Arizona Administrative Law Judge Says Legislator Should be Ousted for Breaking Campaign Finance Laws

Posted on by November 10, 2009
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Arizona’s public funding law for candidates for state office provides that a candidate who accepts public funding, and then breaks the law on a matter involving campaign spending, risks being ousted from public office. On November 9, an Administrative Law Judge upheld the recommendation of the commission that runs the public funding law, and ruled that State Representative Doug Quelland should lose his seat in the legislature. See this story.

The legislator, Doug Quelland, had taken public funding in 2008, but then appears to have spent additional private campaign funds on his campaign secretly. His attorney says Quelland will now file a lawsuit to retain his seat. Assuming Quelland is eventually ousted, he will be the second state legislator in Arizona to have been ousted.

Oral Argument Set in Reform Party Battle over National Party Officers

Posted on by November 9, 2009
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A U.S. District Court in Long Island, New York, will hear oral arguments in MacKay v Crews, 2:09-cv-02218, on December 4, 2009, Friday, at 11 a.m. The Judge is Joseph F. Bianco, and the courthouse is in Central Islip, New York. This case had originally been filed in state court in New York, but was transferred to federal court earlier this year.

The case originated after a state court in Texas had taken jurisdiction of the national Reform Party’s matters and called a special national convention to settle who the proper officers were. That convention was supervised by a court-appointed special master. It resulted in the election of David Collison as the new national chair. Afterwards, people in the Reform Party who were dissatisfied with that filed a new lawsuit in New York state. The first-named Defendant in the New York case is Kay Crews, who is not a member of the Reform Party but who had been appointed by the Texas court to oversee the national convention.

11th Circuit Clears Away Procedural Hurdles for Two Ballot Access Appeals

Posted on by November 9, 2009
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By a strange coincidence, two pending ballot access cases in the Eleventh Circuit recently hit procedural bumps, but the Court has cleared these away, and the two cases will proceed.

In Georgia, the Attorney General had somehow missed an October deadline to file a response brief, but on October 29 the 11th circuit excused this error and let the state’s brief be filed late. That occurred in Coffield v Handel, the lawsuit challenging the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for U.S. House.

In Alabama, the attorney for an independent candidate had missed an October deadline to file relevant extracts from the U.S. District Court record, but on November 6 the 11th circuit excused that error as well. That occurred in Shugart v Chapman, the lawsuit challenging the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for U.S. House.

Federal Judge in Louisiana Hears Republican Party Campaign Finance Case

Posted on by November 9, 2009
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On November 9, U.S. District Court Judge Ginger Berrigan, a Clinton appointee, heard arguments in Cao v Federal Election Commission, 08-4887. The Republican National Committee and New Orleans Congressmember Joseph Cao had filed the case last year, to overturn parts of the McCain-Feingold law that make it difficult for national political parties to provide assistance to their own nominees. See this story. UPDATE: here is a more detailed story.