Sore loser Chris Caruso will have his day in court, again. This time it’s the State Supreme Court which will hear his arguments about the process of the September Bridgeport mayoral primary. From the Connecticut Post:

Caruso’s down-to-the-wire appeal to Connecticut’s top court threatens to send Tuesday’s election into a tailspin if delayed. Conservatively, state elections officials say it will cost the financially beleaguered city at least $100,000, suppress voter turnout for the four other citywide races involving 27 candidates and the 51 others vying for City Council seats.

“It would be an extraordinary thing for the judges to do what Chris Caruso is asking,” Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said late Friday. “We’ve researched Connecticut judicial history and we are not aware of the Connecticut Supreme Court ever nullifying the result of any municipal primary or election or putting off an election” to a later date. “In fact, the state Supreme Court has never ordered the postponement of any municipal election or issued a decision discussing a request for such an order.”

Bysiewicz filed for intervenor status Friday, which the court granted, which means that Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s office will represent her and make arguments on her behalf.

No matter what the outcome is, Caruso believes the court’s action will be “trailblazing” and that his supporters should witness

it. He might ask some of them to caravan up to the Capitol by car or bus to watch the wheels of justice in motion. “I really feel that protecting voters and the integrity of the electoral process is the most important aspect for me,” he said. “In a free society if elections are dishonest and unfair then the true will of the people can never properly be ascertained.”

That’s not how attorneys representing the City of Bridgeport see it. They describe Caruso’s legal crusade as meddling, the act of a challenger bent on hijacking the election and depriving Democrats of the right to vote for the candidate they selected in the primary.
State Sen. Bill Finch bested Caruso 4,537-to-4,267, a margin of 270 votes, in the September Democratic primary for the right to represent the party in the general election in the Park City, where Democrats far outnumber Republicans.

Unlike the 2000 presidential matchup where the U.S. Supreme Court declared President Bush the winner, the margin between Bridgeport Democratic primary rivals seems wide.

Under Connecticut election law, to trigger an automatic recount, Caruso would have had to come within 20 votes or one half of one percent of Finch’s return.

source: THe Connecticut Post High court to hear Caruso appeal , By MARIAN GAIL BROWN, November 2, 2007