On April 15, the New Hampshire Libertarian Party had held a state nominating convention. That convention had nominated George Phillies for president, Karen Kwiatkowski for vice-president, and state representative Bea Francouer for Governor.
Since then, both Francouer and Kwiatkowski have declined those nominations, so the party will hold a new nominating convention, probably not for at least two months, and likely in October 2007. Kwiatkowski says she is willing to be the vice-presidential candidate if vice-presidential substitution is permitted. The NHLP has not obtained a clear-cut answer to the question of whether vice-presidential substitution is permitted. It was permitted in 1980, and the Secretary of State who was in office in 1980 is still in office.
Contrary to the comment below, the national Libertarian Party does not believe ballot access in New Hampshire is easy.
Richard, I just got off the phone with the LPNH secretary, since while we’d openly discussed Bea’s declination (she wants to run for Congress instead as a Libertarian), there was no mention of Karen’s declination at the LPNH meeting held last night. The secretary had no knowledge of Karen’s decline, in fact, the opposite, she’d written an acceptance and asked what she needed to fill out.
Where did this info come from?
P.S. the only real reason to hold a nomination convention is for Governor at this point, due to the last convention voting to explicitly disallow the LPNH exec-comm from filling empty slots.
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http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski180.html
“…that’s my plan for the Vice Presidency of the United States, 2009–2013. Unlike William Tecumseh Sherman, if nominated, I will run, and elected, I will serve…as noted above. Thanks for your support!”
Isn’t there a rule in New Hampshire that a voter can only sign a petition to put one party or candidate or the ballot?
If so, if the New Hampshire LP puts George Phillies on the ballot as an independent, and if George Phillies does not end up winning the LP Presidential nomination, and if whoever does end up winning the LP Presidential nomination wants to petition to get on the ballot in New Hampshire, anyone who signed the petition to put George Phillies on the ballot will not be able to sign the petition.
If this is true, the only solution that I could see for this would be if the George Phillies campaign only collects the signatures but then waits to turn the signatures in to the state until after he secures the nomination, and if he doesn’t win the nomination the campaign throws the signatures out.
I’ve checked with Karen (and let Jim and Richard among others know), and she’s re-affirmed her _acceptance_ of the nomination.
Andy: you’re almost right, except for 2 factors:
1) it’s not the Phillies campaign doing the petitioning, it’s the LPNH, who want to petition for a _slate_ of candidates, not just George. As a result, you can’t withhold the petitions and wait and see, because the other candidates on the petitions need those signatures. So logistically, your solution won’t work.
2) While the complication of ‘no double sigs’ is an issue, according to National (who denies that NH has very difficult ballot conditions and insists we’re just making trouble for nothing…), National has pledged (repeatedly, thru more than one channel) to pay for and complete _themselves_ a petition process for the winning nominee, should it not be George and Karen.
If it’s really not so hard in NH, they’ll be able to deal with the rules. If it turns out harder than they claim, well, perhaps they’ll listen to LPNH next time.
Either way, LPNH _will_ have a candidate on the ballot.
Deciding early was a state level issue, and regardless of Phillies support (not everyone who backed early decision backed Phillies, by a long shot), the winner was meant to allow ballot petitioning to begin early. Christine Smith ran a close second.
In response to the unattributed line added regarding the National LP’s belief about NH ballot access… while no one person speaks for the LNC or it’s views, when I get emails from long term LNCers with lines like
“As for ballot access, I’ll point out that NH has relatively easy ballot access requirements”
“What specific complaint about ballot access does the LPNH have? I’ve never heard one.”
“NH might make it into the top 10 most difficult states for ballot access. It certainly doesn’t make it into the top 5.”
I have to stand by my comment and observation.
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