Illinois LP demands that Republicans abide by election law

http://www.lp.org/lpnews/0405/illinois-ballot-access.html ^ | 04-01-04

[keyd]

Illinois LP demands that Republicans abide by election law

Under Illinois law, President Bush should not be allowed to run for re-election on the Republican ticket in that state. Illinois

Libertarian Party chair Jeff Trigg is trying to convince state election officials either to uphold the law by keeping Bush off the

ballot or to change the law to eliminate the obstacles for all candidates.

"They need to live by the rules which they wrote," Trigg said. "They made their bed and now they must lie in it by petitioning

to get on the ballot just like they require of us."

By the time Bush is nominated by the Republican convention in September, the August deadline to get on the Illinois ballot will

have passed.

So either the president should have to get on the ballot as an independent -- as the law approved in 2003 requires -- or the law

should be changed for all political parties, Trigg noted.

On March 25, the state Senate unanimously approved a bill that would allow candidates from only the two major political parties

to be nominated after the filing deadline, while leaving the requirements the same for all other candidates.

"This doesn't change the deadline; it just lets them ignore it for 2004," Trigg said. "To write this into our law just for one

candidate and just for one election is nothing less than favoritism and a mockery of the principles of democracy."

Republicans knew the deadline in Illinois before they set their convention date, but "deliberately ignored the rule of law and

arrogantly expected the law to be changed just for them," Trigg noted.

In a March 30 press conference, while demanding that the Illinois House and Governor Blagojevich reject Senate Bill 2123, Trigg

also asked that the Legislature lower the petition signature requirements for independent and minor party candidates.

The Republicans and Democrats have written the law to make access extremely difficult for third-party candidates. For example,

in the race for U.S. House District 1, the Republicans need 196 signatures to get on the ballot, while "new parties" and

independents need 9,793 signatures, he said.

In neighboring states -- Missouri and Wisconsin -- 10,000 signatures "would allow a political party to run for every partisan

office in the state, so our demand is more than reasonable," Trigg said.

"In fact, with two-thirds of all General Assembly races unopposed in 2004, Illinois should be copying those states' election

laws so more voters in Illinois will actually have a choice on the ballot."

Current state law will force the Libertarian Party to collect about 50,000 petition signatures in 90 days just to run for the

president and U.S. Senate seats, making Illinois's restrictive ballot access one of the worst in the nation, Trigg said.

Libertarians running in Illinois races in 2002 got enough votes that in 39 other states they would automatically have

"established party" status, with full access to all partisan races.

Instead, due to the restrictive laws, Libertarians will spend about 2,000 work hours to collect signatures for ballot access --

forcing "money and volunteer effort to be spent on getting on the ballot instead of educating voters and promoting candidates and

policies," Trigg said.

And it gets even worse, he noted.

In 1998, then Secretary of State George Ryan, who was running for governor, used employees in his office on the petition

challenge that knocked Libertarian candidates off the ballot. He was recently indicted for improper use of state resources.

"The Republicans have shown they will even break the laws … in order to remove us from the ballot, so they need to live by the

laws they create without getting special rights," Trigg said.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Thanks for the genius tag, where I come from people just say, "Boy, would you take my groceries out to the car?"

[Sweet Land]

Attacks from the Left

Who attacked you, and how did you determine they were of the Left?

[Protagoras]

SCOTT FAWELL, Poster boy for the Illinois Republican Party. Their favorite son seems to have a rather RED face, but his mood is decidedly BLUE.

He's in prison too, maybe you can be his girlfriend.

[Sweet Land]

Shoot yourself in the foot with silly stunts, and I'll mock it.

How was your post #5 relevant to the "silly stunt" in question?

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Who attacked you, and how did you determine they were of the Left?

Aw c'mon, sweetie, you know what you are.

[Sweet Land]

Yes, I do ... and now we know what you are, too.

[Protagoras]

I'm not a Libertarian, and you aren't a genius.

But when you put up the blue guy, you opened the door.

You can't run away from your hero. Remember who started the goofy little picture posts. So who shot themself in the foot with the goofy picture of the blue guy?

And remember that the same people who pushed Ryan for election parroted the same moronic crap as the national party kool aid drinkers who say you have to vote for Republicans, NO MATTER WHAT.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

You sure have a thing for imprisoned politicians, especially of the Republican bent. You must be a Libertarian!

Woohoo! Lookee here, boys! We got us a Lib-er-tarian! Yeeeeee-haw!

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Not hardly, you closet freak! LOL! You trolls are all the same.

[Protagoras]

I don't doubt that being a bag boy is your career. It shows in your posts.

Your heros are bag men. Like Scotty Fawell, Georege Ryan's bag man.

[Liberty Valance]

Dang, and I thought Texas politics was rough.

[Protagoras]

You sure have a thing for imprisoned politicians, especially of the Republican bent.

I didn't vote for them, imbeciles like Illinois Republicans did.

BTW, I don't belong to the Libertarian party, but it would be FAR superior than belonging to the ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN/CRIMINAL PARTY.

[freeeee]

Better to focus on how to implement real reforms, instead of goofy stunts. Espouse and put forth genuine proposals for reform, and I'll support them, regardless of which party proposes or supports it.

You needn't look any further than the article for the genuine proposal for reform:

"So either the president should have to get on the ballot as an independent -- as the law approved in 2003 requires -- or the law should be changed for all political parties, Trigg noted."

[CalKat]

Don't you think that candidates should abide by the election laws to get on ballots? Would you be defending John Kerry in this situation?

[Diddle E. Squat]

The LP press release starts out with:

Libertarian Party chair Jeff Trigg is trying to convince state election officials either to uphold the law by keeping Bush off the ballot

Right there, plenty of people are going to tune out, and think "Whatever" or "There goes those goofball Libertarians again" and quit reading. So what has been accomplished? Very little, with most of the audience you need to persuade to achieve your aims already tuned out.

So my post #5, obviously, was mocking such dumb decisions of the LP to once again choose to rant and do something ridiculous, instead of choosing a more practical and effective approach. I'm not usually a LP-basher, but when they(or rather a few of their members) do something incredibly flaky, despite their reputation for goofiness, then I mock them. The odd elements of the LP members bring it all on themselves.

[Protagoras]

Posting the blue guy pic was a flaky stunt, and you deserve to be mocked for it. Physician, heal thyself.

You should apologize, ask the mod to remove your post, and move on. It would give your opinion credibility, even if people didn't agree with it.

Something to ponder.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Whatever. I challenge you to find a single post where I ever supported the corrupt Gov. Ryan. In fact, if you were to search you would find me quite critical of him, advocating his prosecution and the cleanup of the IL GOP. I have said over and over that the greatest threat to the GOP and the best way to help the Democrats is to allow internal corruption within the GOP.

Though I do argue that anyone who sits at home/doesn't vote for Bush and lets the Democrats further institutionalize their corruption at the national level is a fool. GWB is not corrupt, nor is he the cause of the IL corruption.

[Protagoras]

Libertarian Party chair Jeff Trigg is trying to convince state election officials either to uphold the law by keeping Bush off the ballot or to change the law to eliminate the obstacles for all candidates.

Editing things like this off also undermine your credibility.

[Sweet Land]

my post #5, obviously, was mocking such dumb decisions of the LP

No, it was not mocking any decisions, but mocking a Libertarian on a personal level.

[dangus]

O come on, it was a mistake, and a stupid one. But come on.

I think whetever the law is should be upheld, but there is not principle at stake here, just LP jealousy that the Republican Party has the clout to affect the election law.