Milford suit aims to take Maroney off Independent ballot line

A Milford resident is suing the Connecticut Independent Party, its leaders and Democratic state Senate candidate James Maroney to remove his name from the party’s ballot line.

Louis Elmo, 76, filed a complaint Tuesday in Milford Superior Court claiming the Independent Party broke party rules when it nominated Maroney, who is running for state Senate in the 14th District, which includes Milford, West Haven, Orange and Woodbridge.

Maroney is facing Republican state Rep. Pam Staneski for the seat that Democrat Gayle Slossb- erg is vacating after 14 years. Maroney won the Independent Party nomination over Staneski 25-10, giving him a second line on the November ballot.

The case joins several previous cases in which two factions of the Independent Party have legally disputed who their nominees should be and who rightly controls the party. The Danbury wing of the party and the Waterbury wing — the latter led by Michael Telesca and Rocco J. Frank Jr., who are also defendants in Elmo’s lawsuit — have pending court cases.

In the new lawsuit, Elmo alleges that many rules were not followed at the Aug. 29 Indepen- dent Party nominating meeting in Waterbury, including ineligible members voting. The complaint claims that the meeting was improperly presided over by Frank.

“These are baseless (allegations) and they will be challenged in court on Oct. 1,” said Bill Bloss, an attorney representing defendants Frank and Telesca. “We are confident that the caucus proceeded under the lawful rules of the Independent Party. The candidate that the plaintiff supported had a fair caucus and she lost.”

John Drapp, who represents Elmo, an Independent, said his client has video evidence that people who should not have cast ballots, did.

“Would this have affected the outcome? We don’t know, but it’s certainly plausible,” Drapp said.

His client wants Maroney stripped from the ballot because deadlines for nominating candidates and getting their names on absentee ballots have passed.

“The calendar just isn’t on our side,” Drapp said.

While Maroney is not accused of any wrongdoing in the lawsuit, he said Thursday he feels targeted because the suit is not seeking to strip ballot lines from other candidates nominated at the same meeting.

“They didn’t mention any of the Republicans who were nominated,” he said.

Staneski did not respond to requests for comment. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill, also named as a defendant, declined to comment.

The Independent Party now has 25,742 members, according to Merrill’s office. In August, a trial court judge sided with Telesca and Frank of the Waterbury faction as they wrestled for control of party with the Danbury wing, lead by John Dietter.

The Danbury wing appealed the case on Sept. 7. Slossberg and Staneski are named as plaintiffs in the suit. A hearing date has not been set.