Conn. aid-in-dying proponents: Terminally ill deserve ‘control’
HARTFORD — The Connecticut attorney general’s office is threatening to take a state lawmaker to court for failing to pay a $4,500 fine for election law violations that was levied a decade ago in connection with the 2006 election.
Democratic Rep. Minnie Gonzalez, who has represented part of Hartford for 22 years, was fined by the State Elections Enforcement Commission in 2009 for improperly being present when four voters filled out absentee ballots. She appealed the penalty, but it was upheld in 2013 by the state Appellate Court. The state Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
“The Office of the Attorney General has recently issued another demand for payment of this fine and is prepared to take legal action if it is not paid,” Elizabeth Benton, a spokeswoman for Democratic Attorney General William Tong, said in a statement. Messages seeking comment were left for Gonzalez, her lawyers and an aide Wednesday. The Elections Enforcement Commission is investigating other complaints it received involving Gonzalez’s campaign related to last November’s election.
One of the complaints alleges volunteers for Gonzalez pressured a voter into filling out an application for an absentee ballot in favor of Gonzalez and mailed it in. Another complaint alleges a polling place volunteer encouraged a resident to vote for Gonzalez in the August Democratic primary against Gannon Long.
During the primary campaign, Long complained to police that she and her campaign volunteers were being