Bridgeport Registrars: Dustup, Charges, Investigation

“What started out as an investigation into a missing voter registration card a few months ago ultimately led to the unveiling of 50 voter registration cards stashed away in a desk drawer for years.”

CTPost: Registrar of Voters office: Missing cards, gossip and deputy fired <read>

What started out as an investigation into a missing voter registration card a few months ago ultimately led to the unveiling of 50 voter registration cards stashed away in a desk drawer for years.

Republican Registrar of Voters Joseph Borges said he called an office meeting in late April to discuss the party affiliation change of part-time machine technician Jose Morales’ from unaffiliated to Republican.

Borges said he was concerned that Deputy Republican Registrar Theresa Pavia had changed Morales’ voter affiliation in order for the technician to qualify as her deputy chief if Pavia is elected to the position of Republican registrar in November.

Pavia, who makes roughly $48,000 a year as deputy registrar, won her party’s nomination last month for the position Borges plans to vacate once his term ends. Borges, who earns an annual salary of about $63,000, said former party chair Linda Grace has taken out petitions to challenge Pavia…

The Republican registrar then responded by firing his deputy, whom he had appointed four years earlier upon his election to the position. “I let her go because of her attitude and her saying I disliked her,” he said. “I don’t need anybody watching my back who doesn’t trust me.”

Rosenberg said his client told him she thinks she was fired not because of the argument but because an hour prior to the meeting she had given Borges paperwork requesting time off under the Federal Medical Leave Act because her husband is ill. Borges claimed he never saw the paperwork.

Before Pavia left the office, though, she dropped a bombshell. She presented both Borges and Democratic Registrar Santa Ayala a manila envelope containing 50 voter registration cards that she said contained errors made by Ayala and had been sitting in her desk drawer for years.

Two years ago Borges challenged the activities of ACORN in Bridgeport.

Update: 8/24/2010: Connecticut Post: Hearing finds registrar fired with ‘no evidence’ <read>

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