Hartford's city council is to begin its trial this week of three registrars of voters responsible for a disastrous 2014 election day. But the registrars were in state court Monday asking a judge to stop the removal process before it starts.
The three registrars -- a Democrat, a Republican, and one from the Working Families Party -- are arguing that Hartford's city council lacks the authority to remove them. In the end, a judge gave the parties another week to make their arguments.
Tom Murphy represents Urania Petit of the Working Families Party. He says he and others need time to respond to recent legal briefs filed by the city. Meanwhile, he says the city council's hearing this week will just be procedural.
"The council... will not be taking any evidence in the registrar case, but will just be dealing with preliminary matters," Murphy said.
One of those matters concerns Council President Shawn Wooden. Attorneys for one of the registrars have filed a motion asking that Wooden, whose law firm participated in early stages of the investigation into the registrars, recuse himself from the proceedings. Wooden, and the city, say the motion is without merit.
