Election Violations Complaint Filed Against East Windsor First Selectman

The State Elections Enforcement Commission is investigating a complaint against First Selectwoman Denise Menard filed by Judith Rajala who unsuccessfully ran against Menard in the November 2011 election.

In the complaint, Rajala lists 10 separate allegations against Menard. Among the allegations are threats against employees, illegally entering polling places on election day, and retaliation against town employees who supported Rajala, who .

Menard told fellow members of the board of selectmen about the complaint at their meeting last week.

“It is quite lengthy and although I am not sure of the intent of the many allegations, I am sure Attorney (Joshua) Hawks-Ladds will have that figured out shortly,” Menard said. “I prefer not to say more than that at this point except that our response must be delivered by October 4 and it will be thorough and truthful.”

In a preface to the complaint, Rajala said her husband, David, had been a certified election moderator for more than a decade and had been a deputy registrar under his mother. He reused himself during last year’s election.

Rajala said she waited until August to file her complaint because her husband worked as an IT employee for the town under a shared services agreement with the board of education. Because Judith Rajala is a breast cancer survivor, they needed to maintain his health insurance benefits. When his town-side hours were eliminated, it caused a domino effect causing the , Rajala said in the preface.

Menard said David Rajala was offered the opportunity to apply for the full-time position the board of selectmen created to help install and implement the upgrading of the town’s computer system.

Menard said after the meeting that a lot of negative energy and time will be spent on the complaint and that she didn’t know for what reason.

Rajala said she didn’t understand why Menard chose to publicly announce the complaint. When asked why she chose to file the complain, Rajala said she heard others complaining about what happened and waited to see if anyone else was going to do anything.

“I called up the office and expressed my concerns,” Rajala said. “They showed me where to go if I chose to do so, and I chose to do so.”