The Kentucky Libertarian Party has been embarassed by the recent comments of its U.S. Senate candidate, Sonny Landham. He has disparaged Arab people. Yet he is listed on the party’s statewide petition (for U.S. Senate), along with the party’s presidential and vice-presidential nominees.
The Kentucky Secretary of State has ruled that if the Kentucky Libertarian Party desires to disassociate itself from Landham, the Secretary of State will accept the petition, and list Landham on the November ballot as an independent, rather than as a Libertarian (assuming the petition has 5,000 valid signatures, of course). This decision respects the will of the voters who signed a petition for Landham, and it also preserves the associational rights of the Libertarian Party. The party will decide what to do at a meeting on the evening of July 28.
This is a wise, Solomaic decisioon– rare (it would
seem) from a Secretary of State.
Shame on the candidate, for his ramarks and for the embarrassment he has brought LP.
Actually, KY Secretary of State Trey Greyson has been somewhat of a friend to third party people. Prior to him, if you weren’t a Republican or Democrat, you had to register as “Other.” Now, you can register into whatever party you belong to.
Now lets hope the LPKY has the good sense to rid themselves of this embarrassment.
This is actually a good compromise, which helps all the parties involved. The Secretary of State should be congratulated.
Now, those of us Libertarians who support Sonny can move forward with a “Libertarians for Sonny” effort.
The state party has accepted the SOS’s offer. Landham will run as an independent.
I would hope letters of thanks to the Kentucky Secretary of State from the national LP as well as the state LP and the Barr-Root campaign are already on their way. This is just about unheard of in the annals of restricting alternative candidates and discouraging alternative parties. Kudos!
Unfortunately, the SOS reversed himself and said that Landham must be on the ballot as a Libertarian or not at all. The party is still deciding.