On September 17, the faction of the national Reform Party that lost the earlier jury trial in Tallahassee (the lawsuit called Reform Party of the USA v O’Hara) filed a motion for a new trial. The motion contains an affidavit of Lee Dilworth, saying he did not participate in the 2005 vote of the national executive committee that rescinded the call to the Tampa national convention. Since 6 votes were needed for a quorum, and since only 6 members of the national executive committee (including Dilworth) are recorded as having voted, if the recent Dilworth affidavit is accurate, the party records are in error and the Tampa convention wasn’t properly cancelled. The Tampa convention voted to name Charles Foster as national chair.
Any reporting done about internal Reform Party conflicts is very difficult. Passions run high on all sides. The author of this web page is no expert on internal Reform Party disputes and is not motivated to become an expert on that subject.
Lee Dilworth and especially Shawn O’Hara have made numerous unsuccessful races under various labels in Mississippi.
O’Hara has previously run under the Democratic, Republican, Reform, and independent labels. This year he filed to run in the Democratic primary for some nine state offices and a similar number of county offices. The state Democrats certified him for state treasurer only, and he won that nomination without opposition. He’ll be lucky to get 30% against the Republican incumbent.
I don’t know what became of Shawn’s suit against the Forrest County Democratic Party.