On January 27, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed H 4331, which makes it illegal for two parties to jointly nominate the same nominee. The bill is now pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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The Anchorage Daily News, Alaska’s biggest newspaper, editorialized on February 14 in favor of the recent state court decision that keeps the Green Party on the ballot pending a final decision by the court. The editorial said, “The decision reflects sound policy in a representative democracy. If we err, we should err on the side of inclusion.”
Oregon State Senator Ben Westlund declared on February 14 that he will be an independent candidate for Governor this year. He changed his voter registration from “Republican” to “independent”.
Texas independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Strayhorn had over $8,000,000 in her campaign treasury in January 2006, whereas no Democrat running for Governor of Texas had even as much as $200,000. Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry had $11,500,000 on hand in January.
Professor Gerald Massey, former chairman of the Philosophy Department at the University of Pittsburgh, is actively fighting Pennsylvania’s loyalty oath for candidates. Pennsylvania requires all candidates for state and local office to sign a statement affirming that they are not “subversive” persons. The statute does not define the term. Massey was elected to the Stoneboro, Pennsylvania city council as a write-in candidate last November. The law requires him to sign the oath before being sworn in, but he refused, and he was seated anyway. He has written letters to his legislators, asking them to introduce a bill to repeal the law. Such laws were held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in a unanimous 1974 decision, but legislatures in the six states that still have them are reluctant to repeal them.