On September 3, a Washington State Superior Court in Thurston County ruled that the Secretary of State may release the names and addresses of the people who signed various initiative petitions circulated by Tim Eyman, over the last ten years.  Last year, Eyman had filed a lawsuit to keep the information private.  It is Eyman v Reed, 09-2-02447-0.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in Doe v Reed that people who sign ballot measure petitions have no automatic federal constitutional right to keep the information from being released to the public.  But, the U.S. Supreme Court also said that if the signers can show they are likely to be injured if the information is released, then they do have privacy protection.  In the case of the various Eyman tax initiatives, no one alleged that the signers would be harmed.  The question of whether the names and addresses of people who signed the petition against same-sex civil unions is still pending in U.S. District Court.

On September 3, the Michigan Supreme Court voted 5-2 not to hear the appeal of the group that tried to get on the ballot as “The Tea Party”.  The State Court of Appeals had earlier kept that party off the ballot because most of its paperwork said the name of the party is “The Tea Party”, but the petitions say the party is “Tea Party.”  Thanks to Brad Smith for this news.

On the evening of August 3, the Alaskan Independence Party nominated Norm Olson for Lieutenant Governor, at a party committee meeting.  However, the meeting did not choose a new gubernatorial nominee.  Don Wright, a party stalwart for decades, had won the party’s gubernatorial primary and he is still the gubernatorial nominee.

However, the press has speculated that the party will replace Wright with someone more prominent, such as Bill Walker, who had lost the Republican gubernatorial primary earlier to the incumbent Republican Governor, Sean Parnell.  Walker favors a natural gas pipeline that is entirely within Alaska, whereas Governor Parnell favors one that runs through Canada to the lower 48 states.  See this story.