On August 13, U.S. District Court Judge William Smith refused to grant an injunction against the Rhode Island system for public funding for political parties.  He has not yet issued an explanation for his decision.  The case is Moderate Party v Lynch, 1:10-cv-265.  Rhode Island lets taxpayers contribute to political parties on their state income tax forms.  Many taxpayers voluntarily help fund the system without choosing one particular party to help, and that money is split up in such a way that not all ballot-qualified parties benefit.  The Moderate Party is excluded because it did not run a candidate for Governor in 2006.  The party did not exist back then.  It became ballot-qualified late in 2009 and does have a gubernatorial candidate this year, but that doesn’t help.