Maturo Blasts Maltese's Lawsuit Contesting Election Results

By Jack Kramer, Correspondent

EAST HAVEN, CT – Mayor Joseph Maturo’s reaction when he heard that his opponent had filed a lawsuit challenging the recent election was, “It makes me tired of politics.”

The losing candidate in the recent mayor election, Sal Maltese, has filed a lawsuit with the Superior Court asking for a recount, claiming there were improper actions before and during the election, primarily concerning the rejection of absentee ballots by Town Clerk Stacy Gravino and other supporters of Maturo.

Maltese, who lost the election by 106 votes or about 1 percent of the vote, has hired the Marcus law firm. Being sued is the Town of East Haven, Maturo, Gravino, and Secretary of State’s Office for the State of Connecticut.

The suit is scheduled for a hearing in front of a Superior Court judge today (Friday).

The lawsuit states there were 596 applications for absentee ballots. It states that “an unknown number were rejected by her (Gravino).”

The suit further states that members of the Republican Party were within 75 feet of a polling place during election hours, claiming that is a violation of state law.

The suit further states there were discrepancies with polling machines in District 5.

The lawsuit said that Maltese would have won the election if the issues didn’t occur before the election with the absentee ballots – and – the improprieties didn’t exist on Election Day.

The suit asks: “To schedule a recanvassing, review and recount of the ballots for the general municipal election.”

Maturo was unhappy, to say the least, with the lawsuit.

“It seems the person who complained during his campaign about too many lawsuits in East Haven has just filed a lawsuit against the town and five people,” said Maturo. “It also seems that candidates in the Democratic Party have a hard time accepting the vote turnout when they lose.”

Maturo added: “Seems whenever they lose, their next step after accusing others for their loss, they want a judge to go against the vote of its people and appoint them to the office of mayor.”

“This suit will cost our town thousands of dollars,” said Maturo, “ and is disrupting our Democratic process. It’s a shame that someone can make any kind of unsubstantiated accusations and the town has to spend good money and time to prove them wrong without any repercussion to them.”

The mayor said: “I have been in 13 elections in this town since 1992. This was and is about the lowest of lows and opposition candidate I have ever come across."