On June 14, a Kentucky Circuit Court Judge in Lexington ordered that a candidate for non-partisan county office should be on the ballot, even though technically his petition was deficient. The law requires 100 signatures, and says if a voter signs a petition for two opposing candidates, neither signature courts. In the 4th county council race, there were two candidates. One candidate submitted his signatures early. The second candidate then examined the first candidate’s petition, noted the names of people who had signed, and then successfully persuaded some of those signers to sign his petition as well. The second candidate submitted far more signatures than needed.

Because of this action by the second candidate, the first candidate’s petition didn’t have enough signatures. But when this activity was brought to light, the judge ordered the first candidate on the ballot anyway. Roberts v Beard, Fayette Co. Circuit Court, 2nd div., 06-ci-711.

On June 14, Missouri’s Governor signed SB 1014, which eliminates the straight-ticket device on general election ballots. Straight-ticket devices definitely injure independent candidates, and probably injure minor parties. Fourteen other states still have them.

The Workers World Party and its newspaper, Workers World, was sued for defamation a few months ago. The party’s newspaper had run an article on February 23, 2006, titled “WCI Steel Bankruptcy Robs Workers’ Pensions”. The article explained that Renco owned a steel plant in Warren, Ohio, that Renco had filed for bankruptcy, and that its planned reorganization plan threatened pensions for steel workers. The lawsuit claims that the use of the verb “rob” constitutes defamation. The case is Renco Group v Workers World Party, New York Supreme Court, Manhatten, 102875-06.

Workers World is the second Marxist party to be sued for defamation for reporting on disputes between labor and management. The Socialist Workers Party newspaper, The Militant, had been sued for defamation by the owners of a coal mine in 2004, but that case was recently dropped.