Live Blogging Sensible Wilton Hearing

In the dispute between Sensible Wilton and the Town of Wilton, this is the transcript from Monday’s hearing,

4:57 p.m. Court has adjourned for the day, and evidence is finished. The judge will review the documents and while he has 120 days to rule, he says he will do so as quickly as he can.

4:28 p.m. Reiff begins his argument to the judge saying he wants to correct “misstatements” and “errors of my adversary.”

4:27 p.m. Frank says they are well beyond the confines of the law.

4:18 p.m. Frank says if they are a political committee, they are not able to bring a petition for mandamus.

4:16 p.m.  The defense is making their argument to the judge that the case should be dismissed, that they have no authority or standing to bring a suit–that they are a referendum committee and it should have expired 90 days after the referendum.

4:12 p.m. Frank asks if any member of the BoS or any other town official has ever affirmed Al Alper’s statements. Noel says of Alper, “He is prone to making statements and I don’t know if anyone has affirmed it or distanced themselves. That doesn’t mean it has happened, I just don’t know about it.”

4:11 p.m. Reiff asks if any members of the BoS have ever repudiated Al Alper’s statements. Noel says, “not to my knowledge.”

4:10 p.m. Noel calls Susan Price the “tip of the spear on the vote yes campaign” and adds, “so she is a celebrity.”

4:08 p.m. Noel says the subject of “membership” has never come up, he has never discussed it with anyone, that no one has asked about it, except when the town’s attorneys have brought it up.

4:02 pm. The judge has admonished Noel that he is getting ‘personal,’ and asks to keep things on an even keel. He says this after Noel says it’s inappropriate to use a legal word with a lay witness.

3:59 p.m. Noel seems irritated at the continued line of questioning regarding “membership. “We have made it clear to you that we have none of the trappings of a membership organization.” He adds,  “They are not members, take that back. We have supporters.” Later, Noel says,”We’ve been over this over and over again.”

3:58 p.m. Noel says Sensible Wilton is a “loose association,” and is a political committee by the state’s definition, but they are still a loose association.

3:58 p.m. Noel says “pick up game” was a poor choice of words he’d like to take back.

3:57 p.m. The judge just told the attorneys to turn it down “half a notch” as they started reacting, with Reiff objecting and saying Frank was being argumentative.

3:57 p.m. Frank asks whether Noel referred to Sensible Wilton as “a pick up game”? When Frank continues asking, and the tone turns more strident, Reiff objects, and they interrupt each other.

3:56 p.m. Frank asks if Noel Did you review the rules of a political committee or PAC?  He says, “No.” Although he says they had an advisor who explained statutes and rules.

3:54 p.m. Monte Frank has now started his cross examination of Curt Noel.

3:54 p.m. Back in session after a 10 minute break.

3:34 p.m. Noel says there are a number of “well respected professionals” among their supporters, and they play a role in helping understand how sound the MD renovation plans are. He says others have helped on the website, and 3-5 of them have worked hard on getting out the budget vote.

3:33 p.m. Noel says there is a consensus among “everybody” we have talked to that they want us to go forward with litigation.

3:29 p.m.  Noel says many people encouraged them to pursue litigation early on, asking “When are you going to sue?”

3:26 p.m. Reiff asks Noel if he has concerns of retaliation? “I read the comments of Al Alper, it reflected a mindset in the town of revenge. Look at how the town operates:  we have a relentless, nitpicking session that must be costing upwards $1,000 an hour, it’s not just the three guys [lawyers] here, it looks like there’s no limit to how much money town hall is willing to spend to try to shut down Sensible Wilton.”

3:22 p.m.  Noel says he has not joined the litigation as a party, citing his age (he’ll be 80 in December) and refers to the “comportment” of people in town positions. He refers to one night during a school “Open House,” when he was putting flyers on cars. He alleged that Bruce Hampson (M-D Renovation Chair) and Susan Price (M-D PTA president) started grabbing the flyers off and yelling at him. He says he was called a liar 15-20 times by the two and that, “it was inappropriate and uncomfortable.” At the suggestion of someone sitting in the courtroom [selectman Michael Kaelin], it was suggested that he get more involved with the committee to learn more and tour the school, and Noel says he now has a better idea of what they’re doing. “There’s been some nastiness that’s been unfortunate but in the case of Bruce Hampson, he and I are doing fine.”

3:19 p.m. Noel answers a question from Reiff about what their plans are for the upcoming municipal elections. He says that while they’ve been very occupied with the litigation, there are a number of people in the Sensible Wilton “family” who are very high on Lynne Vanderslice and would like to see her as the Republican nominee, saying, “She is the favorite of a lot of our people.”

3:17 p.m. Noel says SW was supportive of the town budget and tried to encourage people to support it.

3:12 p.m. Noel says the town’s tendency towards secrecy, and the concern about the way the town conducts its affairs, is why many people have supported Sensible Wilton.

3:07 p.m. Curt Noel takes the stand.

3:03 p.m.  Discussing the things that Ruskewich has alleged about feeling threatened with retribution, Frank asks Ruskewich  if any member of the BoS ever threatened him with a lawsuit? Ruskewich says a member of the Board of Finance did in an interview. Frank responds, “But did a member of the BoS threaten you?” Ruskewich said that a member of the BoS called him ‘disingenuous.’ Franks asks, “Was that a threat?” Pausing, Ruskewich says, “No.”

2:52 p.m. Frank gets Ruskewich to admit that he cannot say whether the people he counts as supporters are supportive of the litigation SW has undertaken against the town, and to say he cannot honestly say what their position is on the litigation. Frank points out that Ruskewich earlier said in the affidavit that many supporters were supportive.

2:50 p.m. Frank points out that Ruskewich has claimed in his affidavit that the earlier website page that read, “Sensible Wilton does not have members,” was a typo, and he later corrected it to “Sensible Wilton does not have members, except its president Alex Ruskewich and treasurer Curt Noel.” Frank points out that Ruskewich maintains he was correcting a ‘typo’ and he did that one day before signing the affidavit, 11 days after his deposition [during which Ruskewich and Noel changed their statements about members midway, stating at first there were no members and later changing that to stating there were only two members, them].  Frank asks why he made such a complicated correction to a “typo,” implying that it wasn’t really a “typo” but a change necessitated by their legal argument. Frank also gets Ruskewich to admit that the Sensible Wilton ‘About Page’ doesn’t say that SW is an ongoing political committee. He questions why he didn’t feel it wasn’t necessary to change that on the website, if he was fixing “typos.”

2:37 p.m. Frank is discussing the information on the Sensible Wilton website, which was originally created in Nov. 2014. He establishes that Ruskewich posted and reviewed the materials that were on the website. He hands Ruskewich a printout of a the “About Page” from the website that was dated from June 25, 2015. The page from that date refers to there being “no members” and Alex says technically it was incorrect. He confirms the site was updated on July 12 to including the information about there being two members–Ruskewich and Noel. Frank reminds Ruskewich he was under oath when he made earlier statements, and asks if he uploaded the earlier “About” page description and did he previously swear it to be true. Ruskewich answers,  “It was the truth but not the complete description.”

2:33 p.m. Frank is questioning when Ruskewich learned about the importance of the terminology between political committee and referendum committee, and who told him to use the term ‘political committee’ in describing Sensible Wilton. After an objection from Reiff that it is imposing on attorney client privilege. Frank argues that the affidavit is filled with references to Ruskewich “imploring” his counsel. The judge overrules Reiff. Ruskewich repeats several times that he had read the law before but that his attorney informed him after he filed the complaint.

2:32 p.m.  Frank is asking Ruskewich to refer to his affidavit in opposition to the defense’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit,  where Ruskewich claimed Sensible Wilton is a political group or club. “This is semantics, and me not being understanding of what is being meant by a club. To me it’s a group of people with common goals. Call it a club, a membership group. It’s a political group, that part I will agree with you.”  Frank gets Ruskewich to admit that he used the word ‘club’ to describe Sensible Wilton. When Frank asks what is the purpose of Sensible Wilton, Ruskewich says is a political committee with the objective to reduce the amount of spending in the town of wilton.

2:20 p.m.  The judge is admonishing the lawyers about including arguments in affidavits, which he says are only for “recitation of facts.” “I want the parties to know I recognize it and disregard it.”  He says he’s not chastising them and he recognizes that things blur the line, and understands that counsel “sometimes get carried away.”

2:16 p.m. The judge remarks that there is a “sea of documents” already filed in this case.

2:11 p.m.  Town lawyer Monte Frank has brought up the SEEC decisions that dismissed Sensible Wilton’s election complaint. Sensible Wilton’s lawyer Simon Reiff has told the judge they have presented an argument opposed to using it in certain ways. Judge is having difficulty understanding why Reiff wants to object to it. Reiff withdrew his objection and said he still has concerns about it.

2:08 p.m. Court is back in session.

1:00 p.m.  Court has recessed for lunch.

12:45 p.m. Under questioning Frank has gotten Ruskewich to admit that the purpose of the group has changed since they were founded and that they have done other activities other than their original stated purpose. This goes to the argument that the town is making that Sensible Wilton has no standing to bring their suit because they were originally started to argue against the referendum. But since the referendum is technically over, they should be disbanded. This goes to the town’s request to dismiss the case.

12:35 p.m. Reiff ends his questioning and town lawyer Monte Frank has started his cross examination.

12:34 p.m.  Supporters have volunteered to do research, gather information, make requests from the town for information. People have volunteered when they collected petitions [and signatures]. People made calls to get out the vote. Some have helped with contributing content for the Sensible Wilton website, including writing content that Ruskewich said, “I basically just posted it.”

12:30 p.m. Ruskewich says volunteers and supporters are the ones who finance Sensible Wilton. Says the supporters believe in what Sensible Wilton is doing. Didn’t answer his lawyer’s question about what kind of influence they’ve had on decisions. Reiff reworded it, and again Ruskewich just said they are supporters, and didn’t answer how or if they influence decisions.

12:26 p.m.  Reiff asks, “Have you been called a liar to your face?  “I don’t believe I’ve been called it to my face,” says Ruskewich.

12:24 p.m. Reiff asks if Ruskewich has ever experienced retribution himself. “I have been demonized in the press. SW has been demonized in the press. We have been at meetings, including one by the RTC, an individual claimed I was a liar, I was told,” Ruskewich said. Town lawyer Frank objects that such a statement is hearsay, and the judge agrees.

12:22 p.m.  Ruskewich says some SW supporters do not want to identify themselves. Says that they feared retribution, some because they have children in the schools.  Says that there is at least one elected official who supports Sensible Wilton who does not want to come forward. When Reiff asks him why that official does not want to come forward, town attorney Monte Frank objects on grounds that it would be hearsay. The judge agrees.

12:20 p.m.  “We were afraid town officials would extract retribution, as we’ve seen in the press,” says Ruskewich, based on statements in the press. He’s referring to a GMW.com interview with Al Alper. “In the press we were significantly disparaged. ‘That we were lying. That we were disingenuous.’

12:10 p.m.  Sensible Wilton president says the group has intentions to get involved in the upcoming municipal elections.

12:04 p.m. The court has started hearing evidence. Sensible Wilton lawyer Simon Reiff has called Alex Ruskewich, the SW president, to the stand and has started questioning him.

12:02 p.m. SW lawyer said he wanted to question first selectman Bill Brennan today and subpoenaed him by serving the Town Clerk. The judge is saying state statute does not allow subpoenas to be served that way–that they have to be served directly.

11:54 a.m. One thing’s for sure, the town lawyers and the Sensible Wilton lawyer will not be sitting down for a drink together. When they say, ‘my adversary,’ they really mean it! They do not seem to like one another at all.

There is a lot of debate about whether the lawyers feel the judge can proceed just by reviewing materials that have been submitted (motions, filings, challenges, etc.) or if they think they’ll need to proceed with presenting evidence. They eventually decide they need to move forward with the hearing to present evidence.

They also disagree about the disputed deposition that Sensible Wilton’s Alex Ruskewich and Curt Noel gave on July 1.

10:30 a.m. An hour after court started, the lawyers have now (finally) been called. Starting with the motion to dismiss…