As we enter the municipal election season, Hartford Counrant columnist Kevin Rennie joins the LONG list of residents, and politicos on the local and state level who continue to question the wisdom of the Danbury Democratic Town Committee under the leadership of former mayor Gene Eriquez as he faces domestic violence charges.
Danbury’s Democrats have fallen on hard times and will continue to have troubles mounting credible municipal campaigns as long as Gene Eriquez continues to serve as head of the local Democratic party. Eriquez, a former mayor of Danbury, was arrested in the spring for assaulting his wife. The violent attack included Eriquez pushing and punching his wife in the face, as well as preventing her for calling police for help.
As someone who, along with just about everyone who is not affliated with the city's town committee, is still scratching his head over Eriquez's inability to comprehend that his leadership is a net negative for the entire party, I wholeheartdly agree with Rennie's assessment of the Democratic party in Danbury.
If a Democraitc candidate for mayor wants to be taken seriously next year, he or she will have to keep safe distance from the town committee's current leadership and restrict Eriquez's presence with the campaign to being an effective messenger as town committee chair, work on getting candidates for office and getting out the vote. Anything outside of that simple task, or having Eriquez front and center in any large-scale campaign capacity, would risks the possibility of the former mayor inadvertently harming a candidate's mayoral campaign by being an unneeded distraction.
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On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
