On March 21, Daily Kos published this fairly lengthy blog post about the Working Families Party of New York.

Also on March 21, the New York Working Families Party put out a statement on the congressional vote on health care. It says, “This is how change is made. A week ago today, we were in Albany presenting thousands of your petitions to New York Congressman Scott Murphy, who hadn’t yet decided how he was going to vote on health care reform. This evening, Rep. Murphy and all but two other New York Democrats voted ‘yes’ – and the House passed health care reform…Together, we used the unique position of the Working Families Party to make clear to these Congressmembers that voting ‘no’ would have real consequences – and that voting ‘yes’ was the right thing to do. We succeeded. This bill doesn’t have everything we wanted. But it is one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed by Congress in decades.”

Here is an article from New York’s Hudson Valley on whether Murphy’s vote will help him or hurt him when he runs for re-election this year. The story is in the Post Star of Glens Falls, New York.

In January 2010, the Arkansas Supreme Court removed Little Rock Circuit Judge Willard Proctor from office. The Arkansas Supreme Court found that Judge Proctor had a conflict of interest, because he ran a nonprofit corporation, Cycle Breakers, to reform people on probation, but the Court said that a judge should not have contact with probationers except in Court.

Arkansas Circuit Judges are elected on a non-partisan basis. Proctor tried to file for the election to fill his old seat, but his application to be on the ballot was denied. The election is May 18. However, Arkansas permits write-in candidates, and the Pulaski County Chief Deputy has advised county elections officials to permit Proctor to file as a write-in candidate. See this story. Proctor has a lawsuit pending in state court, arguing that if he is re-elected, he should be seated. The Constitution sets out the qualifications to be a Circuit Court Judge. Proctor argues that the statute that authorized his removal, and his inability to run again, adds to the state Constitutional qualifications and is therefore invalid. That case is Proctor v Daniels, circuit court, Pulaski County, 6ocv-10-1439.

The Constitution Party is currently petitioning to place one U.S. House candidate on the West Virginia ballot. He is Phil Hudok, running in the 2nd district. His web page, http://www.hudok.com, is here. His web page has a blank petition form. He needs 2,582 valid signatures by August 1.