Unfortunately, on July 29, the Kentucky Secretary of State retracted his ruling that the Libertarian Party of Kentucky could choose to have Sonny Landham on the November ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate instead of as a Libertarian. Now the choices are either: (1) the party can submit its petition in early August and have Landham listed as a Libertarian; (2) the party can submit its petition in the middle of August, which will mean that the petition will only be valid for president and vice-president, but not U.S. Senator (the deadline for the presidential and vice-presidential candidate is in early September, but the deadline for all other office is in early August). In that case Landham won’t be on the ballot at all.
Oh well… I was happy to hear about the SoS’ original ruling, but given the new information, the LP really has no choice but to toss Landham under the bus.
Oh shoot. I really feel bad for LPKY now, they are in a real bind. Either they keep Landham or they lose some of their candidates. Landham really screwed the LP over, what a jerk.
When something looks too good to be true, it usually is. Secretaries of State don’t generally look as good as Kentucky’s was looking this time yesterday.
Is the secretary of state a Democrat or a Republican? Sounds like his party got to him.
Is Sonny Landham laughing at the situation? Find out at http://www.sonnylandham.com
The Secretary of State is a Republican. As other posters have also noted, he has been very fair to minor parties.
If Sonny is serious about running, and thinks he has a chance to win, then he ought to start getting his own signatures and not rely on the Libertarian Party.
I personally believe the party does have a moral duty, however, to give Landham back any petitions that he (Landham) obtained, but keep back any petitions that the party obtained for him. Even if this means having to gather more signatures for Bob Barr, then so be it.
I still think the party should try to talk Rand Paul, or even Gatewood Galbraith, to run in order to give the voters of Kentucky a “none of the above” option on the ballot.
I’m sorry that our Secretary of State reversed himself, but what he had proposed originally was not legally valid I suppose.
Gee, the original decision was ‘too good to be true’! And I hope George wakes up and puts the major blame where it belongs, on the Kentuck SOS! Sonny is not blame less, and surely does not appear to be ‘overly bright’, but at least he is not a smooth talking corrupt snakey deceiver!
[California’s Pete No Repete Wilson, Dethrown Governor Gray Davis, Govenator Der Schwartz En Faker, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton I, Bush II, President Cheney, Kerry, McInsane, Clinton II….did I leave any of the obvious suspects out of the line up?]
Wow! What a fuckhead! He was on my Christmas card list earlier today and now this. Perhaps we can all wish pancreatic cancer on the bastard!
As a Kentuckian, I have been very interested in this. I think Richard, you might have misunderstood a little bit. As I understand it, the SOS simply said that Landham can run as independent but must have his own list of original signatures. He just can’t be on the same list as Barr because he is a libertarian.
The KY SOS has been good about third party issues. I think we just misunderstood. Plus, I am not sure that the law give him any other option.
Does KY allow substitution in the Senate race?
If it does, I’d think the best thing would be to substitute in any reasonable other person, even if just as a “paper candidate” to fill the spot and put a name on the ballot other than Sonny’s.
If it doesn’t I’d say to take the late file option in order to keep Sonny off the ballot entirely if you can’t just make him not appear as a Lib…
ART
The process in every state is different, KYLP needs to work with some people who really know the election law in KY. In most states there needs to be some form of cover sheet and extra paperwork submitted with the petitions, I would advise the KYLP to look at the feasibility of simply omitting Landham from that paperwork so that other candidates are unaffected. If KY does not require all sheets to be identical, then they should just collect some sheets with a different name for US Senator and file the other name. They should also look at whether KY law will let them file Landham and then substitute even if he doesn’t withdraw.
It is up to them to quickly get some good legal advice and evolve their best strategy.
It is embarrassing that they nominated him and damaging to leave him on the ballot as a Libertarian. The only good thing is that he was too dumb to keep his mouth shut until after they filed for him.
This is the petition form used for Statewide office:
We, the undersigned petitioners, being voters of the same district or jurisdiction from which the candidate seeks nomination, and being at least _____________________ in number, hereby petition you to cause to be printed on the official ballot of said county/counties _______________________ of the Commonwealth of Kentucky at the regular election to be held on November_________20___ (Day)
the name of ________________________ who resides at
__________________ (Residential Address) (City, State, Zip) as a candidate for the office of _________________ district _______________ of the political group/organization known as ________________ or as an independent candidate.
A similar form is used for President/Vice President, but also includes the names of the presidential electors. Both forms also include a signed authorization by the candidates Barr, Root, Landham (and elector candidates). The Libertarian Party of Kentucky provides filled-in versions of both forms along with a blank signature available for download from their website at http://www.lpky.org/petition.php
Possibly the SoS’s first decison was based on a cute interpretation that the words “as candidate … of the political group/organization known as The Libertarian Party or as an independent candidate.” could be given alternate meanings on the two petitions (which the voter only signed once) and were collected and filed by the Libertarian Party.
In addition, on their website, the LPKY presents Landham as their candidate, while also indicating support for an independent candidate and a Constitution Party candidate for legislature. I think that the SoS suggestion of missing the senatorial deadline is the best they can do, though Landham might have a reasonable case that any signatures collected for him be turned over to him.