U.S. District Court in Florida Upholds Extra Public Funding for Candidates with Opponents with Substantial Private Campaign Funds

Posted on by July 15, 2010
Reply

On July 14, a U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, Florida, upheld part of Florida public funding for gubernatorial candidates.  Specifically, the ruling upholds the part of the program that gives extra public funding to candidates who have privately-funded opponents with a great amount of private contrributions.  See this story.  The Florida case is Scott v Roberts, 4:10-cv-283.  A quick appeal will be made to the 11th circuit.

The Florida law this year gives extra public funding to Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is running in the Republican primary against multi-millionaire Rick Scott.  The law triggers extra public funding when the privately funded candidate spends as much as $24,900,000.

These provisions for extra public funding have recently now been upheld in the 9th circuit (in an Arizona case) and in this Florida case, but ruled unconstitutional in the recent Connecticut 2nd circuit decision.  The U.S. Supreme Court has indicated an interest in the Arizona case, and will probably decide the issue for the whole nation.

Two Libertarian Nominees in Delaware Attempt to Also File in Major Party Primaries, but Major Parties Persuade State to Reject Filings

Posted on by July 15, 2010
1

Delaware permits two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate.  Major parties nominate by primary, and qualified minor parties nominate by convention.

Two Libertarians, who have already been nominated by their own party, recently also cross-filed in major party primaries.  Their applications were initially accepted by the State Election Commission, but now the major parties have persuaded the Election Commission to reject the filings in the major party primaries.  UPDATE:  on July 15, one of the candidates, Will McVay, filed a lawsuit in state court to overturn the decision.  It is McVay v Dept. of Elections, Kent County, 5638-VCN.

The two candidates are Will McVay, for State House, 32nd district, and Brent Wangen, for U.S. House.  Delaware has very high filing fees for candidates in major party primaries, although there are no filing fees for candidates nominated in minor party conventions.  McVay paid the $834 to file in the Democratic primary, and another $834 to file in the Republican primary.  Wangen only filed in the Republican primary, which cost him a fee of $3,400.

Nothing in the Delaware election law gives a major party the authority to reject a candidate who files in its primary, if the candidate meets the constitutional qualifications to hold the office and pays the fee.  A 1994 Attorney General Opinion says that it is legal for someone to file in a primary if that person is not a registered member of the party.  But the Opinion also suggests that such a candidate can be rejected by the major party, but there is no statutory basis.

In 2008, the Delaware Libertarian party cross-endorsed two Republican nominees for the legislature, and the Republican Party did not object to that.  Of course, in the 2008 case, the two nominees were registered Republicans.

Tea Party Appears to Qualify for the Michigan Ballot

Posted on by July 14, 2010
9

On July 14, the Tea Party submitted 59,400 signatures on a petition to qualify itself as a political party in Michigan.  If at least 38,024 signatures are valid, the party will then be ballot-qualified and will nominate candidates by convention.  See this story.  Most reporters suspect that the group that collected the signatures has nothing to do with the tea party movement, and that the resources for the petition are from individuals and groups who generally support the Democratic Party.

Just having the Tea Party qualified means little, if the party doesn’t nominate candidates.  In 2004 groups linked to the Democratic Party qualified two parties in Colorado, the Pro Life Party and the Gun Owners Rights Party.  However, neither party never actually nominated any candidates, and the two parties went off the Colorado ballot for failing to meet either the vote test or the registration test.  Thanks to Jason Miller for this news.

Another Congressional Candidate Sues Virginia over Residency Requirement for Circulators

Posted on by July 14, 2010
Reply

Virginia does not let anyone circulate a petition for district office, if the circulator doesn’t live in that district.  On July 13, an independent congressional candidate in the 7th district, Herb Lux, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Richmond to overturn that restriction.  The case is Lux v Rodrigues, 3:10-cv-00482.  It was assigned to Judge Robert E. Payne, a Bush Sr. appointee.

The Libertarian Party has a similar case pending in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, which was filed June 3, 2010.

Similar lawsuits have won in the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th circuits.  Virginia is the only state in the 4th circuit which has residency requirements for petition circulators.