Town Clerk Marianne Kelly dropped out of a primary race against Democratic Town Committee-backed candidate Pam Knapp today, saying it made more sense to petition to become an unaffiliated candidate on the ballot for the Nov. 5 election.
By petitioning to be a candidate in the general election, she said in an interview, she needs only 68 names from registered Republican or Democratic voters. In the past she has been a high vote-getter. A primary would have required that she obtain 300 names, all from registered Dems. She said later in the day that she received “way over the 300 signatures.” But it made more sense, she said, to concentrate on the election rather than a primary.
Kelly will not be running as an Independent because there is a party with that name. She will run as a “petitioning candidate,” she said.
With Permission
Knapp, (pictured) a businesswoman, is the endorsed Democratic candidate for town clerk. Asked her reaction to this latest development, she said: “As I have said previously, it is Marianne Kelly’s democratic right to primary. It is equally her given right to seek election via petition. But in these difficult fiscal times, I am pleased that the town of Branford will not incur the cost of a primary.”
Kelly, who is in her eighth year as town clerk, was not endorsed by the Democratic Town Committee because she is under federal investigation in connection with her testimony at the so-called “gifting tables” trial earlier this year. Her records have been subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Kelly said she has been “mulling” over the decision to end her primary race. “The cost to the town (for a primary) concerned me.” And, she added, “Why kill yourself for a primary? It takes too much focus away from the goal. The goal is in November. It makes more sense all around.”
Putting a primary together for a candidate without party backing is a costly, difficult enterprise and Kelly understood that as well. She said she made her decision last night, about a week before the Aug. 7 deadline for petitions.
She said she had three people in the field working on getting names for her petitions.
Chris Sullivan, the chair of the Democratic Town Committee, told the Eagle: “We are happy she made the decision. This will save the town the money it would have be required to spend on a primary.”
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