The Hour runs with the story coming out of District C that former Democratic candidate for mayor, and current District C Common Council member Fred Bondi is being ousted by the District C Democrats. What The Hour didn’t say is that the District C committee hasn’t exactly been meeting regularly. Over the past year it has met twice, which can possibly be interpreted as meaning that it doesn’t exist. Irregularities in district meetings is something that dogs the Democrats throughout the state. At a spring DFA (Democracy For America) meeting, many people spoke of the difficulty in participating in Democratic town parties due to the tactic, of district committees not meeting on a regularly scheduled basis.

District C committee chair, Kevin Poruban, also was rumored to have held open the last meeting through the regular DTC meeting so that he could count former mayor Alex Knopp as having attended.

The Hour article quotes DTC chair Galen Wells on the subject of the district and primaries:

“You’ve got to see what they do at the (Thursday) meeting, because anything they do before they meet is just speculation, and people in the town committee closely guard their prerogatives,” Wells said. “It’s not a centralized operation. It’s district by district.”

Following the convention, it’s up to the individuals how to proceed, according to Wells.

“When people are nominated, or not nominated, they need to make a decision whether it would better for them, as Democrats, to primary or sit the election out,” Wells said. “They have to decide. It costs a lot of money to do a primary. It’s very expensive and it’s very time consuming.”

Yet last year Galen Wells spent an inordinate amount of time blocking Carvin Hilliard from running a primary against Bruce Morris for the Democratic nomination for State Rep. At the time:

The Norwalk Hour is reporting that Councilman Carvin Hilliard, recently cleared of elections law violations, is asking for DTC chair Galen Wells to step down.

“This is about big party boss rule,” Hilliard said. “That’s what she represents.” (The Hour)

The elections violations complaint stemmed from reports that flyers were distributed that suggested that Bruce Morris had financial and ethics problems during the mid 90’s. Morris won the primary on August 8th. The State Elections Enforcement Commission confirmed the dismissal of a complaint by Joseph Newell was sent to the EEC by Wells on July 13.

“There is no evidence to support the allegation that Mr. Hilliard and Mr. Watts produced and distributed the flyer,” the commission concluded, “nor is there currently any evidence to suggest that Mr. Hilliard and Mr. Watts violated the campaign finance laws of the State of Connecticut.”
. . .
While Wells said she believes “it’s more likely than not” Hilliard and Watts violated elections law, she stressed the complaint was Newell’s. (The Hour)

With Wells continuing the suggest that Hilliard violated election laws despite the commissions ruling shows how personal this issue has become. Earlier in the year, Wells fought to exclude Hilliard from running in the primary by refusing to acknowledge his request to run via email. That Wells decision led to an appeal to Democratic State Central where Well’s was over ruled and Hilliard allowed to run.

Democratic Councilwoman Gwen Briggs spoke positively Monday of Wells’ performance as DTC chairwoman, saying she has done a “fine job.”

“It’s her job to make sure that the party runs,” Briggs said. “She has to raise money so that we can do our campaigns. She has to make sure that all of the districts hold their meetings. She makes sure that the party is running the way it should be and according to the rules. If that’s a party boss, then I guess she’s a party boss, but that’s her job.”(The Hour)

And Democratic state party arbitration panel member Dorothy Mrowka appeared to think Wells did not do enough to assist Hilliard mount a primary. “As a town chair, that’s your responsibility,” Mrowka said. “I think that’s terrible.”
If according to Gwen Briggs, Wells should be making sure that all of the districts hold their meetings, she has clearly failed in that goal this year with District C. The end result will be more dissension within the Democratic party and more difficulty in promoting qualified candidates to run for office, and the continues low voter turnout.
Fred Bondi meanwhile await his fate on Thursday, when the third meeting of the District C will be held. You could say its also likely the fifth meeting since January of 2006. Not such a great record to point to, is it?
source: The Hour, Party not likely to back Bondi for District C seat, By ROBERT KOCH, June 13, 2007