(Front left to right) Alderman Joe DiMartino, Alderwoman Barbara DeGennaro, and Alderman Carmen DiCenso. Mayor Anita Dugatto is in the background, between DeGennaro and DiCenso.
A three-person panel from the state Democratic Party opted to strip Carmen DiCenso’s mayor endorsement Friday because arranging for a new vote was too difficult to organize.
Members of the panel announced their decision Friday evening. State Democrats then released the panel’s written decision Sunday.
The Derby drama started last Tuesday, after members of the Derby Democratic Town Committee voted 21 – 15 to endorse DiCenso over two-term Mayor Anita Dugatto.
After the vote and the meeting was clearing out, Andrew McIndoo, Mayor Dugatto’s campaign manager, questioned the validity of the vote because it was conducted by secret ballot — that is, no one knew which Democratic Town Committee members voted for Dugatto or DiCenso.
McIndoo confirmed his hunch Wednesday, and then Frank Rubino, a Dugatto supporter, filed a complaint with state Democratic Party officials, arguing that the voters’ names should have been attached to the votes.
During a 20-minute telephone hearing Friday, Linda Fusco, chairwoman of the Derby Democratic Town Committee, said that the Democrats had been using secret ballots for as long as anyone could remember.
McIndoo, by the way, isn’t from the Derby political scene. He’s from DNA Campaigns, a political consulting firm from New Haven, which could explain why he was the only one in the room during the nominating convention who knew — or spoke up — about the nominating process.
From the written decision released Sunday by the panel after Friday’s “resolution hearing:”
“The Panel recognizes that Chair Fusco was following the established tradition in Derby by holding a secret ballot and notes that she did not seek to help one side over the other. Chair Fusco was very forthright at the hearing.”
In that same written decision, the panel said getting all the Democrats together quickly for a new vote raised a number of questions, including:
- Would town committee members be able to make the new date?
- Would the new date affect a candidate’s decision to primary for a spot on the ballot?
- Would the outcome of the original meeting influence members one way or the other?
In the end state party officials directed both Dugatto and DiCenso to start collecting the necessary signatures to trigger a primary vote in September.
That means registered Democrats in Derby will chose whether DiCenso or Dugatto gets the Democratic Party’s spot on the November ballot against Republican-endorsed candidate Richard Dziekan.
Volunteers for both campaigns were knocking on doors over the weekend in Derby collecting signatures for the primary.
From the Facebook page of Carmen DiCenso’s campaign:
From the Facebook page of Mayor Dugatto:
The panel also directed the Derby Town Democratic Committee to amend its local rules barring the use of secret ballot “when voting in a representative capacity.”
“The reason behind this rule is that when you case your ballot in a representative capacity, such as a town committee or a delegate, those who elected you have the right to know how you voted,” the panel’s decision reads. “This is in contrast to when you cast a vote as an individual Democrat such as at a caucus. When you participate in a caucus as a member of the Democratic Party, you have the right to cast your ballot in private.”
The written decision is below:
Democratic State Central Committee Derby Town Committee Dispute Resolution by The Valley Indy on Scribd
