The Reform Party will hold a national committee meeting in Bohemia, New York, October 21-23. The committee meeting is combined with a national party building conference. For more information, see www.reformparty.org. The national chair of the Reform Party is David Collison of Texas. The party is ballot-qualified in Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Bohemia is on the south shore of Long Island.
On August 16, the League of Women Voters of Illinois filed a federal lawsuit, charging that Illinois’ new redistricting plan violates the free speech provision of the First Amendment. The case is League of Women Voters of Illinois v Quinn, northern district, 11-cv-5569. The case was assigned to Judge Ruben Castillo, a Clinton appointee.
The complaint says, “Redistricting based on the content of partisan speech or viewpoints of residents, for a partisan purpose, creates an undue, unnecessary or unjustified abridgment of First Amendment rights…By considering the partisan composition of the districts and the political competitiveness of election campaigns in such districts, the General Assembly is unlawfully attempting to control or influence the kinds of views, opinions and speech that residents placed in those districts are likely to hear and receive, and is doing so in a manner that is not narrowly tailored.”
Democrats were completely in charge of Illinois government when the redistricting plan was passed this year. No one disagrees with the observation that the plan was designed to enhance the chances of Democratic nominees. The attorney who filed the case, Thomas H. Georghegan, is a well-known Democratic Party attorney who specializes in labor law. This lawsuit will face an uphill battle, because several times the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that nothing about partisan gerrymandering violates any part of the U.S. Constitution. Thanks to Rick Hasen for news about this lawsuit.
On August 17, Magellan Polls released a New Hampshire Republican presidential primary poll: Mitt Romney 36%, Rick Perry 18%, Ron Paul 14%, Michele Bachman 10%, all others at or below 3%. See more detail here. The poll sample consisted of 70% registered Republicans, and 30% registered independents who told the pollster they intend to vote in the Republican presidential primary. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
A U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey, will hold a hearing in Lewis v Guardagno, 11-cv-2381, on Friday, August 19, at 2 p.m. The issue is whether Carl Lewis should be on the November 8, 2011 ballot for State Senate in the 8th district. He won the Democratic primary in June but his name will not be on the ballot unless he wins in court. It is possible the judge will rule immediately after the hearing.
The Sunshine News has this article on the possibility that Roy Moore will seek the Constitution Party’s presidential nomination. The Sunshine News, a Florida on-line news service, seems to give the Constitution Party better coverage than most news sources do. A few months ago the Sunshine News had a similar article on whether former Congressman Virgil Goode would seek the party’s presidential nomination.
