Green Party signatures cost $532,500; were they legal?

[Ed Barrow]

Source: Austin American-Statesman

A group with ties to Republicans paid $532,500 to gather petition signatures to land the Green Party of Texas on this year’s state ballot.

...

The Texas Democratic Party, which contends that the money used to gather the signatures came from corporations and is therefore illegal, is suing to find out who put forth the money to gather the signatures.

The group behind the effort is called Take Initiative America, which does not disclose its donors. The Dallas Morning News reported earlier this month that Republican operative Tim Mooney of Arizona connected Take Initiative America to the Green Party after the group gathered the signatures.

...

In a June 10 e-mail to other Green Party officials, state party treasurer David Wager said, “I was promised by a representative of Take Initiative America that the organization was not a corporation and that he would comply with all disclosure requests. Today I was informed that the organization is in fact a corporation and they will not disclose their donors. They claim that their collection of signatures and in-kind contribution was not political. I don’t agree. In my opinion, we have no choice but to refuse the signatures.”


Read more: http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2010/06/23/green_party_signatures_cost_53.html

[davidinalameda]

1. idiots

just pure idiots

I haven't had respect for Greens for a long time and this is just another example of why

I hope this destroys the Texas party and is the start of the destruction of the national party too

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Old and In the Way]

4. I don't see an overwhelming majority in the Senate...do you?

The legislative problems for Democrats are based on a monolithic Republican Party that votes against every piece of progressive legislation because they believe that voter frustration (and sadly, misinformed) will help them back into power. A 1 vote majority with a 1/2 dozen conservative bluedogs, does not make a real majority. The answer is getting more and better Democrats elected. Until the Republican Party fragments into their core constituencies (Religious Fundies, Racists, Glibertarians, etc.) it would be foolish to encourage a Green Party that will only assure a narrow Republican win. Remember 2000? That got us Bush.

[Raster]

7. Beg to differ, but we were going to have Bush* period. The supposed monolithic Republican voting

block in Florida was no more responsible for Selection 2000 than was Ralph Nader. According to the independent consortium that examined the election with a fine tooth comb and counted the votes in six separate scenarios, Gore won. Period. End of discussion. And the only reason he was not inaugurated was because a brutally partisan SCOTUS illegally stopped the legitimate vote recount as ordered by the Florida State Supreme Court. We had a bloodless coup d'etat, and all the electoral scapegoating won't change those facts. Trust me, Bush* was going to be selected as pResident in 2000. That die was cast several years before the actual "election."

[Old and In the Way]

8. Forget Florida....look at New Hampshire.

Nader spoiled that state (remember he promised not to run in close states)? Those electoral votes would have put Gore on top without Florida.

[davidinalameda]

12. no offense but bullshit

if Nader had not run, Gore would have picked up some, not all, but some of those votes

and you might need in the future

:tinfoilhat:

conspiracy theory much?

[Raster]

15. You keep your shiny little tin hat. I lived in Texas during the Bush* governor years,

I worked on Ann Richards campaign and I knew people that were very prominent in the Texas Republican Party and knew the Bush* family quite well. I had a ringside seat to the rehabilitation and sanitization of George W., from cocaine cowboy to "owner":rofl: of the Texas Rangers to governor to pResident.

And again: Gore won. Look it up. Learn it. The truth may set you free.

"conspiracy theory much?" Only when necessary. Save your snark, you may need it someday.

[mdmc]

24. As a green voter in 2000 let me assure you that I would not ever had

voted for Leiberman..

I voted for Nader cause he was a choice.
If he was not on the ballot I would have voted for the socialist or libertarian or larouche or whatever..

The DLC lost me in 96 and 2000. I was back in 2004 (kerry) and 2008 (obama). 2012 will be another 3rd party for me (not to worry, I vote in Democratic NYS)..

[mdmc]

23. testify!

[formercia]

17. The same tactic used by the Raygun Admin in Central America

Their goal was to inflict as much pain on the civilian population, hoping that they would overthrow the Sandinistas to make the killing stop.

Instead of killing us with guns, they make us die from lack of proper health care.

They make us refugees by destroying the economy, making us lose our homes.

They deny us a means of making a living by destroying the jobs with outsourcing and cheap foreign labor.

[autorank]

18. +1000

[No Elephants]

21. I agree as to the answer, but so called Health Care Reform was passed with a bare majority.

And, could have been passed with 60 votes, if the sixty Democrats in the Senate between January '09 and January '10 had cared so to do. Most think 60 Senators + the House + the Presidency is an overwhelming majority. So "overwhelming majority" was not the issue. Better Democrats was and is the issue.

Now, who will convince the DNC and Party "stars" to stop interfering in Democratic primaries on behalf of the likes of LIEberman, then leaving the likes of Lamont to twist in the wind if they happen to win the primary despite the best efforts of the DNC and Party "stars?"

I don't know about you or anyone else, but I don't want my contributions to the DNC used to fight Democratic candidates or Democratic voters in primaries, especially to back DINOS. So, I don't contribute to the DNC anymore, only to individuals, like Lamont and Halter.

[No Elephants]

22. No, Jeb Bush and the Republican SCOTUS got us Dummya Bush.

Maybe Clinton's triangulation and affairs helped, too.

[tammywammy]

5. This concerns the Texas governor's election

We're close to getting a democratic governor in and that dumbass Perry out of Austin. We don't need the Green party to come in and fuck us over with another 4 years of Perry, and it wouldn't surprise me if this money came from the republicans anyway.

[davidinalameda]

10. fuck them

if they're going to be stupid enough to take favors from the republicans, then they're no better than the republicans themselves

[depakid]

3. Not the brightest move to alienate your erstwhile allies

But that's what the right wing of the party loves to do- make losing moves.

Probably why they can't see through these sorts of set ups. They're every bit the ideologues as their counterparts on the other side of the aisle.

[davidinalameda]

11. the Greens are not the allies of Democrats

hate to break it to you but they don't like us any more than we like republicans

they see us as the enemy

[U4ikLefty]

13. Bullshit.

[depakid]

14. Not allies of right wing Democrats who support failed Republican policies

that's for sure.

[Raster]

16. !Sha-Zam!

[Old and In the Way]

6. Republicans must be getting a bit desperate in Texas.

I see the Governor's race is polling even, people in Texas are down with Barton's apology in a big way. The whackaloop Texas State Republican Party is running on a platform fit for the Dark Ages....perhaps the rich wing of the Republican Party figured fronting a Green Party is necessary to difuse the Democratic vote? If Republicans lose Texas, their national credibility is toast.

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. Is anyone surprised? Really? Greens have nothing but contempt for Dems.

That's been evident since at least 2000. This is not the first time they've been funded by GOP operatives.

[hayu_lol]

19. Don't ever forget that Ralph Nader and Grover Norquist are...

friends. Greens are not Dems. They are not friends of Dems. They are a 3% party which should be encouraged to go their own way.

[Name removed]

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