Court rules candidates be put back on ballot

Middlesex County Superior Court Judge James P. Hurley ruled Friday that the names of 20 contested candidates running with the Democrats for Change campaign be put back on the ballot for committee seats in the Middlesex Democratic Party for the June 2 primary elections.
University alumnus and formerly contested Democrats for Change candidate Sean Monahan said he, along with the other candidates, thought they would win.
“We felt like the law was on our side,” Monahan said. “It felt good to see a public official in New Brunswick doing the right thing.”
Chair of the New Brunswick Democratic Organization T.K. Shamy filed the motion to disqualify the 20 candidates, all of whom were University students or alumni.
Shamy, a New Brunswick assistant city attorney, said he used voter registration history as the criteria for disqualifying students, and the objections dealt primarily with disputed claims of residency, where a candidate had lived in an area for less than a year.
In hearings on April 15 and 23, Patricia Bombelyn, counsel for Democrats for Change, argued that according to Title 19 of the State Code, the definition of resident used by the defendants only applies to elected government offices, not party committee seats.
Bombelyn argued disqualification of candidates would hinder the democratic process in most wards.
Students shuffle around residencies but declare their domicile when they register to vote, and the right to vote and the right to run for office cannot be divorced from one another, Bombelyn said.
The defense’s argument, as put forth by Eric Aronowitz, counsel to County Clerk Elaine Flynn and two city attorneys, was the state statute 40A requires one-year residency of a ward, district or subdivision in order to run for an office regularly filled in an election. The defense argued the statute disqualified the contested candidates.
Deputy Attorney General for the Board of Elections Thu Lam agreed with the plaintiff’s view that no residency duration requirement exists for party positions in the state.
Hurley’s ruling concurred with this reasoning, noting that statute 40A applies to elections for governmental offices but does not apply to political party positions.
Now that the case is closed, Democrats for Change will be pushing its platform across the city, co-campaign manager Charlie Kratovil said.
“It’s really good that we’re going to be able to take this to the ballot,” Kratovil said. “We’re going up against the entrenched Democratic establishment in New Brunswick, and they have a lot of resources.”
Democrats for Change aims to represent all communities with ward-based city council elections and hopes to put the ward question on the ballot for the upcoming gubernatorial election, Monahan said.
“I’m strongly in favor of an elected school board. I’m interested in green building and a recycling program,” Monahan said. “These are a few items that I care about, but the thing is, it’s a huge number of people on the Democratic committee, and it’s a party position. We will represent the people of our district to the Democratic party.”
Other goals include obtaining jobs for city residents and making sure schools are efficient and held accountable, Kratovil said.
“Democrats for Change is forming a broad inclusive coalition citywide to work to bring the same change Obama is bringing on the national level to New Brunswick’s local Democratic Party,” Kratovil said. “On June 2, residents will have a choice in how they are represented on the Democratic Committee for the first time in decades.”
City resident Thomas Peoples, a Democrats for Change candidate for Ward 4, District 5, was pleased with the decision.
“The main thing now is that we run a strong campaign and get leaders who have a strong connection to their neighborhoods and clear understanding of what residents need,” Peoples said.