On July 10, the California legislature passed SB 293. It lets the Republican Party bypass the normal deadline for a party to certify its presidential and vice-presidential candidates to the Secretary of State. The bill only applies to 2008 and only applies to the Republican Party. California had been the last state which had a deadline for a party to name its national ticket that was earlier than the actual 2008 Republican national convention. That convention won’t nominate for president until September 3 or September 4 (or, conceivably, if no one gets a majority on the first ballot, even a later date).

California’s AB 583, the bill to establish public funding for state office, had been scheduled for a State Senate Elections Committee hearing on July 10. However, the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, took the bill off the Committee’s agenda. California legislative sessions are two years, so the bill could still pass in 2008. It is likely that Hancock removed the bill from the agenda because she knew it would not pass on July 10.

In January 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court had refused to hear Nader v Serody, which meant that the 2006 order of the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court remained in place. That court order had said Ralph Nader must pay almost $90,000 to the Pennsylvania court system, for the costs of checking his signatures in 2004.

On July 11, McClatchy Newspapers carried a story about Pennsylvania’s attempt to collect the money. It says collection attorneys are trying to freeze Nader’s personal bank account, in an attempt to obtain $61,000. Nader’s vice-presidential candidate, Peter Camejo, who was also liable since his name was also on the 2004 petition, has already paid his share, which was $20,000.

The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1972, and again in 1974, that it is unconstitutional for a state to require a mandatory fee to run for office. Nader’s lawsuit against the Pennsylvania system (that system charges candidates the costs of checking their signatures, should they fail to get on the ballot) had merit and should have been victorious. However, the Pennsylvania court system didn’t even consider the constitutional issue, and the only possible appeal was to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear it. The recent article quotes T. J. Rooney, chair of the Democratic Party, as saying mention of Nader’s name “makes my blood pressure rise by 50 points.”