Colucci catches possible break to get on ballot

LYNN – Incumbent Ward 4 City Councilor Rich Colucci might not have to rely on stickers to get his name on the November ballot for re-election.”I’m happy, but we’ll see what happens,” Colucci said.Ariana Murrell-Rosario, who is challenging Colucci for his City Council seat, filed a challenge July 3, claiming Colucci did not include a notarized statement when he submitted his nomination papers. That left Colucci scrambling to put together a sticker campaign for his re-election.City attorney James Lamanna, however, said Murrell-Rosario failed to include the entire state law in her objection.”She left out the timeline,” Lamanna said.Lamanna said his interpretation of the law is that a candidate has 28 days prior to the election to file his notarized statement of candidacy.State law, Chapter 43, section 110, reads that a candidate’s name will be placed on the ballot, “provided that at least twenty-eight days prior to such election there shall be filed with the city clerk a statement in writing of his candidacy, signed by him, and with such statement the petition of not less than fifty nor more than one hundred registered voters of the city, whose signatures shall have been certified as required by law.”Lamanna said his reading of the law is that as long as Colucci submits a notarized statement at least 28 days prior to the Sept. 17 preliminary election, giving him more than 40 days’ leeway, his name should be able to appear on the ballot.Murrell-Rosario, however, said that ruling was amended by the state acts of 2003 and that the city’s election laws are predicated on state laws. She also noted that Lamanna has no business intervening in this issue on Colucci’s behalf.”He’s the city attorney,” she said. “It would be corruption if Lamanna got involved. It’s not in the purview of City Hall.”Murrell-Rosario said Colucci has only four days from when she filed her objection to file a counter measure, and he must obtain his own lawyer to present a legal memorandum on the issue to do so.”And I intend to make sure this is done with transparency and integrity,” she added. “I hope they understand who they are up against.”Colucci is not the only candidate under the watchful eye of Murrell-Rosario. She said she has heard that there are other candidates who also failed to have their nomination papers notarized, and she plans to reveal them as well.”We need integrity in this election process,” she said. “I will be very vigilant ? I am completely against this old-boys standard. It’s one of the things I will be fighting in my campaign.”Lamanna said he has calls into the Secretary of State’s office and he expects “the Secretary of State will offer guidance.”Brian McNiff, spokesman for Secretary of State William Galvin, said he could not comment on a specific case but said any challenge to state election laws would go before the local Board of Registrars.Murrell-Rosario said Lamanna’s interpretation doesn’t matter because she has done her homework, speaking with representatives of other communities and studying case law to make sure her complaint is airtight.”The bottom line is, he had only four days to challenge the objection, and what Lamanna said has no bearing,” she said. “He is not the official election authority for the city or state law.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].