Print

Candidate Seeks Halt To Primary

By DANIEL E. GOREN, Courant Staff Writer

September 05, 2007

State Rep. Minnie Gonzalez asked the Superior Court Tuesday to halt the Sept. 11 Democratic primary while she appeals last week's judicial ruling that knocked her off the ballot.

In Tuesday's filing in Superior Court in Hartford, she said she would suffer "substantial and irreparable harm" if the election proceeds without her case being fully adjudicated. She also indicated that she would take the matter to the state Supreme Court for review.

"We are still pushing for justice," she said Tuesday. "Justice was not served, so we are going to go all the way."

The court will hold a hearing on Gonzalez's injunction request on Friday at 10 a.m.

The mayoral hopeful and a slate of six city council candidates were bumped in August from participation in next week's primary after some of their voter petitions were disqualified.

Her efforts hit a snag when the city's Democratic registrar of voters, Shirley Surgeon, determined that many of the primary petitions that Gonzalez and the council candidates gathered were invalid under state law, which says no one person can circulate petitions for more than one mayoral candidate.

The council slate contained a "placeholder" candidate, a person with no intention of seeking office.

As a result, Surgeon said, Gonzalez and the council candidates had not gathered enough signatures to qualify for the primary.

Superior Court Judge James T. Graham upheld Surgeon's decision in a ruling Aug. 30.

Gonzalez has asked that the courts review the election law in question to see whether it was applied correctly and whether it is constitutional.

Gonzalez had argued that the law was unconstitutional because it was too vague and violated her rights to free speech and association.