{news} replies about justice of the peace

[edubrule]

This is my reply to Judy (the woman who asked about the Green Party helping her become a justice of the peace).  If I receive further replies, I will forward them to her, but not post them on this listserve.  (Feel free to contact me to get all the information I receive.)

--Ed DuBrule

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Hi Judy:  members of the Green Party can sometimes be amazing.  Here is info I've received:

(1) from a man named Chris:
 I did a few minutes of research and here's what I found:
 
Enfield has a good web page on how to apply to be a JP.  The process should be similar to New Haven.  Here's the link:  http://enfield-ct.gov/content/91/148/226.aspx 
 
Next I found this link which suggests that minor party candidates can NOT be appointed by a party.  Instead the person would have to apply for one of the unaffiliated positions.  The link for this one is: http://www.infoline.org/InformationLibrary/Documents/Justices%20of%20the%20Peace%20fj.asp 
(2) From Michael:

I'm a Green Justice of the Peace for the Town of Windham.  Justice of the
Peace is a town office and it's a great opportunity to get Greens into town
politics.  I'm out of state at the moment, so I don't have my material at
hand, but basically every several years when the office of Justice of the
Peace appears on the local ballot, a slate of Democrats and a slate of
Republicans is chosen by their town committees and appears on the ballot.
 Not that long ago, it was argued that this discriminated against third
parties, so an opportunity was provided for third party members or
independents to become JPs.  In the appropriate year, and you can find all
of this in the General Statutes, a person who is not a Democrat or
Republican can submit their name to his/her town clerk as being interested
in the office of JP.  There are a certain number of slots available for
each town.  If the number of applicants is equal to or less than the
number of slots, then all applicants are appointed to office.  If there
are more applicants than slots, the town clerk holds a lottery and the
winners are appointed.  Its pretty simple.

Justices of the Peace used to have a lot of power, but over time they have
been reduced largely to performing marriages and a few lesser functions
comparable to a Notary Public.
(3) From a woman named Ronna:

This link provided pretty good information on the subject: 

 

http://jpus.org/becomeajpct.htm#unaffiliated

 

This is the most relevant part:

 

If you're politically unaffiliated or belong to a minor party and have not already applied to become a JP, you have to wait until the next presidential election year. 

  a.. Make sure you are not registered with one of the major political parties at least four months before the general election. Apply to the Town Clerk between August 1 and November 1, 2008. 
  b.. In many towns, Unaffiliated slots remain unfilled because there are not enough applicants. However, if there are more applications than slots, the Town Clerk must run a lottery. You take your chances without having to write any letters or please anyone.  
  c.. After the lottery, replacements are made ONLY from those names already on the Town Clerk's list. (Thus, if you are not on that list now, you can't get on until the next election.) 
If anyone else sends me information, I'll pass it on to you.  I've read the above, but only quickly, and I haven't gone to the internet links, and I'll leave it to you as to whether you want me to contact members of the New Haven chapter of the Connecticut Green Party regarding this issue, or if I can be of further assistance in another way.

--Ed
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