Posted on 08/27/2004 10:10:49 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
NEW YORK (AP) A group of independent voters sued John Kerry and the Democratic National Committee Friday, saying they were conspiring to stifle the presidential campaign of independent Ralph Nader and prevent creation of a third political party.
The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan was Lenora B. Fulani, New York Independence Party leader. Other plaintiffs were described as political independents and Nader supporters.
The lawsuit alleged that Republicans and Democrats have used their position of dominance in Congress and state governments to establish an election system that favors continued dominance by the two controlling parties.
The lawsuit charged that leading Democrats including Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe urged Nader not to run earlier this year and then ``embarked on the conspiracy'' when he failed to heed their advice.
A Democratic National Committee spokesman called the lawsuit frivolous and without merit.
``Some state DNC parties are ensuring that Ralph Nader is playing by the rules and verifying that the signatures he needs to get on the ballot are actually valid,'' said spokesman Jano Cabrera.
According to the lawsuit, Kerry, McAuliffe and the DNC conspired to block Nader from the ballot in as many states as possible.
The defendants, it added, orchestrated propaganda campaigns, saying it was important to eliminate Nader as a factor in the race.
As a result, key challenges were made to stop Nader from getting on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the lawsuit said.
In states such as Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Virginia, where there is no formal challenge procedure, the defendants tried to induce state officials to subject the Nader campaign to increased scrutiny, it said.
The effort, the lawsuit alleged, has caused Nader to be denied ballot access in Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas.
And it has put ballot access at risk in Iowa, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and other states, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the conspiracy forced the Nader campaign to spend money on the effort to get on the ballot rather than on publicizing the campaign's message.
In May, Kerry met with Nader and said he did not ask him to quit the race.
``In the end, I hope I can make people aware that a vote for Ralph Nader is a vote for George Bush,'' Kerry said at the time.
Nader at that point said of Kerry, ``He's a gentleman and he understands we all have to do what we have to do, as he put it.''
Nader said he told Kerry during their meeting that he believed he would take more votes away from Bush than from Kerry.
Many Democrats four years ago became convinced that Nader's presence on the ballot, especially in Florida and New Hampshire, cost Democrat Al Gore the presidency.
The plaintiffs sought unspecified financial damages, and an order stopping the Democrats from continuing the alleged conspiracy.
Go Nader Go!!
IMO, the Naderites have a case. Perhaps also do their opponents. If the Nader petitions are legally valid, he should be placed on the ballot. It would be wrong for the determination of validity to extend past the deadline. In this case, justice should permit the candidate to be on the ballot. Hell, if registration fraud were litigated wherever it was charged, no election would ever be certified according to law.
This D mindset is fascinating.
yep. I knew this was coming. the Dems have been playing extremely dirty pool in several states to keep him off the ballot. the fascists . . .
That's certainly true.
But one other thing did come out -- this certainly is a redux of Vietnam, for them.
The core group of Ds are people who think their finest hour, their favorite time of life, was the Viet-nam war-era protests, and they've spent their entire lives waiting for their next chance.
They view this as their chance to shine again.
I'm with the Naderites all the way. Sue them Dems! Every vote for Ralph is a vote for GWB.
I caught Bill Maher's show last night (I'm a glutton for punishment, what can I say). He ended it with a soliloquy exhorting the protestors in NY to "burn the city to the ground with riots, riots like he saw on TV back during the D convention in the 60s. He said, "I want to see the kind of riots that made Whitey move back to the suburbs".
They're
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