According to people supporting the Holloway Slate last night, Democratic State Central rules were clear and stated the following:
Section 19: Tie vote
A. For Towns of Five-Thousand (5,000) or More Population Under the Last Federal Census
In the event that a vote taken on selection of a party endorsed candidate results in a tie, such tie vote shall be dissolved by the vote of the Chair of the Town Committee, but this provision shall not affect his or her right to cast any vote as a member of the Town Committee in the first place.
The wording of that seems pretty clear. The problem arises though in where that clause is found in the State Central Party Rules. The only spot I could find that wording was in the section entitled:
ARTICLE VIII:
RULES GOVERNING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN TOWNS NOT HAVING LOCAL PARTY RULES
Read that heading again, "in towns NOT having local party rules". The problem is that Hartford does have local party rules, so the tie-breaking clause would seem to not apply. There were plenty of lawyers in that room last night, but if that is what they were relying on for the win, I'm not sure it applies.
As of this afternoon, Sean Arena has apparently filed a dispute with the Connecticut Democratic State Central Committee and according to their party rules it will be handles as follows:
Article V:
FINAL COMMITTEE TO RESOLVE ENDORSEMENT DISPUTE
A. Any dispute concerning endorsements for any office, or for delegate or for town committee
member or officer, and any dispute concerning the interpretation and effect of party rules and procedures must first be referred to the State Central Committee members in the applicable district for local resolution. In order to expedite any such disputes, State Central members may seek legal opinions from Counsel for State Central. If the parties involved cannot bring about a resolution to their differences within seven business days, then the issue may be referred to the State Party Chairman in writing asking that the issue be resolved through a Dispute Resolution Committee. If the dispute is brought before a Dispute Resolution Committee, the issuing of a previous legal opinion by State Central Counsel concerning the dispute shall not prohibit said Counsel from advising the Dispute Resolution Committee.
B. A Dispute Resolution Committee shall be composed of no less than three (3) nor more than five (5) members of the State Central Committee, appointed by the chairperson thereof, none of whom shall be represent the district or districts concerned. The decision of the committee shall be conclusive and binding upon all parties.
C. The committee shall be appointed no later than five (5) business days after the Democratic Party Chair receives a written request for the resolution of a dispute pursuant to this article. The committee shall set a time and place for a hearing of said dispute within five (5) business days of its appointment. The parties to the dispute shall receive notice at least seven (7) business days prior to the hearing unless exigent circumstances warrant less notice. The Committee shall issue its decision within three (3) days of the close of the hearing, and a written copy of such decision shall be filed with the State Central Committee, and provided to each party to the dispute. However, when exigent circumstances arise, the State Chairman shall have the authority to modify these requirements.
I guess we will have to see where this ends up.
Only in Hartford.
TO READ THE ENTIRE CONNECTICUT DEMOCRATS PARTY RULES, CLICK HERE
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11 comments:
no one won except the $500 an hour lawyers hired by Arena and Holloway to represent them before the Democratic State Central Committee next week.
will rosie be the legal counsel for arena. Good luck holloway you deserve it. Its time the City has true leadership & unity...
Its almost as if the incompetant strategy team around Holloway were actually working for Mr Arena.If the Democratic State Central panel invalidates the election of Ms Holloway and orders a new election,as is likely,then Mr Arena will have some momentum and a certain amount of sympathy around the fact that the election was stolen from him the first time around by imcompetant people.He may well head into a new election with an edge,given to him by a very unsmart strategy team around Ms Holloway.This all was very unwise and the responsibility for another win for Mr Arena...and by extension the Mayor...falls on those people.If that result happens then those strategists should do the party and voting public a favor and resign from the town committee as they have proven to be incompetant.
The incompetent strategy team around Holloway includes Councilman Ken Kennedy, who by the way prides himself on knowing the "rules". Many believe this was his failed attempt to secure the 7th for a lock on the Town Committee's endorsement for Mayor. Sorry Ms. Holloway, you need new new advisors, better luck next time.
Don't be so sure that Arena would win a re-vote. He pissed a couple people off when he "ordered" his "followers" to leave after the Lou Watkins vote. There were sarcastic cries of "yes masta" from the other side. I think there are at least two african american men who would not cast their vote for Arena a second time around.
Actually the dumb strategy,the fruits of which will likely be overturned by State Central were the workings of Page,Kenelly,Carbone and Dibella...between them they dont have the brains of a flea.If Arena wins then the above should do us a favor and resign their town committee seats.
I don't think that you can throw anything on Page and Carbone on this one. They were rather silent participants at the meeting. Even DiBella the lesser was not an active participant. Kennelly was doing what he always does.
Could we just get along? Maybe the time is right to let Jean chair a term. She has been a hardworking Democrat and she is even willing to begin to change the course. This was a tough one when the choice was between Arena and Rubenstein: the choice is no longer that difficult. Jean understands what the role of chair is. Cant we just get along? Any chance Arena had at the chairmanship were eliminated by the way he acted at the meeting.
Jean is a nice woman with no leadership skills, as evidenced by her "deer in the headlights" approach at the meeting.I beg to differ with the comment above, in that DiBella,Carbone,Page and Kennelly manuvered the strategy that got us into this horrible mess.
Kevin: Time to raise all of your blog to the next editorial level.
The comments section will gain great integrity by abolishing "anonymous" entries. Being held accountable is the time-honored rule for insuring truthfulness and weeding out "trash". You live or die on the truth when publishing your articles, and should expect more from your commenters.
Bruce Rubenstein and I both strongly advocated for this with Cityline earlier this year.
Anonymous entries may be titillating, but watch comment quality skyrocket when authors are identified. Afterall, "We The People" entries have such credibility, in part, because your name is attahced to them.
Make ALL of your blog first class.
Food for thought.
Thom,
I wholeheartedly agree with you if we were living in a different time. Unfortunately, you know as well as I do, that if many of these posters used their real names, they potentially would suffer severe repercussions from this administration.
I have never edited or removed postings and for the most part, I think the postings are civil, reflecting the posters personal thoughts.
The other issue is there seems to be a strong sense of "kill the messenger" at this point in time.
Many of the posters have valid messages but don't want their names dragged through the mud for issues that have nothing to do with their postings.
I will try to figure out how to get less "anonymous" postings and get people to lay claim for their thoughts. In the meantime, someday's I'm getting as many comments per day as I used to get "hits" per day a year ago.
If nothing else, it is a forum to get credible information out.
Your comments are always appreciated, and we always know where you stand by taking credit for your posts.
And I do know who a lot of the "anonymous" posters are since they contact me and take credit for their posts, if only Eddie knew, he'd be amazed
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