NORWALK, Conn. — South Norwalk activist John Flynn, endorsed by Norwalk Republicans recently as a State Representative candidate, has made multiple allegations of electoral improprieties by opponents. NancyOnNorwalk asked the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) about his recent claims and learned:
- State denies Flynn ever made a complaint about election funding
- Simms found to have broken law, told to keep a distance from poll; complaint about Columbus poll tactics in 2019 dismissed
- Duff’s PAC found not to have broken law
Alleged ‘huge deal’ was not investigated
Flynn was endorsed by Republicans as their District 140 State Representative candidate on May 20. He would be seeking to unseat State Rep. Travis Simms (D-140), but has not yet filed a campaign registration, according to the SEEC website.
Flynn said Sunday that SEEC should have his paperwork. Norwalk Republicans asked him to run for State Representative but he has “the 2022 Blumenthal thing” — he’s seeking a Connecticut U.S. Senate seat in 2022 — and is in the debatetourney as an independent Presidential candidate. “70 people remain , in first place, Digital phone app phone voting,” he wrote.
After accepting the endorsement for State Rep on May 20, Flynn said he’d gotten enough donations in 2018 to qualify for a Citizen’s Election Program (CEP) grant but the funds were not delivered.
“I asked and asked and asked where the funds were for reaching those hurdles, and we never got funded,” Flynn said. “So, the guy investigating, named Vasquez, resigned a year later, had a year to investigate why the funds never came. And there was a huge pissing match and they discovered that Colin Hosten was a citizen of Trinidad and they gave him the money. Hmm. So that’s kind of odd.”
Town Clerk Rick McQuaid, a Republican, told Flynn in 2018 that Hosten is an American citizen.
Flynn’s tale on May 20 got immediate sympathy from Larry Cafero, who promised Flynn that there would be an army watching Hartford this time around because a lack of funding like that is “a huge deal.” Democrats fought hard to create the CEP program the rules have to be followed, he said.
NoN asked SEEC about the investigation. Joshua Foley, SEEC Staff Attorney, said there wasn’t one – Flynn had filed three complaints since 2018, but not about that.
“Mr. Vasquez was a Legal Investigator here at SEEC, but has moved on to another job in the past year. As I stated, there was no complaint filed regarding the awarding of CEP funds to Mr. Flynn,” Foley wrote.
‘Super hostile’
The Election Day atmosphere was “super hostile” in 2018 at Columbus Magnet School, Flynn told Republicans on May 20. In 2019, “it was so bad we left.”
Flynn alleged that in 2018, Simms, then a Common Council member running against Flynn and Hosten for the seat, was “touching us…, shadow boxing, throwing punches at our faces all day, running up and down the street saying ‘a vote for Flynn is a vote for Trump.’”
Then, in 2019, “We weren’t allowed a single Republican sign,” Flynn alleged.
Flynn filed complaints about both Election Days.
“Most of the allegations, even if true, would not amount to a violation of any law within the Commission’s jurisdiction,” SEEC wrote about the 2018 allegations, in a decision rendered in October. “However, two allegations were sufficiently related to the Commission’s jurisdiction that they resulted in an investigation.”
Flynn had alleged that Simms was intimidating voters and causing them not to vote, and had set up a tent blocking the entrance to the poll, the SEEC wrote. While the tent accusation was found to be invalid, Flynn provided photos showing Simms within 75 feet of the poll, a violation of law, and Simms admitted that he’d been walking people to the entrance, SEEC wrote.
“He claimed that he was walking people to the door because it was raining and he was holding an umbrella and offering to keep them dry,” SEEC wrote.
There was no evidence that Simms was electioneering, but merely “loitering” is a prohibited act, SEEC wrote. A $2,000 fine could have been imposed, but hasn’t been in similar cases, so there was no financial penalty.
Simms signed an order recognizing that he cannot approach the poll.
Lastly, SEEC found no evidence that Simms had behaved in the manner described, it said. Flynn had provided potential witnesses but none corroborated his account. SEEC also asked poll workers, who did not corroborate the account, and could find no voters who had left, intimidated, without voting.
As for 2019 Election Day, Flynn filed a complaint in February and it’s been dismissed, Foley said. The decision is not yet online.
FD_2018_114 Flynn FOI decision re Travis Simms
Allegations against Duff ‘not supported by facts’
So, that’s two complaints. What was the third?
Flynn filed one against State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-25), Foley said.
Former Board of Education member Bryan Meek, as recently as May 7, has alleged that Duff’s Third Street PAC engages in illegal activity. Flynn’s complaint concerned some of those allegedly illegal activities. SEEC dismissed the complaint, finding nothing illegal.
Flynn, like Meek, attacked Duff’s financial statements, claiming that expenditures to The SoNo Group were not itemized.
Duff’s campaign manager, Mary Pugh, works under The SoNo Group LLC.
Meek in a 2018 Facebook post wrote that Duff’s Committee, “Friends of Bob Duff,” is a “vehicle where Bob has taken almost $600,000 of our money to mostly pay ‘The SoNo Group Inc’. Disbursements ranging up to nearly $50,000 a peice {cq} without any real details on where or how the money was spent. ‘The SoNo Group’ is registered to Mary Pugh of 50 Toilsome Ave, Bob’s house.”
Pugh has lived in an in-law apartment at Duff’s house for several years, sources say. She founded The SoNo Group in 1990 and has been Duff’s campaign manager since 2000, her LinkedIn page states. It also notes that she was a campaign manager for former Mayor Alex Knopp between 1992 and 2003.
Flynn’s complaint mirrors Meek’s accusations, except that it omits the ads Duff has bought from Norwalk High School Marching Bears, which Meek claims are illegal.
Flynn made accusations regarding Third Street PAC Treasurer Dean O’Brien.
“There are restrictions for receiving contributions from lobby groups and lobbyists. So Dean O’Brien organizes an event, Duff is the host, people pay $2,000 a plate, Duff pays the expenses and is reimbursed by the event. None of those reimbursements are listed,” Flynn wrote in his complaint.
The allegations “were not supported by specific factual claims or corroborating witnesses,” SEEC wrote. “Further, they lacked sufficient specificity to form the basis of a potential campaign finance violation to provide the basis for further investigation by the Commission.”
Further, “the allegation that the Committee failed to itemize expenditures pertaining to The SoNo Group, Inc. in violation of General Statutes § 9- 608 was not supported by the facts after investigation,” SEEC wrote.
Also, “the Commission finds a lack of evidence that lobbyists contributed to the Committee as alleged.”
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