1. Oh, great. Another third party member goes from “trail-blazing activist” to “just another politician”.

2. That’s sad. He probably wouldn’t have gotten re-elected as a Green, but it’s still sad.

3. Hopefully he will keep fighting for ballot access.

4. Don’t bet on it. He’s betrayed the country and those who fought to get him there.

5. Pathetic.

6. A disgrace against all us third party folks.

7. Yes, it stinks, but look at the political reality here. Carroll got in through some highly unusual circumstances and this may well the only way he can get reelected. He’s most likely pretty much the same person, and almost certainly is now the state legislator in the whole country who is the most sympathetic to ballot access issues. Carroll is not the enemy. The enemy is a gamed system that pushes him into making that choice if he wants to continue to serve the people after next year.

8. I don’t know Richard personally. I’m not going to attack the man when I don’t know him.

   I’m not happy about the situation, but I’m inclined to think we were better off for having gone through all of this than we would have been had Richard never come forward. I’m not saying that to excuse/justify/praise; I’m just saying that I’d rather have level discussion about it than simply knee-jerk act like he screwed us over, when in the grand scheme of things, he may well have done more for us than almost anyone else. Or maybe he didn’t. I just don’t feel like this is a situation that requires fast judgment. It requires learning.

9. The Republican Party’s national chair, Mr. Steele, looked petty when he attacked Senator Specter, after Specter left the Republican Party. The Green Party’s spokespeople have a chance to appear far more mature if they thank Richard Carroll for what he has done for the Arkansas Green Party. And, who knows, Richard Carroll might find after a year or two as a Democrat that he made a mistake, and theoretically might come back to the Greens.

10. Another Obama, the Yokohama Momma, coat tail clinger? Maybe the Arlen Spector Junior of the Heart Land?

    ———– Donald Raymond Lake

11. Scott McLarty, spokesman for the national Green Party, said the party was disappointed with Carroll’s decision to switch politcal affiliations.

    “Richard Carroll isn’t the first politician whose decision to go Green was based on a ballot line situation, and he probably won’t be the last,” McLarty said. “We thank Richard for helping to put Greens on the map in Arkansas and wish him well.”

12. Well, at least he got elected and severed several months under the Green Party banner.

13. We need to work harder to rectify this ridiculous ballot access problem that encourages people to switch to the problem parties after being elected as a third party representative.

    For now the Democrats again look like trail-blazers and it’s always easier to ride with winners and a better funded party, especially if that party senses an opportunity to recruit third party successes as part of their plan to squash third party activity and participation altogether.

    I hope Mr. Carroll continues to work for those things Green value and helped get him elected for, and stand up to any kind of opposition to these values once he commits to serving as a Democrat.
    Let’s see what the situation is come the mid-term

14. This is a disgrace to everyone who has run and to everyone who plans to run, as a third party candidate for state legislature (myself included).

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