Back in 2006, the Alaskan Independence Party filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that it has a constitutional right to prevent people who are registered as members of that party from running in the party’s primary, if those individuals have shown themselves disloyal to the party. The party lost the case in U.S. District Court on February 19, 2007. The party is appealing to the 9th circuit and all briefs have now been filed. The case is Winkelman v State of Alaska, 07-35186.

The lawsuit was filed because Dan DeNardo sued the Alaskan Independence Party for $10,000,000 in 2004, because the party urged its members to vote in its own primary against DeNardo, and for Jerry Sanders, for U.S. Senate. DeNardo lost the primary by a vote of 1,068 to 273, prompting him to file the lawsuit, which is still pending. It is in Alaska State Court and is called DeNardo v Winkelman, Superior Court, 3AN-05-9352. DeNardo ran for Lieutenant Governor in the party’s primary in 2006 and won that primary.

States in which parties have been permitted to exclude candidates from running in their primaries, because of the candidate’s beliefs, or because the candidate had been disloyal to the party, include Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Missouri, and New York. Unfortunately the Alaskan Independence Party’s briefs don’t mention any of that. The state’s brief belittles the Alaskan Independence Party by pointing out that the party lets any registered voter vote in its primary (Alaskan law gives each party a choice on whether to let members of other parties vote in its primary).

The Alaska Libertarian Party is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, although the lawsuit does not mention any problem that it has had with disloyal or unprincipled candidates filing in its primary.