On February 1, the 9th circuit extended the stay in McComish v Bennett. The U.S. District Court in that case had invalidated part of the Arizona public funding law for candidates for state office. The stay means that the law remains intact until the 9th circuit rules on the merits of the case. The 9th circuit is expediting the case and it will be heard in April and decided quickly. Here is the seven-page order. The vote was 2-1. The dissenting judge would have removed the stay. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

This article says the Maine Green Party’s gubernatorial candidate, Lynne Williams, will not seek public funding this year. Of course, Green Party candidates for the Maine legislature can be expected to seek and obtain public funding this year.

As the article points out, due to a good change in the election law last year, qualified parties in Maine no longer need to poll 5% of the vote for either Governor or President. Instead, they remain ballot-qualified if they have at least 10,000 registered members who cast a vote in November. The Green Party has over 34,000 registered members so it probably will retain its spot on the ballot, whether it polls 5% for Governor this year or not.

On February 2, New York attorney Warren Redlich announced that he is running for Governor of New York. He seeks both the Republican nomination and the Libertarian nomination. In 2004 he was the Republican nominee for U.S. House in the 21st district, in Albany. The Conservative Party that year cross-endorsed Redlich’s Democratic opponent, incumbent Michael McNulty.

In 2005, Redlich was the New York Libertarian Party’s Political Director. See this story about Redlich’s campaign announcement. Thanks to Peter Gemma for the link.