On May 20, the 9th circuit issued an opinion in McComish v Bennett, upholding the Arizona Public Funding law for state candidates. The U.S. District Court had invalidated it on January 21, 2010.
The decision says that the part of the law that had been challenged, the provision for extra public funding for publicly-funded candidates who have big-spending private money opponents, is valid. The vote is 3-0. The decision is 30 pages and Judge Andrew Kleinfeld has an interesting 4-page concurrence.
The trial in Green Party of Arkansas v Daniels has been moved from the last week in June, to sometime in July. It is likely that the U.S. District Court Judge who is hearing the case wants to know (at the time of the trial) if the party’s petition this year has succeeded.
It is essential that the Arkansas Green Party’s current petition succeed this year. The party must submit 10,000 valid signatures by June 18. If the petition fails, and that is known during the trial, that will be evidence that the party lacks substantial support, and will injure the lawsuit’s chances. Anyone, regardless of residence, is free to circulate a petition in Arkansas, and any assistance will be invaluable. The issue in the lawsuit is whether it is constitutional for a state to disqualify a party from the ballot (immediately after a presidential election year) because that party failed to poll 3% of the vote for President.
The Democratic National Committee Rules Committee meets today in Washington, D.C., to again think about a national plan on presidential primaries and caucuses. See this story.
The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry California has taken a position against Proposition 14, the top-two ballot measure on the June 8, 2010 ballot. See here. The UULMC represents the 80 Unitarian congregations in California, and is headquartered in Sacramento. Thanks to Cat Woods for the link.
Eastern Group Publications publishes ten different newspapers in Los Angeles County, all of which are in both Spanish and English. The chain originated in 1945 and is the oldest and largest chain of Hispanic-Owned bilingual newpapers in the United States. Its papers appear each Thursday. The May 20 issue asks its readers to vote “No” on Proposition 14, the top-two ballot measure that is on the June 8 ballot. See here. The newspaper is delivered to 104,000 households. Thanks to Jeff Trigg for this news.
