Alan Johnson, Britain’s cabinet minister for Health in the Labour Government, has this op-ed in the May 25 London Times, arguing for proportional representation for Britain. Some people predict that Johnson will be the next Labour Party leader.
On June 2, Ralph Nader and Harley Shaiken appeared on “Democracy Now”, Amy Goodman’s show on the Pacifica network. The transcript can be read here. The interview was mostly about the General Motors bankruptcy, although at the end of the interview, the conversation turned to election law and Theresa Amato’s new book on ballot access, “Grand Illusion.”
The petition deadline for independent candidates, and the candidates of unqualified parties, in the New Jersey state elections this year is at the end of the day on June 2. In the gubernatorial race, already the Socialist Party has filed its petition, and five independents have filed, with probably some more petitions still to be filed. The 5 independents filing for Governor already are Christopher Daggett, Joshua Leinsdorf, Alvin Lindsay, Kostas Petris, and Gary Steele. The Socialist Party nominee is Greg Pason. UPDATE: Shannon Wright missed the deadline; see this news story.
On June 1, Ralph Nader filed his brief on the merits in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, on the issue of whether he should have been assessed $81,102.19 (plus interest) to pay for the costs of the procedure that removed him from the 2004 Pennsylvania ballot. Here is the brief. The brief itself is 26 pages. The case is still called In re Nomination Paper of Nader, 94 MAP 2008. The appendices include the opinion of the Commonwealth Court that refused to reconsider the issue, and all the evidence that had been submitted to the Commonwealth Court.
The brief is very strong and speaks for itself.
On the evening of June 1, the Nevada legislature passed SB 212, which provides for a distribution requirement for statewide initiatives. For 2010, the bill would provide that a substantial number of signatures come from each of the three U.S. House districts. Afterwards, the legislature will be drawing an unspecified number of districts that apply only to the initiative petition procedure.
Most states with the initiative do not have distribution requirements. When a bill passes a legislature, no one worries about whether the legislators who vote for the bill represent all sections of the state. The only thing that matters is whether it receives a majority of the vote in that legislative chamber. Also, when a bill is introduced in a legislature, no state requires that the bill be co-sponsored by legislators from diverse ends of the state. By analogy, then, one wonders why only initiatives are required to show support in all ends of a state.
