Caruso Crusades, Questions Computer Credibility

Thursday January 24, 2008

I really don’t think state Rep. Chris Caruso is bitter. He’s been running outside the Bridgeport Democratic Party so long, though, that his ambient sense of disgust has become merriment.
It makes me think that if he HAD won the September mayoral primary and the subsequent City Hall election, he’d never be happier than he’s been – righteously indignant – in various courthouses between Bridgeport and Hartford over the last few months as he fought his 270-vote loss.
Indeed, you’ll be able to judge the outsiders from the insiders when you count the Democrats who’ll line up for Mayor Bill Finch, to contest General Assembly incumbents.
The new mayor plans to use the Town Committee to challenge Caruso, Rep. Bob Keeley and Rep. Jack Hennessy, among others. Finch, who finally gave up the Senate seat this week, desires things his way even up in the Capitol, so he wants his people in the General Assembly.
I can’t think of three stronger incumbents than Caruso, Keeley and Hennessy, however. And for Keeley to get the State Bond Commission to approve the $500,000 for new lights at Black Rock’s Ellsworth Park, he could be state representative for life.
Hennessy, meanwhile, seems set to gum up the town committee on his own terms and run as a petitioning candidate for the Senate vacancy.
Two Democrats in the special mid-March election means Republican Town Committee Chairman Rob Russo becomes senator and does everyone in Connecticut a favor by ending the nominal veto-proof Democratic majority, at least until the anticipated nationwide Democratic tsunami in November.
Caruso, whose challenge to the September primary is still alive in the State Supreme Court, held a news conference today, as chairman of the Government Administration & Elections Committee, to announce a series of hearings next month to gauge public opinion on the optical-scan voting machines.
It’s an honest topic, but I couldn’t resist having a little fun with Caruso, whom I’ve known and enjoyed since about 1983. I like the issue because on Election Day last November, as I inserted my ballot into the machine, it seemed as if every election official at my polling place was looking at my picks.
Besides the privacy issues, Caruso said that he’s concerned that there’s no exact count of the ballots shipped to municipalities by the secretary of the state. “So they give a batch to the municipal without a number,” said Caruso, who was accompanied at the news conference by Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, the other committee co-chair and Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington.
“In the case of a community, they could give 2,000 ballots, 1,500 people vote and the remaining 500 are not accounted for,” Caruso went on. “There should be a system where you sign out the ballots and have an exact number, which would reduce the potential for fraud.”
The news conference was winding down when I piped up and referred to his September loss. “Did Bridgeport get 270 extra ballots? Is that what you’re saying?” I asked Caruso, who immediately smiled.
“I’ll leave it up to you,” Caruso concluded.