On October 5, Alicia Dearn, an attorney for the Gary Johnson campaign, filed a complaint with the Philadelphia District Attorney, alleging that private detectives working for the Republicans who challenged the statewide Libertarian Party Pennsylvania petition tried to bribe at least one Libertarian petitioner to say that he or she had forged signatures. Dearn also told the District Attorney that at least one of these private detectives attempted to pass himself or herself off as an FBI agent.
In the meantime, the petition-checking process still isn’t finished, but it is very likely that the petition will have enough valid signatures even if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court should reverse the favorable decision of the Commonwealth Court on whether signatures are valid if the signer moved inside the same county and hadn’t yet re-registered.
Even without a favorable ruling the LP only needs about 400 or so valid signatures from the 2700 still being checked. That would only be about a 15% validity rate so it looks really good.
Reminds me of the dirty tricks against the Nader 04 campaign in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere!).
From Dr. Tom Stevens on LP State Chairs List and IPR comments:
20,606 We Win!
Although Judge Colins has not made a final ruling and there are still some motions outstanding and another full day of petition signature reviews scheduled at the Philadelphia Board of Elections for Tuesday, October 9, 2012, at the end of the day on Saturday, October 6, 2012, the Pennsylvania Libertarian Party obtained 20,606 valid signatures (5 more than the 20,601 needed), to place Gary Johnson, Judge Gray and the other statewide candidates endorsed by the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania on the General Election ballot this November.
Paul A. Rossi, Esq., attorney for the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania, wrote the following in a private update to key LPPA activists:
“At the close of business today (this evening) the total number of stipulated valid signatures on the Pennsylvania nomination papers for the Libertarian Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates was 20,606 (4 more than needed to place all of your candidates on the Pennsylvania General Election Ballot).”
Dr. Tom Stevens, LPPA State Chair, commented:
“We thought the whole idea of holding an election was to give voters a meaningful choice on Election Day. If the only option people have is to vote for the Democrat or the Republican, I say that is no choice at all! Both major political parties are responsible for our current multi-trillion dollar debt and the out-of-control spending. Even though the Libertarian Party submitted more than enough valid signatures, the Republican Party tried to make us cave by threatening us with potential sanctions, court costs and with paying the fees of the battery of GOP lawyers called in to try to short-circuit the democratic process. With little money and an army of dedicated volunteers, we stood up to the challenge, never once considering capitulation. Now, the voters of Pennsylvania will have a real choice and can vote for candidates who support the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights and who will defend our Civil Liberties and every person’s individual right to life, liberty and property – without exception.”
I agree with Mr. Zese, it really seems like the GOP is going after the LP like the Dems went after Nader in ’04. I imagine if Romney loses next month the GOP will go after the LP from now on.
#4
And then we’ll have scenarios where the Dems fund LP ballot access in battleground states. The ping pong ball goes back and forth.
This has all markings of a bad crime novel. Perhaps we could convert it to a slapstick screenplay for a ballot access fundraiser.