State Representative and Deputy Mayor John Santanella's lawsuit to kick Tom Tyler off the August 11 primary ballot was dealt a minor blow yesterday when Judge Rosen continued the case to Wednesday, July 8th to receive evidence before deciding whether relief should be granted or denied.

Santanella's claims are that Democrat Registrar (Beth Jerez) gave petition sheets to Tom Tyler's Campaign four days early. Santanella claims Beth's alleged mistake was based upon erroneous statutory interpretation by Connecticut Secretary of State (Stephanie Thomas), CT Election Enforcement Commission and Enfield Town Clerk (Sheila Bailey). Because Santanella says they made mistakes in giving out petition sheets four days early that Tom Tyler, who simply followed the law and was not blamed for any wrongdoing whatsoever, must be penalized for the alleged errors of others.

Of course the real tragedy would be the disenfranchisement of hundreds of Democratic Party voters in the 58th district. For those reasons Deputy Mayor and Representative John Santanella asked Judge Rosen to order the Town Clerk to remove Tom's name from the August 11th ballot and stop printing primary ballots immediately. Santanella also wants Judge Rosen to order the Town, presumably through Beth or Sheila, to pay for Santanella’s attorney fees and court costs in suing two town employees for simply doing their duty according to law.

Stay tuned.