Arizona Voters Will Vote in November on Having a Lieutenant Governor

Posted on by July 18, 2010
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This newspaper story explains that on November 2, 2010, Arizona voters will vote on a ballot question to create a Lieutenant Governor in that state.  Currently, there is no Lieutenant Governor, and if the Governor dies or resigns, the Secretary of State becomes Governor.  If the measure passes, the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor would run as a team in the general election, though not in the primary.

The article mentions a flaw in the ballot question.  It makes no provision for independent teams of Governor and Lieutenant Governor.  Here is the text of the measure, which was SJR 1013 while it was a bill in the legislature.

The last state to add the post of Lieutenant Governor was New Jersey, which elected one for the first time in 2009.

West Virginia Legislature Will Meet on Sunday Afternoon, July 18, to Finish Bill on Special Election for U.S. Senate

Posted on by July 17, 2010
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The West Virginia legislature will meet on Sunday, July 18, to finish working out details for the bills to set rules for the special U.S. Senate election this year.  See this story.

The House convenes at 4 p.m. and the Senate at 6 p.m.  This story explains why the legislature is having a problem passing the bill.  The bill must pass by a two-thirds vote in each house, or it can’t take effect for 90 days, which would defeat the purpose of passing the bill.

Detroit Free Press Article on Michigan Petition to Put Tea Party on Ballot

Posted on by July 17, 2010
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The Detroit Free Press published this story on July 15, about the petition to qualify the Tea Party for the Michigan ballot.  Much of the story is not new.  However, the story contains an allegation by a veteran petition manager that the drive to collect 38,024 valid signatures cost $120,000.  The petition bears 59,000 signatures.

Also, the story contains an allegation that the group that handled the petition drive has ties to the United Auto Workers Union.  As had been reported before, the people who organized the petition drive have generally hid their contact information, and refuse to talk to the press.  As is true for all petitions to create new parties in Michigan, the petition does not contain the name of any candidates.  August 3 is deadline for the party (and for any ballot-qualified Michigan minor party) to announce the names of its nominees.

Extra Public Funding for Connecticut Candidates Approved, Even Though Extra Public Funding Provision Has Recently Been Held Unconstitutional

Posted on by July 17, 2010
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On July 16, a U.S. District Court in Connecticut cleared the way for a Republican candidate for Governor to receive extra public funding for his campaign, even though the U.S. Court of Appeals had ruled the provision for extra public funding to be unconstitutional on July 13.  See this story.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Michael Fedele will now receive $312,500 in extra public funding.  The “extra” public funding refers to the kind of public funding that publicly-funded candidates may receive when they have an opponent who is privately-funded and who is very well-funded.  Fedele’s opponent in the Republican primary, Thomas C. Foley, the frontrunner, had sued to block Fedele from receiving the extra public funding.

Although this type of public funding had been held unconstitutional on July 13 by the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd circuit, the decision (like virtually all decisions of Circuit Courts) does not go into effect for three weeks after it was released.  The three-week delay is to allow time for reconsideration requests.  This is the technicality that allows the release of the money.  The U.S. District Court had also held the extra public funding provision unconstitutional last year, but had stayed its own decision pending the decision of the 2nd circuit.