On October 19, the Daily Oklahoman newspaper carried this story, which says that, according to E. Z. Million (an independent candidate in 2006 for Lieutenant Governor), the Democratic and Republican Party state chairmen do not oppose easing presidential ballot access. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for the link.
On October 23, the New York State Court of Appeals reversed the State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in the dispute over the Independence Party primary in Orange County for Surrogate’s Court Judge.
At the September primary, the results had been 222 votes for Robert Onofry, and 213 votes for Stephen Hunter. The State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, had ruled the primary invalid, since in eight precincts, no voter signed in as having voted in the Independence Party’s primary, yet votes were cast and counted in that primary. In seven other precincts, there were 17 more votes cast than there were voters who signed in. The State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, had said the primary was hopelessly inaccurate and had ordered a new primary.
But the Court of Appeals cancelled the new primary. Its ruling is only two sentences long. It says, “Order reversed, without costs, and matter remitted to Supreme Court, Orange County, with directions to dismiss the proceeding. Under the circumstances of this case, it would be impossible, if this Court were to entertain the merits, to render meaningful relief in compliance with the Election Law.” The case is “In the Matter of Stephen R. Hunter”, no. 217.
During 2007, there were four federal lawsuits filed by various Reform Party activists against other Reform Party activists, over who the true officers of the party were. One of these four decisions has now been reported. When a U.S. District Court decision is “reported”, that means it has been published in the Federal Supplement. The Federal Supplement is published in many, many volumes by the West Lawbook Publishing Company. The Federal Supplement is where U.S. District Court decisions of importance are printed. The Federal Supplement is in every U.S. law library.
The four 2007 federal cases in which Reform Party activists sued each other had been filed in California, West Virginia, Florida, and Mississippi. The Mississippi decision, unlike the others, is now reported. It is Huffmaster v Foster, 565 F.Supp.2d 693 (S.D.Miss. 2008). Thomas Huffmaster, a Mississippi Reform Party activist, had sued members of the “Dallas” faction, alleging that he had been kept from being nominated as a Reform Party candidate for Congress in 2006 by Ted Weill, and that Weill had barred his nomination because Huffmaster was a friend of Shawn O’Hara. U.S. District Court Judge Tom Lee, a Reagan appointee, ruled that Huffmaster’s claims that barriers to his candidacy constituted a violation of the federal RICO (“Racketeer Influenced Organization) Statute do not have merit. Judge Lee also said that Huffmaster’s claims concerning the national Reform Party fail because Huffmaster lacks standing.
The decision describes some of the other, more significant federal intra-party Reform Party decisions, including the Tallahassee federal jury trial in the case called Reform Party of the U.S. v O’Hara. Since that Florida decision is not reported, the Mississippi decision (which is now reported) will provide historians of the Reform Party with an easy-to-find account of all the federal Reform Party internal disputes.
On October 26, the Arkansas News Bureau indicated that Green Party nominee Richard Carroll appears likely to be elected to the Arkansas State House of Representatives. See this report, about 9 paragraphs down. The extensive article also mentions, but does not emphasize, that most state legislative races only have one nominee on the November ballot.
Other minor party legislative wins are also likely. All six of the Vermont Progressive state house members are running for re-election, and are expected to be re-elected. The Vermont Progressive Party hopes to win some new seats as well.
The New Hampshire Libertarian Party has a handful of candidates for the State House who are running to win. The Vermont Libertarian Party has one nominee who also won the Republican nomination, and he could conceivably win.
In Montana, Constitution Party state house member Rick Jore can’t run for re-election due to term limits, and the party has no candidate in that district.
On October 25, the Minnesota Independence Party held a special convention to decide whether to endorse (not nominate) anyone for president. The McCain, Nader, Barr, Baldwin, and McKinney campaigns all made presentations. But the party decided to make no endorsement.
Here is an AP story about the Minnesota meeting. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link.
