Incumbent State Sen. Kevin Kelly will run unopposed for re-election this year, but not for lack of David Gioiello’s trying.
Gioiello, a Shelton resident, had planned on challenging Kelly for his state Senate seat this year, but a paperwork snafu means he’ll have to sit out next month’s election.
He said he had no idea anything had gone wrong until he received a telephone call from Shelton City Clerk Marge Domorod late last month informing him he wasn’t on the ballot.
Apparently, his campaign paperwork got lost in the mail or somewhere in the Secretary of the State’s office in Hartford.
Gioiello had been endorsed in May as the Democratic Party candidate for the 21st State Senate District, and said he was busy starting up his campaign, buying lawn signs and other election paraphernalia and lining up endorsements from special interest groups.
He said he had sent in the required paperwork to the Secretary of the State’s office in Hartford, including the forms for reporting campaign donations, and took the additional step of filing a separate copy with the City/Town Clerk’s office at Shelton City Hall.
The 21st District is comprised of all of Shelton, most of Stratford and parts of Monroe and Seymour.
Gioiello said Domorod told him that when she received a packet of election materials from the Secretary of the State’s office late last month, she noticed immediately that his name was missing.
Domorod called election officials in the Secretary of the State’s office in Hartford and learned they had no record of receiving his campaign paperwork, although the election enforcement unit, located in a different building, had a record of his candidacy in its computers.
Unfortunately, Gioiello didn’t send the election forms by registered mail, and state officials wouldn’t accept a copy of the Town Clerk’s time-stamped record as a substitute, so that means Republican incumbent state Sen. Kevin Kelly of Stratford will run unopposed for re-election.
“The moral of the story is next time I’ll send it by certified mail,” Gioiello said.
The error probably won’t make much of a difference in the long run. The 21st District leans strongly toward the GOP.
George “Doc” Gunther, who died in August at age 93, held the seat for 40 years, earning the distinction of being the longest-serving state legislator in Connecticut history.
Gunther was succeeded by another Republican, Dan Debicella of Stratford, in 2006, and Kelly, who lives in Stratford, won the seat in 2010 after Debicella made an unsuccessful run for Congress.
Gioiello is the Shelton Democratic Town Committee chairman. He previously ran unsuccessfully for alderman and mayor in Shelton. This was to be his first candidacy for state office, and although he had already spent about $500 on campaign materials he has decided not to pursue a write-in campaign.
Kelly said he was surprised to learn that Gioiello wouldn’t be on the ballot. The two were scheduled to debate each other at a League of Women Voters event in Stratford and a Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce Meet the Candidates event in Shelton.
Kelly said not having a challenger won’t change his campaign. He still plans to meet with voters, listen to their concerns and ask for their support.
“We’ll continue to do that whether we have an opponent or not,” he said.
Gioiello said he was looking forward to the debates because he differs with Kelly on some of the issues.
He said he is also disappointed because he believes the voters should have a choice.
