On September 19, New Jersey Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Jeff Pawlowski filed a lawsuit against a public TV station that planned to invite only the Democratic and Republican nominees for Governor. On September 20 a judge in Middlesex County Superior Court denied injunctive relief on the grounds that Pawlowski would not suffer “irreparable harm” if he were omitted from the debate. Pawlowski v New Jersey Network. Pawlowski’s lawsuit was strong, because the US Supreme Court had ruled in Arkansas Educational TV Foundation v Forbes that public TV cannot avoid inviting all candidates with a real campaign into its debates. Pawlowski already raised $300,000 for his campaign and met the threshold to be invited into the debate sponsored by the State Campaign Finance Division. However, that is a hollow victory, since the Democratic and Republican nominees are not attending that debate. Pawlowski is not appealing, since it’s too late. There is a chance there will be some League of Women Voters 4-candidate debates.

On September 20, the Massachusetts joint Legislative Committee on Election laws heard testimony on a bill to cut the number of signatures for statewide office from 10,000 to 5,000 signatures. Three witnesses testified for the bill, and no one testified against it. The six legislators who attended the hearing paid good attention and seemed supportive, although no action will be taken for at least a month.

On September 19, a lower Montana state court ruled that Rick Jore must pay almost $16,000 of his opponent’s legal fees, even though Jore did not sue anyone. Jore was the Constitution Party state legislator who seemed to have been re-elected last year, until the Montana Supreme Court ruled that six of his ballots were invalid. Jore had hoped that the lower court (which had ruled in his favor in the election contest) would relieve him of the need to pay the fees. Jore will not appeal, but he hopes that the next session of the Montana legislature will provide some relief. There will probably be a special session in December 2005 or January 2006.