Horse Suit Thrown Out by
Judge Connolly

By MassNews Staff
May 2002

The suit by Save Our Horses was dismissed last month by Judge Thomas E. Connolly in Boston's Superior Court.

"This motion should have been filed much sooner. The harm here, if any, was caused by the plaintiff's own retained commercial signature gatherer and not the Commonwealth," said the judge.

This is what Citizens for Marriage has been saying since last November when this allegation first arose.

"It has become very obvious that this is not an attempt to save any horses but has been done merely for the purpose of attacking the marriage amendment," said Sarah McVay Pawlick, President of MCM. "The only question now is who is behind this smear attempt to influence our voters."

MassNews reported earlier this week that two attorneys with the law firm of Palmer & Dodge, Neil Arkuss and George Ticknor, are the ones behind the frivolous suit.

Pawlick's remarks appeared to be validated by the announcement that even though Susan Wagner, head of Save Our Horses, told Associated Press that their hopes of getting on the ballot are slim, they were going to appeal the decision.

A.P. said the decision "effectively ends any chance of getting the question on this year's ballot," according to Wagner.