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.

[MarkeyD]

As if GW stood a chance in Illinois anyway.

[RonF]

I am an Illinois resident. I have no brief for the LP. But I happen to agree with this man's statement. I don't see why the law should be changed just to accomodate the Reflublican party's arrogant stance ("We'll have our convention whenever we please, you should change your election laws to accomodate us!").

[Protagoras]

Republicans don't believe in one law for all it seems. Let the attacks and the name calling begin.

Whackos, anarchists, dope fiends, utopians, .003 percenters, blah, blah, blah.

I must have missed a few, but the haters will soon be here to fill in the blanks. They do a "libertarian" word search every few minutes so it shouldn't be long.

[Diddle E. Squat]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/763869/posts

Papa Smurf Runs For Senate

Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Stan Jones, speaks Sept. 23 during a debate at the Great Falls Civic Center in Great Falls, Mont. Jones has a distinct blue-gray skin color, the result of taking too much of an anti-bacterial form of pure silver. (CBS)

GREAT FALLS, Montana — Montana's Libertarian candidate for Senate has turned blue from drinking a silver solution that he believed would protect him from disease.

Stan Jones, a 63-year-old business consultant and part-time college instructor, said he started taking colloidal silver in 1999 for fear that Y2K disruptions might lead to a shortage of antibiotics.

He made his own concoction by electrically charging a couple of silver wires in a glass of water.

His skin began turning blue-gray a year ago.

"People ask me if it's permanent and if I'm dead," he said. "I tell them I'm practicing for Halloween."

He does not take the supplement any longer, but the skin condition, called argyria, is permanent. The condition is generally not serious.

Colloidal silver dietary supplements are marketed widely as an anti-bacterial agent or immune-system booster, but some consider it quackery.

Jones is one of three candidates seeking to unseat the Democratic Sen. Max Baucus in November. (AP)

[Cyber Liberty]

And it is wondered why third-party candidates can't be taken seriously.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

You two need to get a room. And make it far from here, would you?

[dts32041]

As an independent conservative, the daley mob will allow the current occupant of the white house name be placed on the ballot, if the fitzgerald investigation against members of the daley mob are dropped.

[looscnnn]

"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."

How about everyone needing the same number of signatures?

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Blue Boy with Blue Dog

I thought this was from TheOnion, or the like. I can't believe this! LOL! What a maroon!

[coloradan]

Boy, posting that article sures answers questions like whether Republicans are equal under the law with Libertarians, or have to follow the law as written at all.

[Diddle E. Squat]

bark bark bark
bark bark
bark bark bark bark bark bark
bark bark
bark bark bark bark...

[justshutupandtakeit]

Though they said it would never happen, I agree with you and the Libertarian guy on this one.

[Sweet Land]

Let the attacks and the name calling begin. [...] the haters will soon be here

Diddle E. Squat, Cyber Liberty, and O.C. - Old Cracker have lived down to your prediction.

[Protagoras]

Here's your guy.

I'll take the blue guy in that contest.

[Protagoras]

It's not my thread genius.

Maybe you can get a room with George Ryan. He will be in prison soon, maybe you want to be his cellmate/husband.

[Protagoras]

Though they said it would never happen, I agree with you and the Libertarian guy on this one.

Hey, there is life after debate!

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Attacks from the Left are like music to my ears. (Old Cracker takes a bow and exits, stage Right.)

[Diddle E. Squat]

Wrong, my guy is President Bush, not corrupt IL GOP 'leaders'.

You see, I think you Libertarians have a good point about this unequal ballot treatment and the disgusting corruption in the IL Republican Party(and IL politics in general). The quickest way to for the GOP to lose is self-inflicted internal corruption.

But trying to keep President Bush off the ballot is so ludicrous and over-the-top that it completely undermines your message and makes you guys look like fools. Yeah, I know it is a publicity stunt to draw attention to the problem, but it is ridiculous, counter productive, and so gimmicky as to be easily dismissed. 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. Shoot yourself in the foot with silly stunts, and I'll mock it.

[meema]

and that's the truth!

Never let it be said that our IL polls {of both persausions} would not stoop to anything to stop fitzgerald investigations! 'Leave our sweet daly mobs alone'

Disgusting.