On September 29, the Chicago Tribune endorsed Jeremy Karpen, Green Party nominee for Illinois State House, 39th district, in Chicago. See this story from GreenPartyWatch. Karpen and the Democratic nominee, incumbent Maria Antonia “Toni” Berrios, are the only two candidates on the ballot. They were also the only two candidates on the ballot in November 2008, when Karpen received 20.84% of the vote.
On the evening of September 29, the New York Conservative Party nominated Carl Paladino as its gubernatorial nominee. See this story. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link.
On September 29, the Rhode Island Supreme Court said it won’t hear Russo v Mollis, su-10-339. This is the case filed by the Republican candidate who placed second in this year’s primary for Lieutenant Governor. The winning Republican withdrew from the general election race after the primary was over, and endorsed independent candidate Robert Healey. The second-place finisher in that Republican primary, Kara Russo, then filed her lawsuit directly with the State Supreme Court, alleging that even though the Republican Party doesn’t want to have a nominee for Lieutenant Governor, it must have one.
Major Texas newspapers and a TV station are sponsoring a gubernatorial debate on October 19. The Democratic, Libertarian and Green Party nominees have accepted. The Republican nominee says he won’t attend unless the Democratic nominee releases his old income tax returns. See this story. Thanks to GreenPartyWatch for the link.
The 9th circuit will hear oral arguments in Kelly v McCulloch, 10-35174, on November 5, 2010, in Portland, Oregon. This is the case filed in 2008 against the March petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates. The non-presidential independent candidate petition deadline in Montana had been in June (simultaneous with the primary) until 2007, when the legislature moved it to March. The U.S. District Court had ruled that the plaintiffs lack standing, so this case hasn’t had a ruling on the merits yet. This is an ACLU case.
Montana is one of only two states in which no ballot access law that affects minor parties or independent candidates has every been held unconstitutional, or unlawful. The other such state is New Hampshire.
