On April 18, the California Democratic Party, meeting in convention in Los Angeles, voted to oppose Proposition 14.
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On April 19, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Christian Legal Society v Martinez. This is not an election law case. But it is a freedom of association case, and all of these cases always impact on the law concerning political parties. Here is SCOTUSBLOG’s analysis of the case.
Howie Hawkins, long-time Green Party activist in New York, recently announced that he is seeking the Green Party’s gubernatorial nomination. He lives in Syracuse, and the Syracuse Post-Standard featured this story about his announcement.
In 2004, Hawkins ran for U.S. House in the 25th district and got 9.61%. In 2006, he was the Green Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate. For Senate, he polled 55,469 votes, or 1.24%. If he had been running for Governor, that vote total would have been enough to qualify the Green Party for qualified status. The Green Party in New York has only been a qualified party for the four years 1998-2002. The only year it has ever been able to poll 50,000 votes for Governor was 1998, the year it ran actor Al Lewis (“Grandpa Munster”) for that office. Lewis polled 52,533 votes.
Brian Dickerson, Deputy Editorial Page Editor of the Detroit Free Press, has this column in the April 18 issue. His column expresses the thought that Michigan would be well-served with an independent middle-of-the-road gubernatorial candidate this year. The column also explains that one factor that discourages independent candidates is Michigan’s straight-ticket device. Also the column advocates Instant Runoff Voting.
The column correctly says that straight-ticket devices are especially harmful to independent candidates, because they don’t get a straight-ticket device. The column could have mentioned, but did not, that the Michigan legislature repealed the straight-ticket device in 2002, but then the Democratic Party sponsored a referendum on the law that eliminated the straight-ticket device. The voters, in November 2002, voted to keep the device.
Joe Schwarz, a former liberal Republican U.S. House member from Michigan, is still thinking about being an independent candidate for Governor this year.
A few weeks ago, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce heard speakers on both sides of Proposition 14, the California “top-two” ballot measure. Here is a video of the exchange. The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce ultimately resolved to remain neutral on the issue. The speaker in favor of Proposition 14 is Brandon Gesicki, who has been campaign manager for State Senator Abel Maldonado, the author of the measure. The opponent is Green Party activist Mike Feinstein, who was Mayor of Santa Monica in the past.