"Damn that alternate media! I had Bob, Bill and the Republican Party of Virginia all set to get things fixed for me! I HATE FreeRepublic! I HATE them!"
Posted on 12/26/2011 8:40:42 AM PST by TBBT
Richard Winger over at Ballot Access News has an EXTREMELY interesting post (link via here) on the mess that the Virginia Republican party has found itself in over… access to the ballot in Virginia. For those coming in late, background here and here: the very short version is that the VA GOP only certified Mitt Romney and Ron Paul for its primary ballot. Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich both had too many signatures tossed; Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, and Michele Bachmann didn’t even try. Of the seven candidates, one (Romney) had more than enough signatures (15K) to bypass the verification process entirely. All of this has caused a lot of agitation among Republicans following the primary process, of course; and not just from people who disapprove of what the VA GOP has done. There has been a good deal of defending of the outcome; and one argument heavily used in this defense has been that the campaigns all knew the rules and that previous Republican campaigns were able to get on the ballot, so clearly a competent current Republican campaign should have done so.
One small problem with that: as Winger argues, the rules were allegedly drastically changed. In November of this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
And where did you come up with that fairy tale that signatures were never verified until this year? There has been lots of misinformation tossed out as fact. In the coming days, you will get the real facts as to what happened. Stay tuned.
Great post...
“Prior to this new standard, all you needed was 10,000 signatures. Newt, Perry, Paul, and Romney all met that standard.”
AND more then enough signatures needed to meet that previous standard.
Translation: Mitt and his pals in the Republican Establishment will be doing some incredible damage-control. Expect to see more focus-group tested spin this week!
The described events have Repubic Establishment stink all over them.
Nice ‘red star’ there, Mitt...
Anyone know if Mark Levin will be back on tonight? He’s a Virginian too. Would be interesting to get his take on the events of the last few days.
So, he's a Mitbot.
Hmm.
He'd be better off living in Hell than coming around here anymore.
Do you know the date on the letter from Chairman Pat Mullins?
You get Mitbots doing your dirty work you end up with "The Clintons" making sure Betty Curry gave the right testimony.
Could well be Eric Holder out there helping Mitt get the nomination.
These Democrats will do anything.
Do you have any links? Would like to read it.
Newt's campaign responded to the decision that he was not on the ballot by talking about a write in campaign, which is expressly prohibited in primaries by VA law. It made him look even sillier. Perhaps Newt didn't think he would be in the position he is in now when the candidates were notified about the requirments in March or when he announced that he would run for the nomination in May. July was the month that the petitions could be started. Newt had almost 6 months to gather 10,000 valid signatures with at least 400 coming from VA's 11 Congressional districts. This is not a high bar to meet for someone who has the political contacts as the former Speaker in a state where he has lived for 10 years. Casting blame on others and decrying the rules just doesn't cut it.
I don't like the fact that we will have just two Rep candidates on the ballot in the March. I wish all of the current ones were on it. I am particularly disappointed that Santorum and Bachmann didn't even bother to try.
the rules were allegedly drastically changed. In November of this year.Yes, Good point, This Virginia situation is a HUGE mess. There are MANY problems with what the RPV has done. In the case of Osborne v. Boyles, on October 24th independent state delegate candidate Michael Osborne filed suit ... So, YES, the recent change was likely based on that. But in addition to that flaw, Osborne was running for a STATE office, not a Presidential Primary. http://www.varight.com/news/virginia-may-have-improperly-excluded-signatures-from-perry-gingrich-a-recount-may-be-needed/ Virginia law REQUIRES an address on petitions for state offices: § 24.2-506 ...signed by the number of qualified voters specified below after January 1 of the year in which the election is held and listing the residence address of each such voter. Virginia law does NOT require an address on petitions for Presidential Primaries: § 24.2-545 This law regulating primary signatures is clearly separate. § 24.2-545 specifically does NOT require addresses, nor the signatures to be taken after January 1st. B. Any person seeking the nomination of the national political party for the office of President of the United States, or any group organized in this Commonwealth on behalf of, and with the consent of such person, may file with the State Board petitions signed by at least 10,000 qualified voters, including at least 400 qualified voters from each congressional district in the Commonwealth, who attest that they intend to participate in the primary of the same political party as the candidate for whom the petitions are filed. Such petitions shall be filed with the State Board by the primary filing deadline. The petitions shall be on a form prescribed by the State Board and shall be sealed in one or more containers to which is attached a written statement giving the name of the presidential candidate and the number of signatures on the petitions contained in the containers. Such person or group shall also attach a list of the names of persons who would be elected delegates and alternate delegates to the political party’s national convention if the person wins the primary and the party has determined that its delegates will be selected pursuant to the primary. The slate of delegates and alternates shall comply with the rules of the national and state party.It is reasonable for some voters to understand that Virginia law has NEVER required the address on those primary petitions. It is optional, just like the SSN on the presidential petition form is also optional. I believe there is also a recent Virginia court precedent where a petition gatherer was slightly in error on something, and the judge ruled that the voter should not be disenfranchised. The voter's intent to sign the petition outweighed the slight technical difficulty. |
And the fish is certainly Massa2shits cod.
Anyone thinking Mr. Nice smilely Mitt is not a dirty politician has a big surprise in store.
>>Perhaps Newt didn’t think he would be in the position he is in now when the candidates were notified about the requirments in March or when he announced that he would run for the nomination in May...
I think that is the real crux of it...I don’t think Newt thought for a second he would be in this position (near the lead) at this point, so it(the VA requirements) really wasn’t a concern. Did anyone else, 6 months ago, believe it either?
The PDF file contains a hidden Microsoft Word 2010 creation date of 12/21/2011.
More info for you,
But what has not been reported is that in the only other presidential primaries in which Virginia required 10,000 signatures (2000, 2004, and 2008) the signatures were not checked.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2825195/posts
The party sets some standards ~ the Democrats don’t validate anything and don’t care to ~ even if it could be done who among them would trust the others anyway?
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