Gov. Ned Lamont’s reelection campaign paid the New Haven Democratic Town Committee (DTC) $45,292 to reimburse the local party for citywide canvassing efforts in the runup to the Aug. 11 Democratic primary, in which the two-term incumbent wound up winning 4,790 New Haven votes. According to the New Haven DTC’s treasurer, that payment helped cover the costs of 43 canvassers knocking doors and distributing literature for the Lamont campaign for roughly a month before the primary, at an hourly rate of between $22 and $28. The Lamont-New Haven DTC payment was nine times larger than the only other such reimbursement the governor’s campaign made in August — of $5,000, sent on Aug. 26 to the Hartford Democratic Town Committee. Those expenditures are included in the latest Itemized Campaign Finance Disclosure Statement filed by the governor’s reelection campaign, NED for CT. That document was filed with the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) on Sept. 10. It includes details on all the money that the Lamont campaign received and spent between Aug. 5 and Aug. 31. According to the report, the Lamont campaign spent a total of $1,240,242.03 and raised a total of $714,414.32 during that roughly four-week time period, with $3,338.92 of those contributions coming from individual donors and $700,000 coming from the candidate himself. The report shines a light on where the Lamont campaign focused its self-funded financial might in the governor’s successful efforts to fend off a challenge from the left by Hamden State Rep. Josh Elliott. It also reveals just how much the two-term incumbent invested in turning out the vote in New Haven compared to other parts of the state. Across Connecticut, Lamont wound up beating Elliott in the Aug. 11 primary by 126,213 to 59,851 — or 68 percent to 32 percent — to secure the Democratic nomination for his hoped-for third term in office. He is now set to face off in November’s general election against Republican candidate and Greenwich State Sen. Ryan Fazio. While Lamont handily won the August primary, Elliott posted one of his strongest showings in New Haven. Lamont beat Elliott in New Haven by only 4,790 to 3,320 — or 59 percent to 41 percent. The New Haven Democratic Town Committee reimbursement, meanwhile, is listed in the expenditures section of Lamont’s Sept. 10 campaign finance report. The relevant section states that Lamont’s campaign paid $45,292 to the “New Haven DTC,” located at 1510 Ella T. Grasso Blvd., on Aug. 13. The “Purpose of Expenditure” is listed as “POC” and the “Description” of the expenditure is listed as “Reimbursement per Gen. Stat. § 9-610(b).” While declining to comment on any individual candidate’s filings, SEEC attorney Joshua Foley said “POC” is a filing code that refers to “a payment to another committee for a reimbursement of a shared expense.” State campaign finance law states that a committee has to reimburse another committee for a shared expense “within a reasonable amount of time” — defined by the SEEC as within 45 days of the date of the expenditure — “to avoid it becoming an in-kind contribution.” The $45,292 payment to the New Haven DTC was the fifth largest expenditure made by the Lamont campaign during this time period, following only payroll, TV ad buys, communication consulting, phone banking, and printing. It was also one of only two expenditures listed as a reimbursement per state law § 9-610(b). The other such reimbursement payment, made to the Hartford Democratic Town Committee on Aug. 26, was for $5,000. (In Hartford, Lamont wound up beating Elliott 4,893 to 1,279, or 79 percent to 21 percent.) Mauro: “We Pay People Good Money To Go Door Knocking” So. What exactly was this $45,292 payment to New Haven’s DTC for? “The reimbursable expenses were for GOTV canvasses in New Haven,” a Lamont campaign spokesperson told the Independent, using the acronym for Get Out The Vote.” What particular GOTV efforts in New Haven were covered by this $45,000-plus? This was for “paid canvassing and costs assicated with canvassing like literature,” the Lamont campaign spokesperson said. New Haven DTC Chair Vinnie Mauro and New Haven DTC Treasurer Barbara Vereen agreed. They told the Independent that this Lamont-campaign reimbursement covered the costs of citywide canvassing that New Haven Dems paid for in support of the governor’s reelection campaign in the runup to the Aug. 11 Democratic primary. Vereen said that the New Haven DTC had around 43 people out canvassing, seven days a week, in the month leading up to the Aug. 11 primary. She said that the New Haven DTC paid between $22 and $28 an hour for that canvassing work. “We pay people good money to go door knocking. We cover the whole city,” Mauro said. “We printed out more New Haven-specific literature talking about the investments the administration has made into improving” New Haven. (They also pointed out that the Ella T. Grasso Boulevard address included in the Lamont campaign finance report for this New Haven DTC reimbursement appears to be a typo. That is the address of Major Ruth, a previous New Haven DTC treasurer. Vereen said that she has updated the committee’s address to her own, on Pond Street.) Mauro and Vereen emphasized that the New Haven DTC pays well above minimum wage for door knocking. They also noted that Elliott had a relatively strong appeal in New Haven compared to elsewhere in the state — likely prompting the Lamont campaign’s focus here. “Josh did very well here,” Mauro said. “He certainly had a following” in New Haven. Why does he think the Lamont campaign sent such a larger reimbursement payment to the New Haven DTC compared to the Hartford DTC? Mauro pointed to Elliott’s stronger showing in New Haven than in the state’s capital city. “They also had a major congressional race,” he said about Hartford. “A lot of people were already invested in that one.” The New Haven Democratic Town Committee is slated to publish its next campaign finance report on Oct. 10, for expenditures and fundraising for the period covering July 1 through Sept. 30. That report should include more line-by-line details about the $45,252 worth of canvassing work that the Lamont campaign reimbursed the New Haven DTC for on Aug. 13. 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