On February 9, the Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, charging that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is illegally getting help with ballot access from a Super PAC. Here is the filing. UPDATE: see this story, which predicts that the FEC is not likely to take any action.
The Democratic Party says “State law presumes that the candidate and the campaign will be the entities obtaining valid qualifying petitions” to get on the ballot. That is not necessarily true. In 2004, the Michigan Republican Party circulated a petition to put Ralph Nader on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate. Nader did not have anything to do with that petition drive. Democrats sued to invalidate the petition on the grounds that Nader’s campaign did not circulate it, but the Michigan State Court of Appeals ruled that nothing in state law required the presidential candidate’s campaign to be the only entity circulating such a petition. DeeLeeuw v State Board of Canvassers, 688 NW 2d 847.
Also, in 1968, petitions to place Eugene McCarthy on the ballot as an independent were circulated in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and McCarthy had nothing to do with those efforts and even opposed them.
In 1960, petitions were circulated to put Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus on the ballot in several states, and Faubus had nothing to do with those efforts. In 1952, petitions were circulated to put General Douglas MacArthur on the ballot in several states, and he had nothing to do with those efforts. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.
it seems to me that federal campaign finance laws shouldn’t apply to expenditures for ballot access. Otherwise, increasingly restrictive ballot access laws, when combined with campaign expenditure limits make it likely that a candidate, especially a Presidential candidate, may be compelled to choose among which states to get on the ballot to stay within the campaign finance limits.
And, certainly, such limits shouldn’t be applied to outside groups making independent expenditures for a candidate’s ballot access expenses, even if those outside groups are cynically motivated by partisan considerations. It’s all part of the process, and it should be left up to the voters to determine the motivations of outside parties.
Looks like the unDemocratic Party’s opening salvo of what will probably be mostly frivolous lawsuits designed to siphon money and time away from minor party and Independent candidates.
This sort of attack by the Democrats on RFK2 could be what’s motivating hi to go for the Libertarian nomination. Automatic thirty-plus state ballot access would clear this mine field for him quite a bit.
Interesting scenario in which voters and legal citizens (hopefully) gather signatures to obtain ballot access for a candidate without them connected to it. Apparently, Democrats really worried about Kennedy pulling votes from their candidate (whoever it is) in the 2024 general election. Oh well.
D/R ATTACKS — ATTACK NON D/R CANDS BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE
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PR
APPV
TOTSOP
https://www.yahoo.com/news/dnc-files-complaint-over-rfk-201134881.html
NBC NEWS
Eugene McCarty which I have known since 1968, had a unique dining still.
He would carry his own knife and fork and join you at your table eating off your food plates without being invited.
Sorry typo it was “style” not “still”.
Did Gene do that to you, Mark?
Sounds like a true communist.