Bucks elections chief alleges harassment

Smoldering political tensions flared in federal court yesterday as Bucks County's longtime elections director tearfully accused her Republican superiors of harassing and intimidating her.

Board of Elections Director Deena K. Dean, a pivotal witness in a federal lawsuit over a Bensalem polling place, testified that a county lawyer berated and intimidated her before a recent deposition, and that Republican county commissioners tried to inhibit her from doing her job impartially.

Dean, a Republican who has run the Board of Elections office since 1992, has been under an extraordinary federal protection order since last week. The order, issued by U.S. District Judge Patrese B. Tucker, forbids any employee, official or attorney for Bucks County from having contact with her while the polling dispute is pending.

"Clearly there are issues that go beyond these proceedings," David J. Truelove, an attorney hired to represent Dean, said outside the courtroom yesterday. "There has been a sense of unease and intimidation involving a number of issues."

A spokeswoman said county officials would have no comment until the litigation concludes.

Dean did not give specifics on the witness stand.

"I don't want to get into it too much right now," Truelove said. "But we're talking about a 30-year employee, a registered Republican who has never played the partisan game."

Dean testified yesterday in a hearing over a polling place that was switched last year from the Creekside Apartments to a social hall a mile north. Elderly and minority residents of the Democrat-dominated apartments contend that the switch was a Republican ploy to suppress voter turnout by making it harder for them to get to the polls.

The hearing on whether the old polling place should be restored will continue this morning. Dean was the final witness the residents' lawyers called.

Dean testified that Mike Brill, leader of Bensalem's Republican Committee, initially called her in 2004, saying Creekside was a "Democrat poll" and should be moved.

"I explained to him that I must have a reason that is supported by the election code," she said.

In January 2007, Dean said, Brill called again, saying she should expect to receive two letters from voters complaining of safety concerns at the poll.

The letters arrived the following month, signed by a woman who was the district's Republican committeewoman and by a man who later succeeded her in that post. Brill testified yesterday that he had ghost-written the letters and given them to the party workers to sign.

The letters prompted a hearing before the county Board of Elections in March 2007, when three Republican judges approved moving the polling place. An appeal was rejected this spring by the county commissioners, who function as the Board of Elections in years when they are not on the ballot.

While preparing for a Sept. 17 deposition, Dean said, Assistant County Solicitor Tina Mazaheri loudly berated her, leaving her "confused" and "intimidated."

"Did she scream at you?" asked Marc Weinstein, a lawyer for the Creekside residents.

"Yes," Dean said.

Under cross-examination by Mazaheri yesterday, Dean said that the lawyer never asked her to lie.

"You made the comment to me that I am the Board of Elections director and I'd better know what I'm talking about," Dean said. That and Mazaheri's loud tone rattled her, she said, to a point where she lied during the deposition, saying no when asked whether she feared retaliation.

Dean said she later went back and corrected that answer.

Mazaheri refused to comment after the hearing.

A day after the deposition, still upset, Dean shared her fears in an e-mail to Democratic County Commissioner Diane Marseglia.

"They worked me over pretty good prior to" the deposition, the e-mail said. "In my opinion they tried to do three things, intimidate me, confuse me and make me doubt myself. . . ."

Dean testified that she did not know whether Marseglia could help, but said, "I just felt that I needed to tell someone."

Dean wept yesterday when asked whether she feared what would happen to her because of her testimony. She said that she had felt pressured and intimidated in recent years by David Sanko, the county's chief operating officer, and Republican County Commissioners James Cawley and Charles Martin. County spokeswoman Stacey Hajdak said last night that no one would comment until after the case concluded.