Paula had her day in court this afternoon and I thought a summary of observation would be of interest. Many witnesses were in court this morning in Concord as plaintiffs against Chris Ager, which I’m sure someone else will report on as I wasn’t there.
Tom Murray was out of town and, therefore, unfortunately unavailable, but the show went on.
First, I will point out that Judge Temple did not get this one. We got Judge English, who Temple told us yesterday upon adjournment of Laurie Ortolano’s case, would be filling in for the absent Judge Colburn. English was patient, friendly, and pleasant, but I thought a little research was in order, not that it necessarily predicted the outcome. According to Marylyn Todd’s Nosey Neighbor App, which uses 2020 voter data, English is a Democrat, and she was appointed by the Damn Emperor on 6/29/22. She had a hearing at the executive council on Nurse Terese’s milestone birthday, 7/6/22, and an email has been sent to their secretary, Meagan, to ask who voted for her and who didn’t. We will use that info accordingly at primary time.
Attorney Bolton and Clerk Healey were there at the enemy table for the City. Paula had constitutional scholar Daniel Richard at hers to serve as an “assistant.” Attendees in support of Paula included Lynn Diane Briggs, Wayne Saya, Dan LaPointe, Joan Donahue, Lily Tang Williams, Donna Judge, Niko, former Alderman Teeboom, Alderman-elect Chis Thibodeau, Al Brandano, and yours truly. The enemy camp fans included Ms. Gloria, Sonia Prince, and late arrivals Mr. & Mrs. Newman.
I sat in the front row and was later told that Mrs. Newman, seated in the back, took a lot of notes. I did not speak to them, nor was I even interested in a Seinfeld-style “hello, Newman” greeting.
Before going any further, I will share the link to my previous piece on the case. My article outlines the four complaints against the City. In short, it wasn’t about proving that fraud occurred. Rather, it’s about the procedure not being followed.
Paula made her opening statement, which Attorney Bolton made many objections to that were procedural in nature, but Judge English kindly redirected Paula as needed. Like myself, or Laurie Ortolano, Paula is not a lawyer, and this judge pointed out that it is not uncommon for plaintiffs to represent themselves. As expected of nonlawyers, there were some “holes,” so to speak, in the presentation, and Daniel Richard did an excellent job “spackling” them when he was on the witness stand.
Paula took to the stand first, followed by Daniel Richard, who recognized windows of opportunity to elaborate on things and even make reference to his pro se Supreme Court case, which can be found here.
Other witnesses called by Paula were Lynn Diane Briggs, Wayne Saya and Al Brandano. All of them did an excellent job responding to Paula’s questions, which often included excellent inviting words like “can you describe what you saw…”
Attorney Bolton’s only witness was Clerk Healey and their dialogue was mostly predictable, but as Altschiller would say to the rest of the senate regarding a bill banning woke investments, “the CRUX of the matter,” was that the school board is “styled” autonomously from the city itself with regard to all its operations and there are only two exceptions. Paula explained, both as a school incumbent and as a former alderman, that those exceptions are that the city controls the budget and there’s a joint (JSSB) committee that oversees the construction of new schools. I believe that Alderman Dowd is the chair of that body.
Let me take a quick sidestep to point out that the school board is a common portal in which tyrants develop their political resumes. Mrs. Newman, my two time opponent, is a former member, and my most recent opponent, Alderman Dowd is the former chair. School elections matter. Now back to the case.
All four complaints in Paula’s petition were ultimately acknowledged, some in greater detail than others; procedure not followed, chain of custody for ballot storage breached, equal protection clause violated, and incorrect handling/processing of absentee ballots. Near the end, a lot of verbal dispute was about the school board’s separate status from city hall as its own entity. Attorney Bolton started thumbing through some book while Paula was speaking and it reminded me of Annie Kuster (another lawyer worse than Lionel Hutz) seen on TV dressed in white and reading her pocket constitution during Trump’s speech that Queen Nancy ripped up moments later.
When it was his turn to speak, he started citing several local litigations that occurred in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Then he cited a recent federal court case of a disenfranchised blind woman. I was later told that when counsel starts digging for cases from several decades ago, it’s a sign of desperation. Attorney Bolton has until December 29 to submit his final statement and Judge English knows the swearing in is to take place in a matter of days later, so we won’t be waiting long for her ruling.