The Sacramento Bee has this editorial, criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing SB 27, the bill to require presidential primary candidates to reveal the last five years of their federal income tax returns. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On July 30, the Indianapolis Board of Elections refused to put John Schmitz on the ballot as an independent candidate for Mayor, because some of the people who signed his petition listed their current residence address, instead of the address listed on their voter registration form. See this story.
On July 30, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 505, which makes it easier for a candidate to get on a presidential primary ballot. The old law says the Secretary of State should put all “recognized” candidates on the presidential primary ballot of the party whose nomination the candidate is seeking. But it is very vague. For minor party presidential primaries, the Secretary of State has traditionally let the state chair of the party tell him or her whom to list. However, in 2016, Secretary of State Alex Padilla did not entirely follow that tradition. He refused to let the Peace & Freedom Party list Jill Stein, and he disallowed many candidates suggested by the American Independent Party.
SB 505 says a candidate can be on a California presidential primary if he or she is on the presidential primary ballot of at least one other state. It also says a candidate can be listed if the party wants that candidate on its primary ballot, and also the candidate has a campaign web page.
The Peace & Freedom Party, and the Green Party, worked effectively to transform SB 505. When it was first introduced, it was quite restrictive, but their lobbying improved the bill.
SB 505 says nothing about presidential tax returns. But because it fleshes out which candidates are “recognized” (i.e., those candidates who meet the SB 505 conditions), it will make it easier for various presidential candidates to sue over the tax returns bill, should they wish to do so.
On July 30, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 27, which requires presidential primary candidates who want to have their names on the ballot to file five years of their federal income tax returns. Here is the Governor’s statement.
The Governor quoted three attorneys who say the bill is constitutional. One of them, Theodore Boutrous, said, “It will apply to any candidate for President, whether Republican, Democrat, or independent.” This is factually incorrect. The bill has no effect on independent presidential candidates, because it only relates to candidates running in a presidential primary, and independent presidential candidates have no connection with California’s presidential primary. Also the bill does not pertain to write-in candidates (in either the primary or general election), nor to party presidential nominees who appear on the November ballot.
Neither the Governor, nor any of the three attorneys he quoted, even mentions the California Constitution, which says in Article II, sec. 5(c), “The candidates on the (presidential primary) ballot are those found by the Secretary of State to be recognized candidates throughout the nation or throughout California.”
Kansas State Senator John Doll had changed his registration from Republican to independent in March 2018. He recently changed back to Republican. He was last elected in 2016, to a four-year term, and says he hasn’t decided whether he will run for re-election in 2020.
In 2018, he was an independent candidate for Lieutenant Governor, on the ticket headed by independent gubernatorial candidate Greg Orman. During the years he was an independent state senator, he was given no committee assignments.
