Merkle, Torres appear to make primary; questions surround Herrmann’s status

Written by Brad Durrell, Hersam Acorn Newspapers
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 13:01

Two of three potential primary challengers for the Republican nomination for U.S. Congress appear to have turned in enough petition signatures to qualify for the Aug. 10 primary.

They are Norwalk businessman Rob Merkle and Bridgeport businessman Rick Torres.

The fate of the third possible challenger, Easton First Selectman Thomas A. Herrmann, was uncertain as of early Wednesday, partly due to problems with his petitions in Norwalk and other towns.

Candidates had to turn in 1,988 signatures by registered Republicans in the 4th District by June 8 to force a primary. Registrars of voters’ offices have been checking the signatures to verify them during the past week.

Mr. Merkle and Mr. Torres would challenge the endorsed GOP candidate, Shelton state Senator Dan Debicella, in the primary. The winner would then take on first-term Democratic incumbent Jim Himes of Greenwich.

Mr. Merkle said late Tuesday that more than 2,300 of his signatures had been certified, according to the Secretary of the State’s Office, with more still outstanding.

“Collecting that many signatures in two weeks speaks highly of our organization,” said Mr. Merkle, who is eager to debate Mr. Debicella to highlight “the differences between us.”

Mr. Torres said late Tuesday he was still waiting to be contacted by the Secretary of the State’s Office, but other sources said he had qualified.

He now plans to work on raising money for his campaign, and on pushing Mr. Debicella to appear at joint town hall meetings with his GOP challengers.

“I need to start accentuating the differences between Dan and I,” he said, claiming Mr. Debicella has “too little life experience” to represent the district in such critical times.

Herrmann problems

Much of the focus in the past week has been on problems with a paid Herrmann campaign worker who collected signatures in Norwalk. Mr. Herrmann’s campaign depended on paid workers to get some of his signatures. He has said most of these paid workers were college students from Connecticut.

Mr. Herrmann’s campaign submitted about 2,500 signatures, collected by both volunteers and paid workers, but those circulated by Luigi Jonathan Lombardi of Wilton have drawn unwanted attention.

Art Scialabba, Norwalk Republican Town Committee chairman, has mailed a complaint to the State Elections Enforcement Commission claiming his wife’s signature was forged on a Lombardi-circulated Herrmann for Congress petition.

“It had a bogus signature, an incorrect address and the wrong date of birth,” said Mr. Scialabba, a Debicella supporter, who wants a criminal investigation of the matter.

Forging a signature on a primary petition would constitute a violation of state election laws.

Mr. Scialabba said the same Herrmann for Congress petition sheet also lists the name of a Norwalk street that doesn’t exist, and includes the signature of a person who lives in his neighborhood who also insists she didn’t sign the petition.

Once petitions are submitted, signature names are checked for verification. Some of the signatures are routinely disqualified because the signers are non-Republicans, live outside the district, are submitted in the wrong towns, and for other reasons. Some of Mr. Herrmann’s petition signatures also have been rejected in Fairfield and Trumbull for non-controversial reasons.

Dan Huber, Mr. Herrmann’s campaign manager, said it is to be expected that problems would arise with some signatures.

“We know the process involves [election officials] going through the voter files and checking them, and we know they all won’t be verified,” Mr. Huber said. “Some will be independents, some will be Democrats. That’s why we submitted well more than 2,000.”

There have also been questions about whether Mr. Lombardi was a registered Republican when he collected signatures. Circulators had to be Republicans as well as Connecticut residents. If Lombardi failed to meet that requirement, all the signatures he collected could be thrown out.

Mr. Herrmann said an average of almost 82% of his signatures are being verified in most towns. The verification rate is much lower in Norwalk, however.

Having turned in 2,500 signatures, an 82% verification rate leaves little room for unexpected problems in the verification process for the Herrmann campaign.

‘Serious matter’

Jason Perillo, campaign manager for Mr. Debicella, said the Herrmann petition forgery allegation is a serious matter. “Regardless if it’s one guy or 10 guys [doing this], forgery and voter fraud are a big deal, he said. “They are crimes.”

Mr. Perillo said he presumes the State Elections Enforcement Commission and “law enforcement” will look into the situation.

Also, Mr. Perillo said a primary won’t alter the focus of the Debicella campaign effort.

“Whether we have a primary or not, we run the same race — this is about the differences between Jim Himes and Dan Debicella,” Mr. Perillo said.

The 4th Congressional District covers 17 municipalities in southwestern Connecticut, including Redding.