Henpecked Hennessy, Laying Groundwork For Court Action, Now Claims Tainted Vote Outcome Is Legitimate

In the days leading up to Tuesday’s recount in which observers and election officials declare nine votes are missing and perhaps even more, State Rep. Jack Hennessy was querying North End district voters asking if any funny business had taken place with the handling of their absentee ballot, an area he outperformed opponent Marcus Brown by nearly two to one.

Down by five votes, Hennessy had expected to lose the recount so he toiled the district in search of arguments to challenge the results of the recanvassing that now has him up one stingy vote, a huge smudge infecting the Aug. 9 Democratic primary in Connecticut’s 127 Assembly District.

Brown won all three district precincts with the walk-in vote. The absentee ballot harvesting by Hennessy’s campaign manager Maria Pereira kept him in the game.

In a statement issued to the media Hennessy declares:

“I am pleased to have prevailed in the mandated recount. I hope that the city attorney will defend the result of the recount in the event of a court challenge. I call upon my opponent to accept the verdict rendered by the people of the 127th District, and to honor the democratic process by accepting the results of the recount, and not put the City of Bridgeport through the trauma of a judicial proceeding.”

Trauma? Hennessy was so traumatized by an expected loss after 18 years in the State House, he was gearing up for his own court filing.

Has the constant jaw-boning by his campaign manager henpecked Hennessy into convenient oblivion? If Hennessy had been down one vote after the recount, the mocking horror of outrage would be ear-splitting all the way to Hartford. The fix is in they would say, another dastardly deed by the city’s political establishment that backed Brown.

The Brown campaign has until Tuesday, two weeks after the primary, to file a court complaint. Hennessy does not want another election because he and Pereira know that it will be all hands on deck for the Dem Party apparatus to swarm the district. Pereira did well to maximize the absentee voters, but the campaign wilted with the walk-in vote.

The absentee ballot contest will be much more competitive should an action be filed and a judge order a new primary given the dubious outcome.

Otherwise Hennessy will be left with the scar of an illegitimate outcome.