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Where’s Wanda? – Back in court, but this time charged with Election Fraud and Witness Tampering. On Tuesday, June 11th, four Bridgeport officials were brought into court in Bridgeport to be charged with election fraud, “unlawfully possessing another person’s absentee ballot.” Three of them, including Wanda Geter-Pataky were charged with “tampering with a witness” as well. See article. But today’s charging action is just the latest milestone in a years-long saga in the history of Bridgeport ballot tampering.
To bring the many election-tampering threads in the 4th District forward, let’s review. While Wanda Geter may be the more infamous, she, city council member Alfredo Castillo, and Nilsa Heredia, all on team-Ganim in Bridgeport, were named in a criminal referral last June ‘23 for their actions in the 2019 Democrat mayoral primary. The charge was illegally collecting absentee ballots in violation of state law. After a five-week trial, Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens ruled at the time that the three campaign workers were in apparent violation of the law, evidencing ballot fraud, but in his estimation, there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn Mayor Joe Ganim’s primary victory.
Democrat State Senator Marilyn Moore vying for the mayoralty in the primary, claimed “the outcome of the 2019 municipal primary was rigged.” Many Democrats voiced similar sentiments. Meanwhile Wanda, the sitting Bridgeport Democrat Town Committee vice-chair, was feted to an award at the party’s Women’s Leadership Awards brunch. The brunch was attended by prominent state Democrats including the Secretary of State Denise Merrill, who in the ‘truth-is-stranger-than-fiction’ category, is in charge of overseeing the state’s elections!
Then, with the 2019 ballot tampering criminal process still ongoing, Wanda was caught on surveillance video, stuffing ballots into an official Bridgeport drop box on multiple occasions. Because of the incriminating video, this episode received significant media coverage, including on national media. At a 10-13-23 court hearing, Wanda invoked the 5th Amendment 71 times under questioning. But Wanda was merely placed on paid administrative leave from the City of Bridgeport, a status she maintains yet today. She also remains as DTC vice-chair – again in the ‘truth-is-stranger-than-fiction’ category.
Also in Bridgeport, former City Councilman Michael DeFilippo just pled guilty on May 6th to deprivation of civil rights resulting from DeFilippo’s forging signatures and submitting fraudulent election documents during his run for city council.
Meanwhile, Stamford, the 4th District’s second largest city, enduring its own ballot fraud saga, was back in the news recently, as the former Democrat Party chair’s forgery and false-statement conviction was just affirmed in State Appellate Court on May 31st. Former DTC chair John Mallozzi was convicted in September 2022 on 14 counts of absentee ballot tampering, relating to the 2015 municipal election. Mallozzi was found guilty of fraudulently completing absentee ballot applications and forging the necessary signatures.
John Mallozzi’s attorney indicated last Friday that they will now be taking the case to Connecticut Supreme Court. The Stamford ballot tampering saga will continue alongside Bridgeport’s, right through the current election cycle.
This is the environment of election-insecurity the solid citizens of Fairfield County will have to endure as we advance to what is now election season in Connecticut. And of course, it’s not just the voters, but the candidates who suffer, as well. Democrat challengers were short-changed in these counts, and possibly robbed of electoral victories. Republican challengers, like myself now have the proof in hand for the ballot tampering allegations we’ve been raising, and been disparaged for, over the years. These scandals in the two biggest cities in the 4th District are unlikely to be isolated incidents, as anecdotes along these lines have been surfacing here for many years.
And Jim Himes has been benefiting from it all for the past 16 years, going back to the very unusual events at Himes’ first reelection in 2010. That year Bridgeport ran out of ballots at 4pm on election day. After a delay in voting, photocopied ballots were distributed to fill the gap, and voting hours were extended into later in the evening. In addition to Himes benefiting, there was a very close governor’s race which, by morning just happened to go to Democrat Dannel Malloy, at the expense of Republican challenger, Tom Foley. Foley chose to fold his tent and not mount a challenge.
Mr. Himes also is a bit more deeply entwined with the entire Bridgeport Get-Out-the-Vote combine in Bridgeport. An outfit called Park City Consulting LLC runs a big GOTV operation for Ganim, Himes, Lamont and many local Democrat candidates. In 2022 the Himes campaign paid $11,266 to Park City Consulting. During a civil court trial in October of ’23, it was alleged that Wanda Geter was paid by Park City. “What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive”………….
In a press release yesterday I stated: “I call upon State Democratic Party Chairwoman DiNardo to rescind Wanda Geter’s community service award, on Governor Lamont and my opponent Jim Himes to stop employing firms and political operatives who violate our election laws, City Council President Nieves to remove Castillo from all council committees, the Chief state’s attorney and Justice Department to swiftly prosecute election fraud crimes, Mayor Jim Ganim to terminate Wanda’s employment with the city, and I call upon the man who wields power over all elected city officials, Bridgeport party boss Mario Testa, to demand Wanda’s resignation as DTC Vice-Chair.”
We Republicans are happy to make our cases on the issues, but consistently have had to contend with the above daunting political headwinds. Maybe with the spotlight now focused on these activities as a cautionary tale, we’ll stand a bit better chance of a fairer shake in the fall. We’ll see…….
Links to background source articles and information
Three tied to Joe Ganim's 2019 Bridgeport mayoral campaign - CT Post, 8-30-23.
https://archive.ph/RUlQU
https://www.ctinsider.com/politics/article/bridgeport-ct-2019-absentee-ballot-investigation-18336339.php
Former Stamford Democratic Party chair's ballot fraud conviction upheld by CT Appellate Court
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/former-stamford-democratic-party-chairs-ballot-fraud-conviction-upheld-by-ct-appellate-court/ar-BB1ntn8d
https://ctexaminer.com/2022/09/12/stamford-democratic-chief-found-guilty-of-28-felonies-in-ballot-fraud-case/
Bridgeport activist accused of absentee ballot wrongdoing days after being celebrated - CT Post 09/24/2019
https://archive.ph/X5FaI#selection-2759.0-2759.275
CT leaders’ complicity in Bridgeport ballot scandal - Opinion - CT Mirror 11/30/2023
https://ctmirror.org/2023/11/30/bridgeport-primary-election-absentee-ballots/
Election reform not a priority for CT Gov… Opinion - CT Mirror 02/15/2024
https://ctmirror.org/2024/02/15/ct-election-reform-bridgeport/
Former Bridgeport City Councilman Pleads Guilty to Falsifying Ballot Docs 5-6-24
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/former-bridgeport-city-councilman-pleads-guilty-civil-rights-charge-related-primaries
