Congressional Bills to Alter Presidential Public Funding Lack Co-Sponsors

Posted on by August 22, 2010
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As noted earlier, on July 30, bills were introduced in each house of Congress to change the presidential primary season public funding laws.  However, neither bill has gained any co-sponsors since it was introduced.  The bills are HR6061 and S3681.  The original sponsors in the House are David Price of North Carolina, Michael Castle of Delaware, Todd Platts of Pennsylvania, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.  The original sponsor in the Senate is Russell Feingold of Wisconsin.

Both bills make it far more difficult for a presidential candidate to qualify for primary season matching funds.  Current law requires that a presidential candidate raise at least $5,000 in small donations from each of 20 states.  Any person running for president is eligible, if that person claims to be seeking the nomination of any party.  It doesn’t matter how small or new that party is.  Minor party presidential candidates who have qualified for primary season matching funds include Sonia Johnson of the Citizens Party in 1984; John Hagelin of the Natural Law Party in 1992, 1996, and 2000; Lenora Fulani in 1988 and 1992; and Ralph Nader in 2000, 2004, and 2008.

The bills raise the threshold to $25,000 from each of 20 states.

Meanwhile, the bill in the House for public funding for Congressional candidates continues to gain co-sponsors.  That bill, HR1826, has 160 co-sponsors.  It gained three in July and one so far in August.

Working Families Has Nominees This Year in Six States

Posted on by August 21, 2010
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In November 2010, voters of six states will find Working Families Party nominees on the ballot, the highest number of states so far for that party.

In Delaware, the Working Families Party is cross-endorsing four Democrats and two Republicans, all of them legislative candidates.  In South Carolina, the party has its own nominee (not the nominee of any other party) for U.S. House, 1st district.  In Oregon, it still hasn’t nominated but must do so by August 24.  In Vermont, it has nominated a slate of six statewide nominees who are just stand-ins.  After the Vermont primary on August 24, it will make final nominations; probably most or all will also be Democratic nominees.

In Connecticut and New York, the WFP will have hundreds of its own nominees, most of them inevitably to be Democratic nominees also, with probably a few Republican nominees and a few candidates who are not the nominees of any other party.

The only state in which the Working Families Party was on the ballot in the past, but is no longer, is Massachusetts.

Independent American Party May Win Nevada Legislative Seat

Posted on by August 21, 2010
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Janine Hansen, long-time activist in Nevada’s Independent American Party, has a very strong campaign for Assembly in Nevada’s 33rd district.  She has been endorsed by some leading figures in the Republican Party.  The district is centered on Elko, in northeast Nevada.  Last week the Elko daily newspaper featured a front-page story about her campaign.  Also see this story in Chuck Muth’s Nevada News and Views.  Hansen has both a Democratic and a Republican opponent.

The Independent American Party won two partisan county offices in Nevada in 2008.  No minor party has elected anyone to the Nevada legislature since 1914, although on two occasions, Libertarians have exceeded 40% in two-candidate Assembly races in Nevada.

Socialist Party on Ballot in Vermont for First Time Since 1952

Posted on by August 21, 2010
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The Socialist Party has petitioned onto the Vermont ballot this year.  It is the first time since 1952 that the Socialist Party has appeared on the Vermont ballot.  The seven statewide nominees each needed 500 signatures, and they gathered them successfully.

This year’s Socialist Party nominees in Vermont are also the nominees of the Liberty Union Party.  They will appear on the November ballot with their names, followed by “Liberty Union/Socialist.”  The voters will not be able to choose which party label to support.

Various Socialist Party presidential nominees have appeared on the Vermont ballot in recent years, but in each case it is because the Liberty Union Party, a ballot-qualified party since the 1970’s, nominated them.  These past Socialist Party presidential nominees in Vermont only had the ballot label “Liberty Union.”

Although many people commonly refer to Vermont’s U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders as a socialist, his ballot label, in all the years in which he was elected, has been “independent.”

Working Families Party of New York Won’t Face Federal Charges

Posted on by August 21, 2010
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The U.S. Department of Justice will not file any charges against the Working Families Party of New York.  The party had faced the possibility that it broke campaign finance laws by its close relationship with a company that runs campaigns.  See this New York Times story.  The story also mentions the continuing uncertainty as to whether Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo will accept the cross-endorsement of the Working Families Party.