It is possible that ten candidates will be on the ballot for Mayor of New York city, in November 2009. Non-qualified parties that submitted petitions for that office are Green, Libertarian, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Socialist Workers. Independent candidates who submitted petitions are Jimmy McMillian (ballot label is “Rent is Too Damn High”); Robert Burck, also known as “The Naked Cowboy”; and Alan Chusid (ballot label is “Messianic”).
On August 19, Markham Robinson and Wiley Drake asked a U.S. District Court in Orange County, California, to re-enter the lawsuit Barnett v Obama, SACV09-82. This is one of the lawsuits over the constitutional qualifications to be President. Drake was the vice-presidential candidate listed on the November 2008 ballot in California for the American Independent Party, and Markham is the state chair of the faction of the AIP that supported Alan Keyes for president.
The two are now represented by attorney Gary Kreep. Earlier the attorney for the other plaintiffs, Orly Taitz, had submitted paperwork that indicated Drake and Markham were dropping out of the case. Actually, Drake and Markham want to remain in the case with another attorney. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.
The Constitution Party holds a national committee meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, Oct. 22-24. Former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo will speak to the meeting on October 23.
This is the third meeting in a row of the National Committee of the Constitution Party to feature a talk by a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. John Hostettler of Indiana addressed the December 2008 meeting, and Virgil Goode of Virginia addressed the spring 2009 meeting. Tancredo, unlike the other two former members of Congress, was not defeated for re-election. He chose not to run for re-election in 2008.
The Rhode Island House of Representatives is likely to reconvene September 2, to consider bills that the State Senate has already passed. Among those bills are the ballot access bills, SB 203 and HB 5426. They lower the number of signatures for a new party from 5% of the last vote cast, to 10,000 signatures. They also conform Rhode Island law to the federal court ballot access victory earlier this year, by eliminating the law that says such petitions can’t circulate until January 1 of an even year.
A 3-judge U.S. District Court will hear Republican National Committee v Federal Election Commission, 1:08cv-1953, on August 27, in Washington, D.C. The case challenges parts of the McCain-Feingold law that make it difficult for national political parties to help their own nominees in state elections. See this story. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link. The case had been filed on November 13, 2008.
