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| Vanessa Garay-Jackson (fmr) Deputy Republican Registrar of Voters City of Hartford, CT |
Upon reviewing documents I obtained regarding the termination, Garay-Jackson was initially dismissed from her position by Hall without notice on Friday, September 25, 2020 "effective the close of business today." No reason was provided in the termination notice, signed by Hall.
A subsequent letter was given to Garay-Jackson dated Friday, October 2 stating, "As we discussed, your service as Deputy Registrar of Voters for the City of Hartford is terminated, effected October 2, 2020." The letter further states that Garay-Jackson is not entitled to any sort of termination compensation other than accrued vacation time, and advises her to contact human resources regarding health insurance and other benefits.
When reached for comment Garay-Jackson expressed her shock at the termination and lack of notice, "I was taken completely aback, especially given that I was the one who did most of the grunt work in the office to prepare for the elections. Sheila [Hall] always saw herself as being above that sort of work and preferred to remain in her office rather than get her hands dirty. What she did in her office, I can't comment on. I was busy preparing for the elections and doing the actual work of the Registrar, which is one of the reasons why I ran in the first place."
Earlier this year, Garay-Jackson ran against Hall in the Republican primary election to become the Republican Registrar of Voters and handily defeated Hall in the primary election, which was held in September. "After the election, Sheila took a few weeks off. When she returned, I was fired," Garay-Jackson related.
"After I was given the initial notice on the 25th I met with Sheila and she told me the reason for my termination was lack of work. In other words, she's saying that there isn't any work in the office that can justify my position, which is ridiculous because I've always been the one to do pretty much everything. Seriously, what has she done, the budget? She always says she's working on the budget and paying the bills but how long can that take, a week, at most? What does she do with the rest of her time? She doesn't even show up to the office most days."
Indeed, other sources inside City Hall, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, confirmed that Hall does not usually appear in her office. This leaves open the question as to what, exactly, taxpayers in the City of Hartford have been shelling out over $60,000 per year for her to be doing. The exact amount of Hall's salary could not be confirmed, despite numerous requests to City Hall, including the offices of certain city council members. Garay-Jackson advised that she believed the current salary was $62,000.
To further complicate matters, however, Hall is running on a third party (that has herself as the sole member of this third party) to become a third party registrar of voters. According to the by-laws of Registrar of Voters by the Secretary of State's office, which governs all city and town registrar of voters offices, the City of Hartford could end up with three Registrar of Voters (and three deputies), adding an additional $111,000 in salaries to the Registrar of Voters's budget, putting a further dent in the City's failing finances.
None of the members of the city council whom I contacted were aware of this situation. Joshua Michtom was shocked by the situation and promised to look into it but in over two weeks was unable to uncover any additional information, including the actual salary of the Registrar of Voters. According to Garay-Jackson, the Deputy Registrar of Voters made $49,000 per year and the Registrars themselves make $62,000, although the Registrars used to make more in the past but their salaries were drastically reduced, and only recently were they granted a raise. Exactly salary information could not be found online or through the City's website, and numerous requests for this information have gone unanswered.
It took nearly three weeks of constant phone calls to reach Hall, adding fuel to the fire of questions regarding her whereabouts and what she is being paid to do. Additional, unconfirmed rumors arose that Hall has campaigned from her office at City Hall for her third-party candidacy (I did speak with a number of individuals who confirmed the rumors but none who were willing to go on the record, even if their names were withheld).
When finally reached on the phone, Hall was gruff and short, responding that the reason she's running as a third party candidate Registrar of Voters is that she's been a Registrar of Voters for the past ten years--public records show Hall has been elected as Registrar twice for a total of 8 years--and then quickly had to hang up before any additional questions could be asked of her. Hall's response to follow-up email attempts to schedule an interview with her was, "We are in the middle of a very contentious election for many reasons and for that reason I feel that at this time I am unable to set up interviews with Freelance Journalist such as yourself."
This response directly contradicts Hall's reasons for terminating Garay-Jackson, further supporting the notion that Garay-Jackson's termination is nothing other than direct retaliation for Garay-Jackson exercising her First Amendment rights to run for political office. In response to how Garay-Jackson was forced in a primary election, Hall qualified by gathering enough signatures on petitions to enter the primary race. Garay-Jackson explained further why she ran to become the Republican Registrar of Voters:
This is a dream, a goal that I've had and I was determined to accomplish it with or without [Hall's] help. This is not the route I wanted to take. I've been doing my best to work with her but the conditions have become untenable, especially over the last year. Why does she want to stay on, because of the money? What exactly has she been doing for the people in this City? She's never around, never reachable. She takes forever to respond to anyone, and she always leaves the work to me to do. So if I'm doing most of the work, why not run for the full position? She's refused to teach me anything about the office. Rather than growing and learning I just feel as though I've been languishing here in my position and being used. It's not the most conducive environment to conduct business and engage with citizens.Asked what changes Garay-Jackson will implement when installed in January, she responded "Greater technological automation would greatly help maintain the voter rolls but the main system is run by the Secretary of State so we can't do anything to it without their permission." Garay-Jackson suggested increasing connectivity among various government agencies to help maintain voter registration records as an example of this, for example linking their system with the post office when people submit mail forwarding requests due to moving. "Of course, we'd have to get their permission but perhaps it could be done like the DMV, where there would be a box and people could check the box to have their new info sent to us so their records could be updated," she explained.
"We need to abolish the annual canvas. It's too costly and doesn't really help. As such, it only adds to the problem, creating more work. People either don't respond or respond too late. Another problem is that people think if they respond they're going to be summoned for jury duty, and that simply isn't true. There is no connection between registering to vote or updating your voter registration information and being polled for jury duty," Garay-Jackson informed.
She further advised, "Perhaps switching to an online canvassing system would be a solution, although getting and maintaining people's accurate email addresses or SMS phone numbers could be onerous, and there are privacy issues. But it would take far fewer resources--especially human resources--to do it electronically."
Ken Lerman, Hartford Republican Town Chairman, added, "Vanessa Garay-Jackson is running for Registrar on the Republican line. Vanessa served as the deputy registrar for a number of years and has been a significant help to the Republican party. Her experience, outlook, and proactive efforts will greatly assist Hartford’s voters in the fair and efficient election process. Voting for Vanessa will defeat third-party candidates which will save Hartford taxpayer dollars of over $110,000 per year in registrar office costs."
Due to the by-laws of the Registrar of Voters, Garay-Jackson will be serving at least one term. The only question is whether Hall will be elected as a third-party registrar. That will happen if Hall receives more votes than either the Republican or the Democratic Registrar, in which case a third registrar will be added to the city's Registrar of Voters office, with the additional expenses associated with it. Given the questions already surrounding Hall's performance and current actions, which could have opened the City to exposure of immense financial liability due to Hall's potentially unethical and/or illegal termination of Garay-Jackson, one must question the wisdom of voting in and creating such a new office in the City's government.
Attempts to reach the Secretary of State and State Attorney General's offices for comment on the ethical and legal questions regarding Hall's actions went unanswered. The numerous unanswered questions by elected officials raise further questions regarding the appropriateness and ethicality of this situation.
Even more alarming is the potential impact on Hartford's Republican voters, who are in the minority. One might wonder what impact Hall's actions may have on the Republican vote, either intentionally or unintentionally, perhaps to the extent that it may even result in a suppression of votes. The timing of Garay-Jackson's termination could not have been worse. Dismissing the Deputy Republican Registrar of Voters without cause, especially without appointing a replacement, leaves the office at a severe disadvantage in an election where accusations of voter manipulation, fraud, and other acts of malfeasance are frequent flyers in the news.
How Hall intends to deal with all of these issues is unknown, especially as she is refusing to be interviewed. And as Garay-Jackson has stated, Hall never got her hands dirty doing any of the real work of the Registrar's office. This leaves open even more questions as to the ability of the office of the Registrar of Voters to effectively carry out its mission and ensure that all votes are counted accurately.
Given the level of obfuscation and obstruction encountered by this reporter in attempting to obtain basic, publicly-available information from the City in assembling this report, such a theory may not be far from the truth.
When reached for additional comment, Garay-Jackson responded that she was in discussions with legal counsel and advised to refrain from providing any further comment to the press in light of potential action she may be taking against the City for wrongful termination.
Who signed the termination letter? Both Registrars are elected officials. Do they nominate their deputies? Is the position similar to that of City Council' admins? Or the directors who are appointed by the mayor?
ReplyDeleteBoth of the termination letters Garay-Jackson received were signed by Republican Registrar of Voters Sheila N. Hall, as stated in the article, above. The deputies are appointed by the registrars, so their position is similar to that of the directors who are appointed by the mayor.
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