Judge: Proceed As Normal For BOE Elections (For Now)

Two days before final petition signatures for ballot confirmation of challenge candidates must be turned into the city’s Registrar of Voters Office, a Superior Court judge ordered that city elections officials must proceed as normal regarding certification of Board of Education candidates running on mayoral candidate Mary-Jane Foster’s slate, pending arguments on Aug. 16 relative to the merits of a court challenge claiming that the state’s decision to do away with the local BOE is unconstitutional.

Attorneys Michele Mount and John Kardaras, representing the Foster slate of candidates for Board of Education, made arguments today in Waterbury Superior Court. Foster, who opposes the state takeover of schools, has offered a slate of education candidates after the Democratic Town Committee did not endorse school board candidates as a result of the proposed state takeover of schools. From Mary-Jane Foster:

2nd Big Win for Foster Today:

Judge Orders BOE Election Process to Continue

Democratic candidate for mayor of Bridgeport Mary-Jane Foster scored a second big victory today when Judge Agati with the Superior Court in Waterbury ordered that the Bridgeport Registrar of Voters accept and certify all valid petitions and that the Bridgeport Town Clerk take no action until further notice from the court. The order will stand until August 16, 2011 when the case, now consolidated with other similar cases, will be heard on its merits in Waterbury. The Court will be deciding whether or not the City of Bridgeport elections will proceed normally in September with the primary and in the general election in November. The deadline to submit certified petitions is this Wednesday, August 10. Today’s order prevents the Registrar of Voters and Town Clerk from making any decisions that will permanently harm the candidates’ opportunity to have their names appear on the ballot.

“Today’s ruling supports our assertion that our candidates for the Board of Education have a right to be on the ballot, the reconstitution of the Board was improper, and voters have a right to a proper election,” explained Foster. “Mayor Finch played politics with our children’s education by orchestrating a backroom deal to toss out duly elected officials. The Court agreed that parents’ voices must be heard through the democratic process and I couldn’t agree more.”

Foster’s campaign filed an injunction last week seeking to ensure that the Bridgeport Board of Education candidates who are running on her citywide slate are placed on the primary ballot on September 13, if they submit the required certified petitions. In the complaint, plaintiffs Robert Walsh, Charles Coviello, George Pipkin, III, and Pertrinea Cash-Deedon v State Board of Education, et al. sought:

1. A declaratory ruling that Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 10-223e(h) is unconstitutional;

2. A declaratory ruling that the dissolution of the Bridgeport Board of Education was improper and in violation of the requirements of the Statute;

3. An ex parte injunction ordering the Democratic Registrar of Voters [of Bridgeport] to accept the petitions of the Board of Education Candidates and to place their names on the primary ballot;

4. A temporary injunction preventing the State Board of Education and Acting Commissioner of Education from taking further action to reconstitute the Bridgeport of Education.

5. Any other relief that is appropriate.

In July, Foster issued letters to the Bridgeport delegation and the leadership of the Connecticut General Assembly calling for the creation a Special Master to oversee education reform in Bridgeport. Such action would not only trigger funding that could help alleviate some of the local education budget woes but also would allow the State to avoid subverting the will of the electorate by not overturning the elected Board of Education.