much higher rates than some of the larger buildings owned by corporations,” Brennan said. “And so that’s shifting too much of the burden onto homeowners and renters. I think, like just the whole reassessment on how we’re valuing the land is important here.”

Amidst a historic shortage of teachers, increase in absenteeism and steep decline in test scores, Brennan said that he believes the city also needs to work to increase accessibility to universal pre-K, make classes smaller and have librarians and nurses in every school. 

Brennan lives in Westville with his wife and children.