Ever since 2009, two different individuals have been claiming to be the rightful county chair of the Los Angeles County, California, Republican Party. On May 28 a Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of one of those individuals. See this story.
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The Arizona law for public funding of state candidates says that if someone takes public funding, but then disobeys the law and spends more private money than is authorized, that person should be removed from office, whether it is a legislator or an executive position. On May 28, the office that handles the public funding program declared that Doug Quelland, a state legislator, is now no longer a legislator. The lawsuit over whether Quelland should be removed has been going on since August 2009, but the last court ruling was against him. See this story. Quelland says he cannot be removed yet because he is still appealing.
On May 29, the Los Angeles Times released this California public opinion poll. Click on the Survey Results button. The poll shows that most Californians are not pleased with incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. It also shows that among Republicans and independents who plan to vote in the Republican primary, the vote for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate is: Carly Fiorina 38%; Tom Campbell 23%; Chuck DeVore 15%; undecided, other, or won’t vote, 24%.
Campbell, a professor, a former state legislator, a former member of the U.S. House, and a former budget director for Governor Schwarzenegger, is very highly regarded by California moderates. Assuming the poll results are accurate, he will probably lose the Republican primary on June 8. Yet, chances are, if he were running as an independent candidate in November against Senator Boxer and likely Republican nominee Carly Fiorina, he could win. Another moderate Republican who is running independently this year, Charlie Crist in Florida, is leading in polls. Some commentators have said that Arlen Specter and Robert Bennett, two incumbent U.S. Senators who were defeated for nomination this month by their own party, could also potentially have won in November if they had run as independents.
The Los Angeles Times poll has other interesting results, including a poll of registered independents on why they are registered that way. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
The May 28 Salt Lake Tribune has this editorial, strongly endorsing the idea that the Utah legislature should revise the election laws to let electronic signatures count on various kinds of election-related petitions.
According to this story, the New York Conservative Party leadership has endorsed Repubican Rick Lazio for Governor of New York. New York holds primaries on September 14. It is now virtually certain that Lazio will be the only nominee on the Conservative Party primary ballot. UPDATE: The Conservative Party will have a contested gubernatorial primary. Ralph Lorigo got enough support at the party’s convention to be on that primary ballot automatically.
The story also discusses the gubernatorial candidacy of Carl Paladino, who plans to run in the general election as the candidate of a new party. The story says the group hasn’t chosen a name for the party yet, but it may have a connection to the “Tea Party” label.