• 56% Of Democrats reject Mayor DeStefano in the Democratic Primary. With three challengers, he had the margin to win, but he lost the popular vote and control over the Board of Alderman with key losses to his power base. Jeffrey Kerekes came in second with a wide margin over fellow challengers together totaling 58% of votes cast for mayor.
• First Person to receive any nomination at the Democratic Convention in over a decade. We received 7 and 8 abstained from voting for DeStefano.
• First Challenger To Ever Qualify For The Democracy Fund, A Clean Elections program.
• First Candidate to Ever Receive the Democracy Fund Grant, A Clean Elections program.
• 3,685 Signatures collected to get in the Democratic Primary - More than Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney in 2001.
• Won the most excitement from the three Mayoral Debates in 2011.
• The only candidate DeStefano has been afraid of and targeted by his fake smear poll, rumor campaign, stealing of yard signs, and interference with democracy.
• In 2006, founding member of New Haven Citizens Action Network (NHCAN) to bring more transparency, accountability and financial sustainability to the Elm City.
• Collected over 1,000 signatures in 2010 from regular people all across the city in response to the proposed 9-23% tax hike.
• Successfully organized efforts to take on the huge tax hike resulting in a 4% tax increase instead of the proposed 9-23% hike in 2010.
• Commuted from Trumbull in the 1990s to help AmeriCorps with the community garden in Newhallville.
• Produced and launched first mental health/psychotherapy podcast in 2005. Featured in the LA Times introducing podcasting to a wider audience.
• M.S. in Clinical Social Work from Columbia University
• B.S. in Environmental Education, Jeffrey taught at the Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center and the Department of Environmental Protectionʼs Kellogg Environmental Center.
• Reduced Emergency Room 'diversion' status and expanded revenues at Cambridge Hospital by locating and expanding list of admitting facilities ensuring better care of the community.
• Key organizer of the Union of Social Workers at Cambridge Hospital to end unfair pay structures that allowed new hires to earn more than those with 10+ years.
• Financial advocate and expanded a grassroots resource in Massachusetts for everyday people interested in achieving financial independence. Received wide attention including an environment magazine in Japan.
• Over ten years experience advising families how to stay together and to work out their difficulties.
• Appointed to and served on the City of New Haven Financial Review And Audit Commission.
• Best New Haven Watchdog, 2008 New Haven Advocate Staff Pick.
• Served as a mediator with New Haven's Community Mediation in the mid 1990s to resolve parent/teen, peer and landlord/tenant disputes while residing in Trumbull.
• See a list of press coverage from the past several years about my activities.

Did you know? Jeffrey:

• Met his wife in 1998 on the subway in NYC.
• Grew up in Trumbull, CT within a predominantly Italian family.
• Was a volunteer fireman with the Nichols Fire Department.
• Shares his home with two Australian Shepherds, Luka and Murphy.
• Got his last name Kerekes (kur - EE - kess) from his Hungarian side of the family who came to this country 5 generations ago. The name means 'WheelMaker' in Hungarian.
• Converted an abandonded garage into his home on Lyon Street largely himself over three years during nights and weekends.

Crime is out of control. Our new Chief of Police spends half of every week in Chicago, because he lives there. The police union had a vote of no confidence in him. It’s time to get police officers out of their cars and onto our sidewalks. Community Policing worked in the past; it can work again. We propose giving cops incentives to Come Back Home to the city so they’re part of the fabric of our neighborhoods – that’s real community policing.

1. Deploy the force effectively -- put the right people in the right places at the right times.
2. We need a real Citizen’s Review Board that has power to hold bad officers accountable.
3. No more micromanaging the police force from City Hall.

We’re broke! And I agree with the conclusions of the four different independent studies that said we can fix this mess. They offered some solutions but no one in the administration is listening.

1. No New Taxes without your vote.
2. End cronyism and patronage jobs that reward friends and contributors and cost us dearly.
3. Spend to our priorities with a three-tier system: Critical, Important, Everything Else.

New Haven deserves better. Why should we be stuck with schools that national news sources have called “drop-out factories”? We want to prevent yet another generation of kids from being failed by the education system under DeStefano. Something is wrong with his priorities. He spent $1.5 billion on bricks and mortar, while kids are protesting City Hall because they don’t have books in the classroom.

1. Real Reformers reforming our schools, not the same people that delivered failing results.
2. Spend money in the classroom, not on a bloated Board Of Ed on Meadow Street.
3. Hold Principals accountable for delivering results, or get someone who can.

We need jobs for the people who live here. Stop sending money to the suburbs and instead invest it here. We need to have an atmosphere in which businesses want to become a part of New Haven.

1. Stop abusing businesses - End abusive marshals and tax collection policies.
2. Reduce the cost of doing business so businesses can afford to locate here.
3. Attract businesses to fill our vacant office buildings and store fronts.

Eight years is good enough for the President of the United States, it should be good enough for Mayor. Holding office for 18 years makes politicians complacent and makes patronage business as usual. Politicians should return to private life after no more than eight years in office. Let’s talk about Term Limits!

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