207 A.2d 67 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1964
This is a proceeding in the nature of quo warranto in which the relator, John Chapman, hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff, seeks to test the legality of the appointment of the defendant to the office of member of the board of finance of the town of Bozrah. The plaintiff filed a substitute complaint confining the allegations solely to the defendant Stanley Tinker and withdrew the original action against all of the other defendants.
The parties have entered into a stipulation of facts, and the only evidence taken by the court was that of Richard Chapman as to whether he had abandoned his claim to have been elected as a member of the board of finance in the biennial town election held on October 7, 1963. The stipulation of facts indicates that on July 1, 1960 (the effective date of General Statutes §
Thus, before the filling of any such offices at the election on October 7, 1963, the board of finance was composed of two Republicans and one Democrat whose terms had not yet expired. Each party nominated candidates for each of the three offices to be filled at said election, the Democratic candidate for the vacancy being Edward Deschene and the Republican candidate being Richard Chapman. At the election, all Democrats received a greater number of votes than the Republican candidates, Edward Deschene receiving 516 votes and Richard Chapman receiving 214 votes for the vacancy. The moderator of the election declared Edward Deschene the winner of the office for which he was a candidate, and he was forthwith administered the oath of office and assumed the duties thereafter. On February 1, 1964, Edward Deschene resigned from the board of finance and on March 13, 1964, the board voted to appoint Stanley Tinker, the defendant, a Republican, to fill the vacancy thus created, to serve until October 4, 1965. The defendant Tinker has from the date of his appointment continued to exercise the rights, powers and privileges of said office. Other than to request the Republican town committee to press his claim to the office of the board of finance by reason of the votes which he obtained at the election held on October 7, 1963, Richard Chapman *439 did not take or seek to take the oath of office as a member of the board of finance and did not attend any meetings of the board of finance or seek to be seated as a member thereof.
The plaintiff claims that the defendant is illegally exercising the office of a member of the board of finance since Richard Chapman was elected to the vacant term on the board of finance of the town of Bozrah at the biennial election of October 7, 1963, despite the fact that he received a lesser number of votes than Edward Deschene. The plaintiff asserts that §
Section
It is the defendant's contention that the above-quoted language of subsection (d) relating to the filling of vacancies does not become effective until the situation is reached where the election or appointment of one more member of a particular political party would result in something less than the minority representation required by the provisions of subsection (a) of the statute. Or stated in another way, the provision relating to the filling of vacancies becomes effective only after the maximum membership allowable under subsection (a) has been attained by a political party, and until the maximum number has been attained pursuant to the operations of subsections (b) and (c) of §
Section
Thus, while providing for minority representation, the committee was setting up a definite formula under subsections (a), (b) and (c) of the statute permitting a political party to obtain more than a simple majority of an odd-numbered board. Subsection (d) was amended in the house, on an amendment offered by Representative Turner of Bethany, to add the above-quoted provision "At such time as the minority representation provisions of this section become applicable to any board, commission, committee or body, vacancies thereafter occurring shall be filled by election or appointment of a member of the same political party as that of the vacating member." He offered little explanation for the amendment. See 8 H.R. Proc., Pt. 13, 1959 Sess., p. 6020. "Mr. Turner: (Bethany) This is the result of friendly cooperation between the Democratic Town Chairman in Bethany and myself, Republican Town Chairman. There is a defect in the existing statute; a loophole that this amendment will plug. I move its adoption." Perhaps an explanation as to what his intention was may be derived from his remarks in connection with a hearing on house bill 3950, "An Act concerning Vacancy Elections on Boards Having Minority Representation," which was held before the committee on elections on April 28, 1959. Hearings before the Joint Standing Committee on Elections, Conn. Gen. Assembly, 1959 Sess., p. 244. That bill, raised in committee but never reported, did purport to require vacancies to be filled by a member of the same political party as the member whose office was vacated. It further provided that only such party could nominate a candidate for such office. However, Representative Turner *442
was interested in preventing, as his remarks indicated, a majority party from filling vacancies which might occur from resignations of minority representatives with members of the majority party to the full membership of the board, thus exceeding any limitation on the maximum number of members which any one political party was entitled to have. Section
Section
At the election held on October 7, 1963, in the town of Bozrah in accordance with the formula set forth in subsection (b) of §
Democrats Republicans
From the number of members of one political party who are members of such body at the time of the election or appointment 2 4
subtract the number of members of such political party whose terms expire prior to the commencement of the terms for which such election or appointment is being held or made -1 -2 _____ _____ and subtract the balance thus arrived 1 2 at from the appropriate number specified in column II of subsection (a) of this section (maximum number from each political party). General 4 4 Statutes §
Maximum number of members of each party eligible for election on October 7, 1963.
Three Democrats were elected, so that the total number of Democrats occupying the board of finance *444 following the election was four and the total number of Republicans was two. The maximum number permissible under subsection (a) was not exceeded by the election of three Democrats as members of the board of finance of the town of Bozrah, for the election of which offices they were eligible under subsection (b) of the act and from which they have not been excluded by subsection (c) of the act.
To declare Richard Chapman entitled to the office of member of the board of finance although he received less than one-half of the votes cast for Edward Deschene would be to nullify the will of the electorate when such nullification is not required by the statute. The vacancy filled by the election of Deschene was not a decrease in the minority provided for under §
It is the conclusion of the court therefore that Edward Deschene was lawfully elected to the board of finance in the town of Bozrah at the election held October 7, 1963. When he resigned on February 1, 1964, a vacancy existed. When the board of finance on March 13, 1964, having the power to fill vacancies until the next biennial election, voted to appoint the defendant, a Republican, to fill the vacancy and to serve until October 4, 1965, it was not violating §
Judgment may be entered in favor of the defendant together with costs.