New York Independence Party Faces Legal Woes

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The New York Times reports that the Manhattan District Attorney now alleges that leaders of the New York Independence Party knew, or should have known, that a Republican political consultant stole over $1,000,000 from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The District Attorney wants the Independence Party to put that same amount of money in an escrow fund, even though no one alleges that the party has the money. It appears that the Mayor gave the money to the Independence Party, and asked the party to give the money to that individual, so that the individual could do campaign work for the Mayor. But, instead, apparently that individual kept the money for his own personal use. See this story. Thanks to Elizabeth Sandor for the link. Also see this story in the Wall Street Journal.

New York Governor Wants Redistricting Commission

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On February 17, New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver introduced A5388, at the request of Governor Andrew Cuomo. It provides for a redistricting commission to draw boundaries of U.S. House and state legislative districts. It allows for the possibility of putting people on the Commission who are neither Republicans or Democrats.

The bill provides first for an Independent Redistricting Nominations Commission, which would choose the members of the Independent Redistricting Commission. The people on the Nominations Commission would be two chosen by the majority leader of each house of the legislature, two chosen by the minority leader of each house of the legislature, and four by the Governor. The four gubernatorial appointees would include two who are members of the largest party (as judged by voter registration), and two who are members of the second-largest party.

These eight individuals would then choose a “pool” of 40 individuals, of which 15 would be Democrats, 15 would be Republicans, and 10 would be “others”. The bill specifies the major parties by name. Then, from that pool of 40, eleven members would be chosen for the Redistricting Commission itself. Each of the four legislative leaders would choose two members from the pool of 40, and then those eight would choose three more members from the remaining members of the pool. Here is the text of the bill. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news of this bill.

Incumbent Member of Columbus School Board Will Seek Re-Election by Write-in Votes

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Gary L. Baker, an incumbent member of the Columbus, Ohio, School Board, will run for re-election this November as a write-in candidate. He failed to get on the ballot because the paid petitioner he hired to collect his signatures apparently forged many signatures. Four seats are up for election, and there will either be three or four candidates listed on the ballot. Obviously if there are only three candidates listed on the ballot, it will be easy for Baker to obtain enough write-in votes to be the fourth victor. However, it is possible the ballot will list four candidates. Another candidate was told he was only 21 signatures short, and he is contesting that ruling. See this story.

Columbus, Ohio, is the 16th largest city in the U.S., and had an estimated population in 2009 of 769,360, about the size of a typical U.S. House district. It is rare for anyone to win as a write-in candidate in a jurisdiction that large. Thanks to Steve Linnabary for the link.

Montana Ballot Access Case Begins to Move Forward Again

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A U.S. District Court in Montana will hold a status conference in Kelly v McCulloch on March 25, 2011. This is the case that challenges Montana’s March petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates. The lawsuit had been filed on April 8, 2008. On February 3, 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Sam Haddon had ruled that the plaintiffs lack standing. However, on December 10, 2010, the 9th circuit had reversed that ruling, and had said the plaintiffs do have standing. Now the case returns to U.S. District Court for a decision on the merits.