Deputy City Attorney John Bohannon on Friday filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the September 10 primary results asserting “The plaintiffs, alleged electors of the city of Bridgeport, lack standing because they are not aggrieved by a ruling of an election official.”
State Senator Marilyn Moore lost a close contest to Mayor Joe Ganim, winning the machine count but losing as a result of absentee ballots that three plaintiffs claim were tainted, but show no direct personal evidence of voting irregularities in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was brought by Bridgeport Generation Now Votes. Some members of the organization have donated financially to Moore’s campaign.
Moore is not a party to the lawsuit and the plaintiffs were not candidates raising questions about their standing in the case.
“Two of the three plaintiffs will not deny that they voted in the primary and there will be no evidence that their votes were not counted. Their complaint, at rock bottom, is that their candidate lost. That does not satisfy the requirement of (state law) that they be aggrieved, that is, that they have a specific, personal and legal interest in the subject matter of the decision, as distinguished from a general interest such as is the concern of the community as a whole, and that the plaintiffs were specially and injuriously affected.”
Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens will hear arguments about the motion to dismiss on Monday.
Lennie, are there any set precedents. I’m sure that there must be other lawsuits with similar situation or claim. Every situation is different but, there are court cases with similar situations or claims. I don’t think lawyers read OIB. Oh, Wait! Paging Judge Carmen Lopez.
The Moore votes where stolen by Ganim, of coarse hey have standing!
HE(A)Y, is for horses. Your horse and my horse in this race.
Bet on English Breeze at Belmont Park Sunday, race 8 WPS.
Let the judge decide, Joel. The only sure bets are death and taxes.
What I would like to know is WHERE are OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS WHO HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO STAND WITH THE CONSTITUENTS THAT VOTE and KEEP THEM IN OFFICE?
IF MARIO TESTA/ JOE GANIM HAS ABUSED THEIR POWERS as DONALD TRUMP HOW DOES the DTC RID ITSELF OF MARIO/GANIM?
just thinking
WHY the SILENCE? EVERYONE is talking IMPEACH TRUMP but on the LOCAL LEVEL IT’S SILENT about getting RID of MARIO/GANIM With OUR OFFICIALS
BUCH of DOUBLE STANDARDS IN POLITICS😵😵
John Marshall Lee
Where are & WHAT IS the position of the LOCAL and NATIONAL NAACP on ABSENTEE Ballots ABUSE and VOTING RIGHTS? Don’t some of the testimonials vere on one’s CIVIL RIGHTS being VIOLATED?
They should have a VESTED interest, correct?
I DON’T KNOW WHY THEY ARE SILENT!
i could speculate but I’ll wait for your thoughts.
Wanda,
Thank you for asking some good questions. The NAACP National and the Greater Bridgeport NAACP Branch 2002 are concerned that people secure the right to vote by registering; then continue to vote at every opportunity so that their registrations do not become INACTIVE due to local or State interpretations of rules; understand local rules so if they are not listed at their current address as a voter, they understand how to correct that (hopefully by checking at Registrar of Voter or online previous to election day); and understand how to cast a Challenge Ballot, among others.
The use of an ABSENTEE BALLOT is also a right in CT extended to folks who have one of six situations facing them as regards Election Day. To vote AB is not for personal convenience, but rather because voting at the polls on Election Day is prevented by one of the exceptions.
National NAACP is looking at VOTER SUPPRESSION in various states like Georgia and North Carolina where ‘gerrymandering’ has been noted. CT Post reporters and observers from Bridgeport Generation Now have turned up multiple cases of AB abuse that are being presented currently to authorities or the courts. It is a form of genuine “voter suppression” when the shepherded or guided AB vote results depart so significantly from the machine voting percentages it is argued.
When “good people” who know what has been done by incumbents or other candidates they are said to be informed. When informed voters do not go to the polls, they may not be abusing my civil rights, but they are not upholding their own. That is the issue where far less than a majority of those registered come out to actually vote. I would be angry if folks also ignore paying their fair share of taxes. And then some of them complain? Foolish.
Greater Bridgeport NAACP has its annual Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner on October 4, 2019 at Holiday Inn starting at 6:30 PM. For $100 you can hear comments from Keynote Speaker Ms. Jody Prendergast, author, visionary and entrepreneur, view the community awards, enjoy the Holiday Inn meal, and also pay for or renew your annual dues, if you complete the back of the ticket and turn it in. Membership in the local branch is a foundation for becoming active on a committee of your choice working towards a society in which all individuals have equal rights and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination.
The NAACP has a formal grievance procedure and forms are available on our website http://www.BridgeportNAACP.org.
When you ask, “Why are they silent?” Who is they? Asked Pogo creator, Walter Kelly, answered. “They are us.” And if people cannot see that belonging, being active and vigilant are necessary parts of community civil rights, then Kelly was again correct in observing: “We have met the enemy and they are us.”
Finally you might want to read the Ode to Election 2019 I wrote before Sept 10:
Ode to Local Election: 2019 Bridgeport, CT
Got work that pays for food, roof and coat,
Skilled tools in the heavy old sack that I tote,
And attend full mind to real news of note.
I read, view and learn, and click the remote,
So I can be wise, when it comes time. I vote.
‘Politics is dirty’, at least many folks say,
‘Cuz those elected work to make the job pay,
For them and their own; all others mere prey!
All are not equal; and ‘believers’ get betrayed.
Especially the aged and weak left to pray.
We serve in uniform when we’re called to fight.
We work to help others when storms cause all fright.
When the old and broke make plans for flight,
We then see things b’coming more wrong than right.
Are we just folks divided, to face a sorry plight?
Who’ll raise a voice, a vote and some cents?
To support the few who are honest, make sense?
“Defeat Hate, Educate, Vote” works with patience,
To sweep out corruption, greed, and incompetents.
‘Cuz our biggest all around sin is: public ignorance.
A few more than 30 days left ’til the day…and I still say….Time will tell.
I almost fell asleep reading this
K.I.S.S.
Joel,
At the hour you were ready for bed?
And you fell close to sleep instead?
What a shame.
Who’s to blame?
You know that Ganim2 is in a stew
With nary a clue as to what to do?
So there are a few like you who will drag
Down the challenger, cuz after four years
About Joe, there is nary a thing new to brag
About to many and that’s how it appears…..
So, Joel, you counsel KISS , keep it short,
While there is too much amiss in Bridgeport
But let those who wish more, vote Moore
And those who’ll settle for less…..well God Bless.
Time will tell.
The judge just may throw out this suit because as a separate entity with no affiliation to Senator Moore they don’t have standing in their ability to say they were hurt or injured by these AB abuses. The only one with any standing with respect to this court case would be the aggrieved party, Marilyn Moore.
Speculation only leads to ulcers. Just wait it out. The suit was brought as a violation of civil rights. This may end up in federal court.
Derek, what I wrote isn’t speculations, it’s fact. As Director of the Northeast Region of the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters where I represented 2000 Black firefighters from Nova Scotia to Philadelphia I’ve saw numerous cases where local chapters lack standing in State courts to file lawsuits. Courts aren’t inclined to let any Tom, Dick or Harry file lawsuits on behalf of others when they weren’t the aggrieved party. Unlike yourself I’ve done more in life than to bitch and moan on OIB.
You sound angry Donald Day.
If you’d read the complaint or the statutes you would know that any registered voter has standing to contest errors in election procedures.
Joel, I drop some knowledge and you equate that with anger? I think you’re breathing too much of that mop & glo!
Hey Donald, I think we have a new name for Joel! …………..Mop & Glo!