BRIDGEPORT — It was her failed 2017 bid with former state Rep. Bob Keeley for City Council seats that brought judicial attention to the questionable use of absentee ballots in elections here.
Twice Anne Pappas Phillips and Keeley were successful in getting primary do-overs ordered by Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis and backed by the state Supreme Court. But the results never changed.
“She was so frustrated,” Keeley recalled Sunday. “She tried so hard to get the Yale Campaign School involved. She wanted people arrested, put on trial and convicted. She would say, ‘If we don’t stop it now, this is going to continue.’ She was right. Look what’s happening now.”
But for Phillips, who was a member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission and a practicing lawyer, the fight ended Friday at the age of 76. She died suddenly in her home while packing for a trip to visit her daughter in New York.
“I still can’t get over it,” said Lisa Parziale, who for 33 years considered Phillips her best friend. “Whenever that telephone rings I expect her to be on the other end. We were the closest of friends. We went through everything together.”
When Parziale lost her daughter over the summer, Phillips was there for her, constantly.
“She had such grace,” Parziale said. “She was intelligent, articulate and knew right from wrong. She came here from Hoboken (New Jersey), but loved this city. She had a vision for Bridgeport that our leaders under-utilized.”
Parziale’s thoughts were echoed by Lenny Kerr, a Trumbull resident, who worked with Phillips and Keeley on that ill-fated 2017 campaign.
“She was an honest and nice person,” said Kerr. “I often told her during the...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Anne-Phillips-who-brought-attention-to-Bpt-14566871.php
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