Law Office
RO ERT
R
LUDGIN
33
Linden
Place
Hartford
Connecticut
06106
Post Office
Box 261775 ( *>
549-3928
HanfcrO
Connecticut
IM>
126-177
S F** (860) 524-S238
January
28,2010
FOR
HAND
DELIVERY
.
Ms.
Olga
I. Vazquez
Hartford
Democratic Registrar
of
Voters
City
Hall550 Main Street
Hartford,
Connecticut
06103
re:
Fifth
Assembly District Democratic Primary PetitionsDear
Ms.
Vazquez:
I
am
writing
to you on
behalf
of my
clients,
the
Fifth
Assembly District candidates
known
as.- Democrats
For A New
Direction with
the
lead name
of
candidate Mamie
Bell,
169
Cleveland Avenue,
Hartford,
06120
and
including among
its
candidates Hon. MarieLopez Kirkley-Bey, State Representative, of 39 Ashley Street,
Hartford
06105.
As
I
understand
the
facts concerning
the
circulation
of
petitions
for the
2010
Hartford
Democratic Town Committee primary, there has been a petition presented by my clients to
your
office
containing more
man the required 323
signatures
of
electors
within
the fifthassembly
district, that said petition
was filed
prior
to the
January 27
th
4:00 p.m. deadline,
andthat
each and every separate sheet of such petition has been signed by the circulator of thepage, that each circulator
was an
enrolled party member
of the
Democratic Party
of the
Cityof
Hartford
and entitled to vote, that each separate page of the petition contained a statement
as to the
authenticity
of the
signatures thereon
and the
number
of
said signatures
and
thateach page
was
signed
by the
circulator thereof under
the
penalties
of
false statement
andcontained
the circulator's address in the town (i.e.
Hartford
in which the circulator is an
enrolled
party
member. Furthermore,
I
have been advised that each separate sheet
of
suchpetition
was
acknowledged before
an
appropriate person
as
provided
in
Section
1-29
of our
statutes, namely each circulated petition has been notarized by a judge, a magistrate, a court
clerk
or deputy court
clerk,
a town
clerk,
a notary
public,
a
justice
of the
peace
or an attorney
admitted to the bar of the
State
of
Connecticut.
On
the
other
hand, I
have been advised
by my
clients
that
a
petition
was
circulated
byanother
group of fifth assembly district enrolled Democrats including yourself (henceforth
referred
to as the
The
Olga I. Vazquez
Slate ),
for them to be placed on the
ballot
as
Democratic
Town Committee candidates but that all of their petition pages contained a totalof only 288 signatures. Furthermore, I have been advised by my client that none of The Olga
Vazquez
Slate petition pages
has
been
signed
by the
circulator
and
none
of
them
has
been
Y
Ms.
Olga I.
Vazquez, Democratic Registrar
of
VotersPage
-2-
o
cknowledged
by a
person authorized
to do so
pursuant
to
Section
1-29
of our
statutes.Those two
Mings
are each a violation of the mandatory requirements
of
Section 9-410.
Therefore, I hereby demand that you comply with the requirements
of
Section
9-410
which
are
that
for any
sheet
of a
petition that does
not
contain
the
required statement
by the
circulator
as to the
authenticity
of
signatures
or
upon which
the
statement
of me
circulator
is
incomplete
in any
respect SHALL
BE
REJECTED
BY THE
REGISTRAR (capitalizationadded by me).Also, note that
Section
9-412
of our statutes also provides that
THE
REGISTRAR
SHALL
REJECT (capitalization
added
by me) any
page
of a
petition which does
not
contain the certifications required by
Section
9-410.
Please
note that
Section 9-412
is thesection that requires you to file the petition pages submitted to your
office
with the Town
Clerk's
Office.
However, by reason of the concluding sentence
of
Section
9-412
any page of
a
petition which does
not contain the
appropriate certifications required
by
Section 9-410
should not be filed with the Town
Clerk's
Office
but rather must be rejected bv
you.
Should
you
fail
to
comply with these statutory requirements referred
to
above,
I
plan
on
behalf
of my
clients
to
make appropriate complaints
to the
Secretary
of The
State's
Office
and
to the State Elections Enforcement Commission. Furthermore, if
necessary,
we mayconsider
filing
a
lawsuit
in the
Superior Court seeking
a
writ
of
mandamus
to
require
you to
comply with
the
requirements
of the statute.
Very truly
yours,
RFL/dkr
cc:
Hon.
Susan
Bysiewicz
Secretary of the StateState Capitol, Room
104
210 Capitol Avenue
Hartford,
Connecticut
06106
Ted Bromley, Esq.
Office
of the Secretary of the State
Elections Division30 Trinity Street
Hartford,
Connecticut 06106
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