At the November 2010 election for Governor of Maine, Eliot Cutler, an independent candidate, was almost elected. The Republican nominee, Paul LePage, won with 38.1% of the vote. Cutler was a strong second, with 36.4%. Some time after the election, the Maine Commission on Government Ethics & Elections Practices filed a complaint against an anonymous blog, which carried derogatory information about Cutler. The Commission took the position that blogs that carry content involving a campaign for state office must report contributions and expenses above a certain threshold of spending, and the anonymous blogger had not done so.
The blogger then filed a lawsuit in state court, in defense of anonymous blogging in campaigns. The case, Bailey v State of Maine Commission, was then moved to federal court, where discovery has been underway. According to this story, the blogger may have been working for one of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Rosa Scarcelli. Some evidence suggests that not only did she hire the blogger to set up the anti-Cutler web page, she also helped the campaign of another independent gubernatorial candidate, Shawn Moody. Moody polled 5.02% of the general election vote, and it is somewhat plausible that if he had not campaigned, most of his votes would have gone to independent candidate Cutler.
Scarcelli did not become the Democratic nominee. She placed third in the Democratic primary. The eventual Democratic nominee, Elizabeth Mitchell, placed third in the general election with only 19.1% of the vote. The Republican winner, Paul LePage, won the Republican primary with only 37.4% of the vote and he won the general election, as noted above, with only 38.1% of the vote. It seems likely that if either Instant Runoff Voting, or Approval Voting, had been used in Maine, the outcome would have been different.
You’ve got your facts wrong. The blogger who posted the truthful, not derogatory, information about Eliot Cutler had previously worked for Scarcelli, but was no longer employed by her at the time the information was posted on the website. She did not hire the blogger to produce the website, and the blogger was not paid by anyone to do so. He did it on his own. Scarcelli had no involvement with the campaign of independent candidate Shawn Moody.
Derogatory doesn’t mean untruthful. Something can be both derogatory and true. As to the relationship between Scarcelli and the blogger, that is one of the matters in dispute.
The problem with fusion and fake third party ballot access
NYS ballot access — role of third parties
in 1994 NYS Gov General Election
Powers/D’Amato/Pataki setup the tax-cut-now party AKA “Pataki Party” (and the Conservative Party) to take votes directly and kill off efforts by the LPNY (AKA Howard Stern later Schulz Party) to get 50K votes and gain ballot status — as well as fight off formation of the formation of the Independent-Fusion Party (AKA Rosenberg later Gollisano ultimately Independence Party – NY) and of course the RTL (right ot life, Liberal Party and the Green Party were out and in with regards to ballot accesss after that 1994 NYS Gov election
A Top 2 Open Primary would have produced a better result.
The Democratic candidate received fewer votes in the general election than were cast in the Democratic primary. So it is reasonable to assume that Cutler received more votes from Democrats, and that Cutler-minded votes interfered in the Democratic primary.
In any case, Cutler could portray himself as the centrist aloof from the squabbling ideological extremists, infinitely adaptable to the challenges that Maine might face.
#4, a top two primary would not have worked for Cutler, because back in June he wasn’t that well-known. He would have been excluded from the November ballot.
#5 Elections are of course not for the benefit of the candidates, but for the People.
If he was not well-known at the time of the election, that is a failing of his campaign.
The election is in November.
The June government primary should actually be cancelled, and each party should nominate through whatever self-financed and self-administered process it wishes – mail ballot, caucus, convention, etc.
Independent candidates and new parties can qualify through a low threshold filing fee or petition (their choice) – say 25 signatures or 25 dollars. Those, and existing parties, get one candidate each in November, and a top two runoff can be held in December if and only if no one gets a majority.
Nonpartisan Approval Voting for ALL elected executive offiers and ALL judges
— pending a bit more advanced Condorcet head to head math.
ONE election day per cycle.
#7 Maine may elect its governor whenever it pleases.
So we’re simply arguing whether June-November is better than November-December, and whether the government should constrain individual candidates on behalf of the party bosses.
Thanks for mentioning Approval Voting, Richard!
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