Former Brookfield Republican Sues Top GOP Members Over Voting Rights

A federal civil rights case is being filed on behalf of Mrs. Jane Miller against the Republican Registrar of Voters and the Republican Town Chair of Brookfield.

Miller, a former Brookfield Republican elected official, filed suit Wednesday in Bridgeport Superior Court under the United States Civil Rights Act against the Brookfield Republican Registrar of Voters and Republican Town Committee Chairman for “conspiring to, and taking actions that deprived her of her Constitutional rights to vote and freely associate,” her lawyer stated. The suit was filed on behalf of Mrs. Miller by Attorney Susan Bysiewicz, former Secretary of the State of Connecticut and partner at the firm of Pastore & Dailey LLC.

After not receiving the Republican nomination for Board of Education, when she was the incumbent, Miller switched her voter registration back to unaffiliated to run for a vacant slot for the Board of Finance. Bysiewicz said that Republican Registrar, Thomas Dunkerton, and Republican Town Chairman, Matthew Grimes, teamed up to summons Miller to a hearing because they believe she did not “toe the line.”

The hearing was held on April 9, 2015, in front of an audience of 75 Brookfield residents. A few weeks later, Mrs. Miller received a decision from Dunkerton and Grimes that said they found “reasonable proof” that this former Republican Town Official, was not loyal to the Republican Party. A “Notice of Change in Voter Registration” letter was sent that showed Dunkerton forcibly changed Mrs. Miller’s voter registration, without her consent, from Republican to Unaffiliated. Miller is suing because this action, she stated, robbed her of her Constitutional rights to vote and freely associate with the party of her choice.

“I just could not believe it,” said Mrs. Miller. “I would never think my rights could be taken away from me so arbitrarily. Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes acted as the Judge and the Jury. I felt so powerless.”

Miller noted that six months later, two Brookfield men, Paul Checco and Steve Villodes, who were former members of the Republican Party, both changed their party affiliation to “Unaffiliated” to run for office under the Democratic slate in Brookfield, and submitted their application to be re-affiliated with Republican Party. However, unlike Mrs. Miller, Mr. Dunkerton did not enact section 9-60 and 9-61, and bring the two men in front of hearing to make them prove their allegiance to the Republican Party.

Because Checco and Villodes did not get removed from the Republican party, Attorney Bysiewicz said that they feel Miller is being discriminated against for being a woman.

“We think that in addition to having her civil rights violated, they did so on the basis of her gender. We’re hoping that they will declare that Mr. Dunkerton has to put her back on the Republican role so that she can participate in the elections,” Attorney Bysiewicz told Patch.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they declare that these statutes are unconstitutional. In the twelve years that I served as Secretary of State, I never came across a registrar of voters using this statute, especially in such a clearly discriminatory and vindictive fashion. This is not what voters elect these officials to do. No citizen of Connecticut should have their Constitutional rights arbitrarily stripped from them in such an arbitrary and discriminatory fashion. It wouldn’t surprise me if they declare that these statutes are unconstitutional,” Attorney Bysiewicz said.

Because she is not a registered Republican, Miller won’t be able to vote in Brookfield’s upcoming primary in March or the presedential preference primaries.

Attorney Bysiewicz presented the following fact sheet and timeline:

Miller v. Dunkerton et al.

The Story – Disclaimer: The Full Complaint can be Found Attached Brookfield Republican Registrar of Voters and Republican Town Committee Chairman’s unequal use of obscure state statute strips former Town Official of her Constitutional Rights and denies her equal protection under the law.

Parties Involved

1) Jane Miller – Longtime resident of Brookfield and former Republican Member of the Brookfield Board of Education. Since 2003, Jane has never enrolled in any other political party or organization other than the Republican Party from 2009 through 2013. Prior to 2003, Jane was registered “Unaffiliated.”

2) Larry Miller – Husband of Jane Miller and lifelong Republican who an active member of the Brookfield Republican Town Committee up until 2011.

3) Thomas Dunkerton – The current Brookfield Republican Registrar of Voters.

4) Matthew Grimes – The current Brookfield Republican Town Committee Chairman.

Connecticut General Statutes §§ 9-60 and 9-61

The United States Supreme Court has long held that the Constitution guarantee’s every citizens right to affiliate with the political party of their choice and the right to vote in both primary and general elections. In the spirit of this these fundamental rights, more than half of the United States Federal Appellate Circuits have struck down state statutes that prohibit changing party affiliation for 6 months or longer as unconstitutional. In fact our neighbor to our East, Rhode Island, was one of the states, which had such a statute stricken. Yet, buried in the annals of the Connecticut General Statutes are two statutes that allows any town’s Democratic or Republican Registrar of Voters to team up with his Party’s Town Committee Chairman to summons any resident of the same town, who is registered as a member of the same political party, who they believe has not “towed the party line,” to a hearing – that does not have to be public – and make this resident prove to them that they are not a loyalist of another party in disguise. A statute that would make Senator McCarthy proud no doubt! Unfortunately, in early 2015, Mrs. Jane Miller of Brookfield, CT, a former Republican Member of the Brookfield Board of Education, found herself on the Thomas Dunkerton and Matthew Grimes’ Blacklist, and defending her constitutional rights in a hearing that would cause James Madison to roll over in his grave.

Timeline of Events

2003: Mrs. Jane Miller, whose husband, Larry, is a lifelong Republican, decides to join her first political party and officially affiliates with the Republican Party on voter registration.

2004 – 2011: Jane actively campaigns with her husband (who is an active member of the Brookfield Republican Party at the time) for Republican nominees endorsed by the Brookfield Republican Party, posting signs, visibly showing support at local debates and events, passing out literature, and making phone calls.

2004 – 2011: Jane and Larry regularly donate to the campaigns of Brookfield Republican Party nominees.

2009: Jane is nominated by the Brookfield Republican Party as the Republican nominee for a seat on the Brookfield Board of Education.

2009 – 2013: Jane is elected and serves a four-year term as a Republican Member of the Brookfield Board of Education.

July 23, 2013: At the 2013 Brookfield Republican Caucus, Jane seeks to be re-nominated as the Brookfield Republican Party’s incumbent Member of the Brookfield Board of Education. However, 1 Before 2003, Jane was registered to vote but was not affiliated with any political party (otherwise known as “unaffiliated”). without any explanation or notice, the Brookfield Republican Party announces that is has decided not to re-nominate Jane, and instead nominates a male candidate.

August 2013: Hearing about this public repudiation, the Brookfield Democratic Town Committee asks Jane to run under the vacant slot for the Brookfield Board of Finance as an unaffiliated voter. Wanting to continue to serve her town, but not wanting to be a member of any other party, Jane agrees to run as an unaffiliated voter under the vacant Democratic slot for the Board of Finance.

August 2013: In order to run under this vacant slot, Jane switches her voter registration status back to unaffiliated, effective July 24, 2013.

November 5, 2013: Jane is not elected to the Board of Finance.

December 3, 2013: Having lost, Jane immediately submits a re-registration form to the Brookfield Republican Registrar of Voters, Thomas Dunkerton, to change her party affiliation back to Republican.

December 2013: Mr. Dunkerton accepts Jane’s form and initials it, changing Jane’s party affiliation back to Republican, effective December 4, 2013.

The January 2015 Brookfield Republican Town Committee Meeting:

• Unbeknownst to Jane, Chairman Grimes calls to a vote whether he and Mr. Dunkerton should summons Jane to a hearing under §§ 9-60 and 9-61 and forcibly dis-affiliate her from the Republican Party, taking away her Constitutional rights to vote and associate against her will.
• As mentioned in a post on the Brookfield Patch website by Dr. Appleby, an active Republican Town Committee member who was in attendance at said meeting, “everyone in attendance was unanimously against dis-affiliating Mrs. Miller.”
• In this same post, Dr. Appleby said that there was a hand vote of who was in favor, and no member in attendance voted in favor of dis-affiliation.

March 19, 2015: Although the membership at the January 2015 voted against it, Jane receives a § 9-60 citation from Mr. Dunkerton to appear in front of him and Chairman Grimes for a hearing to prove that she is, in fact, a loyal Republican, and not a member of another party in disguise. o Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes originally planned on having a non-public hearing, but later capitulated and opened the hearing to the public.

April 9, 2015: Jane appears in front of Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes at the hearing, which drew 75 people in attendance - the Danbury News Times covered it saying, “most of those attending seemed to support [Jane]…laughing at some of the accusations against [her].”

• Witness at this hearing, describe it as “a theater of the absurd,” and liken it to the Stalin Regime.
• A Town Resident, Mark Ferry, re-registers as a Republican that day in order to attend the hearing to publicly say that Chairman Grimes is actually the one “causing dissention within the party…he’s going to kick us all out.”

April 20, 2015: Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes issue an unsigned and undated decision saying that they found “reasonable proof” that Jane was not loyal to the Republican Party, and that Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes have decided to dis-affiliate her from the Republican Party.

April 24, 2015: Jane receives a “Notice of Change in Voter Registration” letter from Mr. Dunkerton which shows that Mr. Dunkerton has forcibly changed Jane’s voter registration from Republican to Unaffiliated, against Jane’s will!

• Because of this, Jane cannot freely exercise her Constitutional rights to vote and freely associate with the party of her choice.

May 26, 2015: Jane engages the assistance of counsel and attends a pre-trial conference hearing at the Danbury Superior Court. At this hearing, Jane asks Mr. Dunkerton to reinstate her to the Republican rolls and restore her Constitutional rights. Mr. Dunkerton refuses.

July 27, 2015: Jane goes before a Danbury Superior Court Judge to have her case heard to restore her Constitutional rights. o Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes engage the services of an attorney to oppose Jane and prevent her from having her Constitutional rights restored. o Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes have recently submitted a bill of $ 21,000 to the town of Brookfield to pay for the attorney’s fees for this hearing.

August 18, 2015: Unfortunately, the Danbury Superior Court rules that Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes followed the obscure statutes – §§ 9-60 and 9-61 – and therefore, it could not rule in Jane’s favor.

December 2015: Two Brookfield, who were former members of the Republican Party, who had both changed their party affiliation to “Unaffiliated” to run for office under the Democratic slate in Brookfield, seek to be re-affiliated with Republican Party.

December 2015: Although they had done exactly what Jane did in August 2013, these two men are quickly re-affiliated with the Brookfield Republican Party by Mr. Dunkerton.

• Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes do not issue a citation to these two men.
• Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes do not force these two men to a hearing in order to have them prove that they are loyal to the Republican Party.

February 1, 2016: Jane engages the services of the former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz’s law firm, and on February 3, 2016, Jane files the attached Complaint in Federal District Court, bringing 5 causes of action against Mr. Dunkerton and Chairman Grimes. Federal Claims Attached to this document is the Complaint filed by former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz on behalf of Jane Miller, claiming the following 5 causes of action under the Civil Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 1983) and Conspiracy to Interfere with Civil Rights (42 U.S.C. § 1985): 1. Violation of Plaintiff’s Right to Freedom of Association – 42 U.S.C. § 1983 2. Violation of Plaintiff’s Fundamental Right to Vote – 42 U.S.C. § 1983 3. Violation of Plaintiff’s Due Process Rights – 42 U.S.C. § 1983 4. Violation of Plaintiff’s Equal Protection Rights – 42 U.S.C. § 1983 5. Conspiracy to Violate Civil Rights– 42 U.S.C. § 1985