Markeshia Ricks Photos
An incumbent Fair Haven alder boycotted his ward committee’s endorsement hearing and vowed to bypass the party in seeking reelection.
The boycott took place last Saturday at a meeting of the Ward 14 Democratic Committee. Incumbent Santiago Berrios-Bones (pictured above at right) faces a challenge there from ward Co-Chair Thomas Burwell (at left). (Click here to read more about the race.)
At first it was Burwell, not incumbent Berrios-Bones, who cried foul about the process.
Burwell, a neighborhood activist, complained to party leaders about the list that was on file at the City Clerk’s office of official ward committee members. It was a list of 47 names submitted on April 8. He had submitted an updated list on April 21 with a couple more names.
He received written word from the City Clerk’s Office (in this memo from elections staffer Sally Brown) that it had indeed received the subsequent list, but had misplaced it, so that April 21 list stood as the official list.
The memo caused Berrios-Bones to protest. He argued that Saturday’s ward committee endorsement meeting would be a sham if the updated April 21 list were used. So he called for his supporters — including the other ward co-chair, Carmen Reyes — to boycott the endorsement meeting. Which they did.
So — no surprise — those present (less than half the number of committee members) endorsed Burwell. The vote was 13 – 0‑2.
Berrios-Bones responded by issuing a statement that he will petition his way onto the ballot for the Sept. 16 Democratic primary.
Burwell may have to end up petitioning, too.
The citywide Democratic Town Committee makes official endorsements of ward candidates at its annual convention, to be held this year on July 22. Each ward’s two co-chairs casts a vote for an alder candidate. If the vote is 2 – 0 or 1 – 0, the candidate becomes the party’s official nominee, with a guaranteed ballot spot in a Democratic primary (if there is one; otherwise a guaranteed spot on the November general election ballot). A challenger needs to collect the signatures of 5 percent of the ward’s registered Democrats to make a primary ballot; Ward 14 had 1,497 registered Democrats as of last Thursday, according to the registrar of voters office.
If the ward co-chairs split their vote 1 – 1, then the Democratic town chairman can break the tie if he so wishes.
Vincent Mauro Jr., the current town chair, said Monday he doesn’t so wish. He said that if Reyes and Burwell split their votes at the convention (which appears likely), he will leave it a tie, requiring both candidates to petition their ways onto a primary ballot.
“I talked to both of them,” Mauro said. “I told them: ‘You’re both committed to a primary. Don’t do a nomination.’ The fair way to do this” is to take the election straight to the voters.