Democrats to stop fighting ballot access for Green Party

[sonias]

Postcards from the Lege blog AAS 7/7/10
Democrats to stop fighting ballot access for Green Party

The Texas Democratic Party plans to drop its effort to keep the Green Party off the November ballot today, but it will continue suing to find out who paid for the Greens’ petition drive to get there in the first place, according to a source familiar with the Democrats’ plans.

(snip)
But Democrats will drop that effort, hoping to quiet complaints that they are trying to limit voters’ choices. Instead they will focus on suing to find out who provided more than $500,000 for the petition drive that gave the Greens ballot access.

"This case has never been exclusively about whether or not the Green Party gets on the ballot," said Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the Democrats. "That was a small part of it. The focus in this case was discovering all the violations of the law and ensuring that those responsible pay the necessary penalties."

Well you would never hear of the Rs dropping a case to give the voters more choices. I hope Texas voters can see the difference and appreciate that the Democrats actually listen to voter concerns. Frankly I don't think the 100% Republican controlled Texas Supreme court would ever rule in our favor, so it was time to move on.

The issue about what corporations funded the drive is still a good issue to stick to Perry and his minions who were at the center of this anyway.

:dem:

[sonias]

1. Dems drop effort to keep Greens off ballot

San Antonio Express News 7/7/10
Dems drop effort to keep Greens off ballot

AUSTIN — The Texas Democratic Party today cleared the way for Green Party candidates to remain on the ballot this November by dropping its state Supreme Court challenge to the legality of the Green's ballot access petition drive.

However, the Democrats indicated the party will continue its lawsuit at a lower court level in an effort to obtain civil penalties in the case.

"Although the motion we filed today means it is almost certain that Green Party candidates will remain on the ballot in 2010, the facts demonstrate that the participants in this petition-gathering scam acted improperly and we continue to seek penalties allowed by law," said Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie.

So what's the line up for the Greens this Nov?

Texas Tribune 7/2/10

They have a candidate for Governor and for Texas Railroad Commissioner and some Congressional races, most notably a challenger to U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D).

Lets see if any of this was worth selling their souls for.

[PDittie]

2. The lineup for the Greens in November:

Most of these people have no candidate websites and the party website is woeful, not up-to-date and mostly unhelpful. I'll post a few links and some notes I have that I am aware of. Add more if you know it.

Deb Shafto
Governor
With four candidates in the race for Governor, Rick Perry will again pursue the 39% strategy.

Herb Gonzales, Jr
Lt. Governor
Makes the hill Linda Chavez-Thompson has to climb even steeper by the sole virtue of his Hispanic surname.

Ed Lindsay
Comptroller of Public Accounts
No Democratic candidate in this race.

Art Browning
Railroad Commissioner
Jeff Weems spoke about this to the TexTrib; I blogged his remarks here.

Jim Howe
US Congress, District 11
http://txgreens.org/jimhowe
West TX Congressional district covers San Angelo, Midland, Odessa, all the way to the northwest outskirts of Austin. Seat held by Republican Mike Conaway, he got 88% of the vote in 2008. The 2010 Democratic challenger is James Quillan.

Ed Scharf
US Congress, District 23
As sonia notes, he is in the race with Ciro Rodriguez and teabagger Quico Canseco (who ran a phone bank in the district to help Scott Brown in the MA Senate special election replacing Ted Kennedy)

Paul Cardwell
State Board of Education, District 9
http://txgreens.org/paulcardwell
Super Freak Don McLeroy's old seat, he lost in the GOP primary to Thomas Ratliff. There is no Democratic candidate according to muse.

Ryan Seward
State Representative, District 94
http://txgreens.org/ryanseward
http://www.theshorthorn.com/content/view/19650/265
Arlington area district, Incumbent Diane Patrick. No Democrat; Libertarian Richard Cross.
http://www.texastribune.org/election-2010/tx-house

Joel West
State Representative, District 144
Pasadena area district, incumbent Ken Legler. Democratic challenger: Rick Molina. Two others, Libertarian Clifford Messina and independent Brandon Weaver.
http://www.texastribune.org/election-2010/tx-house

Don Cook
County Clerk, Harris County
Could very well tip this contest to replace the retiring Beverly Kaufman away from our candidate, Ann Harris Bennett, and to the Republican, a teabagger named Stan Stanart.

Roger Baker
County Clerk, Travis County
http://traviscountygreens.org/rogerbaker

Earl Lyons
County Clerk, Bexar County

kat swift
County Commissioner, Pct 2, Bexar County
http://voteswift.org/ (Wonder Woman!)

Chuck Robinson
Justice of the Peace, Pct 1, Place 1, Bexar County

Joy Vidheecharoen-Glatz
Justice of the Peace, Pct 3, Dallas County

Esther Choi
County Clerk, Dallas County

Jeffrey Glatz
County Surveyor, Dallas County

[sonias]

3. Thanks PDittie

I think Roger Baker is off the ticket last I heard about it. Baker took himself out of the race when the source of the ballot funding came to light.

BOR 7/1/10

(snip)

Not every member of the Green Party is interested in selling the souls and/or conscious for a short term win. Roger Baker was the Green Party nominee for Travis County Clerk. Announced he is withdrawing from the race.

Baker has admirably acted in a way consistent with Green Party stated ideals – particularly a passage from the Green Party platform stating the Party "intends to end corporate rule and create actual democracy" (Source: Green Party of Texas Platform). Baker, unlike his state party leaders, has refused to participate in the GOP ballot scam. He wrote the following in an e-mail to his supporters: “I find it very difficult to explain and defend the Green Party ballot access problems on the state level, while trying to run on a platform of Texas Campaign finance reform at the same time” (Source: e-mail to Green Party and supporters, June 28, 2010).

I know Roger Baker and I have a lot of respect for his character. :applause:

[derby378]

4. WHAT complaints? The TDP caved, pure and simple

What was that line from John F. Kennedy? "Not because it is easy, but because it is hard."

That sort of thinking sent Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins to the moon.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. Nice, real nice.

Wasn't it just yesterday that Anthony Holm, consultant to both Rick Perry's campaign and the Texas GOP, admitted having dealings with the Green Party? Still the Dems decide to back off getting the Green Party off the ballot? I don't get it.

I don't know, maybe they have something up their sleeves in regards to the email, which Holm denied knowledge of, which was said to suggest he could provide funding for the petition drive for the Green Party? I hope they have some kind of rabbit up their sleeve. Knowing the depth of the GOP corruption in this state it had better be one mammoth sized rabbit it it's going to do any good.

Man, this is fast turning into a depressing disaster.

[PDittie]

6. They know they cannot win

They can't win before a 100% GOP Supreme Court, and they were fast losing in the court of public opinion (Democrats opposed to little 'd' democracy, yaddayadda). And if the Supremes used the case as an excuse to open the door to a legislative revision of Texas campaign finance law about 1,000 times wider than Citizens United ...

So they will continue to pursue their complaint at the lower court, letting it wind more slowly upward while electoral politics grind on.

So what we have to do in the short-term is: elect a few more Democrats to the state Supreme Court, and capture just three more seats in the statehouse. With a Democratic governor and another statewide executive or two, particularly one who would sit on the Redistricting Board, we have leverage for when the case bubbles up again.

The TDP, as with La Raza Unida back in Dolph Briscoe's day, is going to have to give progressive Dems their ear and a voice. Or else they will be relegated to minority status for another generation.

[sonias]

7. I agree with you Perry

No way the Texas Republican Supremes would let the TDP win this case. They are 100% controlled by business and they are chomping at the bit to let corporations drop millions more buying their influence at the Lege.

[derby378]

8. Here's the scoop from a trusted source in the TDP

The matter before the Texas Supreme Court was very limited - whether or not to stay the District Court's order to bar the Green Party slate. The Supreme Court asked for a briefing on the legality of corporate contributions. This issue was not before the court and well outside the scope of the appeal.

Given the results-oriented nature of this court, the fact that six of the nine judges were appointed by Gov. Rick Perry and that they reached for the issue, everyone involved was convinced that they were about to rule that corporate contributions were legal in Texas, which would have had two very undesirable impacts. First, it would have opened up corporate participation in things like voter registration and GOTV. Second, it would have shut down our suit against the Greens and cut off the discovery that has been getting closer to Perry.

Though not without risk and knowing that it would strike many Texas Democrats as odd (including many of us in statewide leadership positions), the powers that be wrestled hard with the decision and decided to abandon the Supreme Court appeal and continue to pursue discovery in the District Court action on the corporate contributions.

[sonias]

9. That sounds like rational judgement don't you think?

We already have a problem with unlimited campaign contributions from individuals in Texas ala Bob Perry (Perry Homes) and James Leininger (voucher king) who pretty much control the R agenda with their contributions. Do we want to make it worse, that much quicker with the Supremes saying corporate money is just fine and dandy in Texas politics?

It makes more sense for them to get to the bottom of the illegal funding than to have the Texas Supremes rubber stamp corporate donations in Texas - which I'm sure they were trying to find a way to do.

[derby378]

10. Hate to admit it, but yeah...

The closer we can get to uncovering Perry's Big Secret, the better off Texas Democrats will be in the long run.