Elections Panel Fines Piesner; NICE Candidates Withdraw

By Andrew Gorosko

Eight of ten candidates of the Newtown Independent Coalition for Excellence (NICE) Party, who had been poised to run for town office in the November 6 municipal elections, will not be on the ballot based on “defective” petition signatures having been submitted for their candidacies.

Those eight people withdrew their candidacies in notices filed with Town Clerk Cynthia Curtis Simon on September 6.

The NICE Party candidates who withdrew are: Barry Piesner, first selectman; Richard Haas, selectman; Kim Danziger, Paul Brautigam and Bryan Atherton, Planning and Zoning Commission; Robin Lozito Fitzgerald and Jay Higham, Board of Education; and Richard Dunseith, Police Commission.

The NICE Party candidacies of two people for second district seats on the Legislative Council, however, were deemed valid after a review of the matter by the state Elections Enforcement Commission. Those people are Jonathan Bick and Robert Hennessey.

However, in a September 7 letter to Ms Simon, Mr Bick withdrew his candidacy for the council seat. In his place, the NICE Party then appointed Mr Dunseith to run for the council.

The Elections Enforcement Commission took up the legitimacy of the NICE Party candidacies after receiving a complaint from Ms Simon, who had questioned the validity of certain petition signatures submitted to her office by the party in seeking spots on the November ballot.

It had been brought to Ms Simon’s attention that some of the signatures on one of the nominating petitions did not appear to be the signatures of the persons whose names were listed. Ms Simon thus filed a complaint with the commission on August 17, and then filed an amended complaint on August 28.

Consent Order

In a September 7 consent order agreement between the Elections Enforcement Commission and Mr Piesner, Mr Piesner admits that some of the people whose signatures appeared on the nominating petition did not sign their names in his presence, meaning that he had not witnessed all the signatures on the petitions that he had circulated and certified, in violation of applicable state election law.

State election law requires that a petition circulator watch each person sign the petition, and that the circulator either personally know the identity of each signer, or receive appropriate identification from the signer.

The commission thus decided that Mr Piesner violated state election law concerning how the petition was circulated.

The commission also found that Mr Piesner had signed a statement falsely attesting to the authenticity of the signatures on the petition forms which he circulated.

Under the terms of the agreement between Mr Piesner and the commission, Mr Piesner agreed to pay a $200 fine and agreed to voluntarily withdraw the eight candidacies, including his own candidacy for first selectman.

Attorney Albert Lenge, the managing director of the Elections Enforcement Commission, said Wednesday Mr Piesner’s circulation of petitions came late during the candidacy filing period. “This was an eleventh hour attempt to make the deadline,” Mr Lenge said.

The election law violations occurred when some people who had signed the candidacy petitions also signed the names of their spouses on the petitions in their spouses’ absence, Mr Lenge said. The commission found “several” defective petition signatures, Mr Lenge said.

“[The NICE Party] paid the price,” Mr Lenge said, noting the eight candidate disqualifications.

Because Mr Piesner did not witness each petition signer sign the petitions, Mr Piesner thus invalidated the documents, Mr Lenge said.

The NICE Party had the option of contesting the candidate disqualifications and the $200 fine, but chose not to do so, Mr Lenge said.

“It’s sad because the voters of Newtown are deprived of a greater choice of candidates in the November elections,” he said.

 

Piesner Responds

Attorney John Droney, who represented Mr Piesner and the NICE party in the Elections Enforcement Commission matter, said Wednesday, “Barry had unintentionally and inadvertently violated the election laws.

“He received the absolute minimum civil penalty,” Mr Droney said of the $200 fine levied against Mr Piesner by the commission.

Mr Piesner said on Thursday that the Elections Enforcement Commission had found no problems with the NICE Party petition for the two Legislative Council candidates. Mr Piesner challenged the content of Ms Simon’s letter to the state Elections Enforcement Commission concerning the legitimacy of those two council candidacies.

“The NICE Party will continue to grow,” Mr Piesner said. The party will work to get its two council candidates elected to office, he said.

Mr Piesner explained that his collection of petition signatures was a rushed affair, which was conducted just before the submission deadline. He said he traveled to Hartford at the last minute to get the necessary paperwork, after which NICE Party supporters met on the steps of Edmond Town Hall. Mr Piesner said he misunderstood the timing of the measures needed to get his candidates’ names on the election ballot.

Of the petition signature collection, he said, “I definitely did not see all the signatures [being] made.” He added that he did not read the statement that he had signed stating that he had witnessed petition signers’ signatures being made. Mr Piesner charged that he was not given a verbal oath before being asked to sign that document.

“What occurred was an innocent situation. We were out of time. We did what we could. It was an error on my part,” Mr Piesner said.

 

Town Clerk

In a statement on her complaint to the state, Ms Simon said, in part, “I requested an investigation by the state Elections Enforcement Commission into what appeared to me to be … irregularities in nominating petitions that had been circulated by the NICE Party. The commission then confirmed some of the irregularities, ultimately resulting in a fine and the withdrawal of some candidacies. These irregularities were not, in my opinion, ‘minor technicalities’ as Mr Piesner has asserted; they are very serious and could have resulted in greater penalties. More importantly, these ‘minor technicalities’ compromised the election process in Newtown and that is not acceptable.

“I find it interesting that I recently have been accused of going to ‘extra lengths’ in an attempt to invalidate these petitions, when earlier, Mr Piesner himself, after submitting the petitions, complimented my office’s professionalism and courtesies,” Ms Simon added.

“I encourage the candidates who chose to withdraw to stay involved in town matters and participate in future elections,” she added.

Of the election controversy, Ms Simon said Wednesday, “It’s an unfortunate, unfortunate situation. I wish that it never happened. I particularly feel bad for the candidates” who were disqualified.