Independent Party wants to fight Arora lawsuit
The lawsuit that Republican candidate for state treasurer Harry Arora filed last week against the secretary of the state in attempt to remove the Independent Party of Connecticut’s treasurer candidate from the November ballot, has prompted the minor party to request intervenor status and oppose the case in Superior Court.
But Arora’s lawyer has asked a judge to reject the proposal in the latest attempt by a Republican to delete Election Day competition, charging that Jennifer
Baldwin of Guilford could not have won the Independent Party nomination because the party violated state registration rules and should not be allowed to join the litigation.
“The Independent Party is neither an elector nor a candidate,” wrote Proloy K. Das, an attorney with the Hartford firm of Murtha Cullina LLP, representing Arora, a first-term state representative from Greenwich.
“Therefore, the Independent Party lacks standing to maintain an action,” Das wrote, citing a 2019 state Supreme Court case. “Because the Independent Party lacks standing to maintain its own action under the statute, it cannot be permitted to intervene as a third-party in this action.”
But William Bloss, a Bridgeport lawyer and Independent Party member, said in a responding filing Monday that the party’s presence in the attempt to ban Baldwin from the ballot is important. “In addition to the IPC’s undeniable interest in having its endorsed candidate remain on the ballot, if she is removed, IPC will ‘lose’ that ballot line for the 2025 election for treasurer,” Bloss wrote.
“The IPC would need to undertake the expensive and laborious process of petitioning onto the ballot for treasurer. Indeed, plaintiff likely should have named Baldwin and the IPC as parties, as they are plainly indispensable.
“A party that has nominated a candidate for elected office should not be required to rely solely on the secretary of the state to present arguments and evidence in support of that party or its nominee.”
The issue goes back to the night of Aug. 23, when both Arora and Bob Stefanowski, the GOP candidate for governor, failed to win the Independent Party’s cross endorsements during a controversial caucus in Guilford.
Stefanowski, a Madison business consultant and former corporate executive, lost the nomination after Independent Party State Chairman Michael Telesca broke a 79-79 tie in favor of
Rob Hotaling of Cheshire, a banker. Baldwin, a member of the Guilford school board, outpolled Arora by a wider margin.
Superior Court Judge John Burns Farley scheduled a Monday afternoon status conference on the case, in which Arora’s legal team claims that because the Independent Party did not file party rules this year with Secretary of the State Mark Kohler at least 60 days before the party caucus, Baldwin should not occupy a ballot spot.