Former Mayor Rich Dziekan and former Aldermen Gino DiGiovanni.
DERBY — Former Mayor Rich Dziekan said he will file a lawsuit against the Derby Town Republican Committee for attempting to kick him out of the Republican Party.
“They better get their pocket books ready, because once I win this in state court, they will be financially responsible for this,” Dziekan said.
The mayor said he found a letter in his mailbox this week from Michael Shea, the Derby Republican Registrar of Voters. There is a dispute over when the letter was received — more on that later.
The letter informed Dziekan that the Registrar and the Republican Town Committee determined the former mayor was “no longer eligible to maintain party privileges within the Republican Party.”
Dziekan served three terms as mayor while a Republican.
The Derby GOP didn’t endorse him for a fourth term, and opted to instead endorse Gino DiGiovanni, the Republican chairman. Dziekan collected signatures to force a Republican primary, which he lost. He made it onto the Nov. 7 ballot as a petitioning candidate in a four way race against DiGiovanni, Joseph DiMartino and Sharlene McEvoy.
DiMartino won.
The letter cited state law that allows people to be erased from a political party’s membership roster if the person isn’t really affiliated with the party or isn’t a member in good faith.
The letter gave Dziekan three reasons for the action:
*Knowingly becoming a candidate for office on ticket of a new party
*Knowingly being a candidate at any primary or caucus of any other party or political organization
* Going against party interests by not accepting primary results
Dziekan said his actions do not warrant being kicked out of the Republican Party, an act that would prevent him from voting in local, state and national Republican primaries.
“I didn’t join a third party. I went unaffiliated. I didn’t go to a caucus or primary for another party. Not agreeing with the primary results is a First Amendment right to me. I have a right to disagree,” Dziekan said.
The letter also said Dziekan had the right to contest the action by appearing in front of the Registrar of Voters and DiGiovanni, the GOP chairman, at 3 p.m. Thursday (Jan. 11) in Derby City Hall.
However, Dziekan opted to change his voting registration on Wednesday to unaffiliated and said he would skip the hearing on Thursday.
“I would rather take it to a judge in Superior Court than this kangaroo court they have going on,” Dziekan said. “My former opponent, who is under federal indictment, is going to judge me? I don’t think so. I would rather have an independent judge review all the circumstances.”
DiGiovanni has a federal charge pending in Washington, D.C. for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection. He was scheduled to accept or reject a plea deal on Friday morning in D.C. court.
Dziekan said he received the letter from the Republican Registrar on Wednesday, less than 24 hours from the Thursday hearing date. That violates state law, the former mayor said. The Registrar said the letter was delivered to Dziekan’s address by a constable on Tuesday. Dziekan said he didn’t check his mail on Tuesday. He said that given the severity of the punishment, a phone call would’ve been nice.
DiGiovanni said he does not hold a grudge against Dziekan. He said the decision to possibly remove Dziekan from the Republican Party came from discussions held at Derby GOP committee meetings held in November and December. A member brought up the applicable state law — which has been used at least once prior in Derby political circles — and the members voted unanimously to ask the Registrar to draft the letter.
DiGiovanni said members felt Dziekan actively worked against the interests of the Derby GOP — and Republican Party voters — by staying in the race after losing the Republican primary.
“Somebody was endorsed by the party. You have the right to primary, but once the winner comes out, that means the voters chose who they wanted to run for mayor,” DiGiovanni said.
The Republican committee members felt that Dziekan’s presence in the general election split votes and handed the election to the Democrats.
“We don’t know if there would have been a different outcome. But if you add my numbers and his numbers together, they are more than Joe’s numbers,” DiGiovanni said. “I wasn’t aware of the law, but now I can see why it exists. Why have a primary process if a member of your own party can just keep running and running? That’s pretty much what the ex-mayor did to me. I won the endorsement. I won the primary. I won a recount of the primary. How many times do you have to beat somebody if they can just keep moving forward and have you lose to the opposition?”
DiGiovanni noted the letter did not kick Dziekan out of the Republican Party, as Dziekan still had the chance to make his case Thursday afternoon.
“Maybe he would have made some points. Who knows what would have happened. But he opted to leave the party. He left the party. The party didn’t leave him,” DiGiovanni said.
