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Perry's lawyers said a preliminary injunction was necessary since the deadline to print ballots in Virginia will be in two to three weeks.
“In the absence of a preliminary injunction, plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm,” per filing.
The case is Perry v. Judd, 3:11-cv-856, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond.
More power to him. He and Newt got screwed by the northeastern establishment Rinos including the VA Gubner. Oh, and don’t try to tell me that VA is part of the south. It’s not.
Question: Does any one know why Newt isn’t challenging this? Wouldn’t there be strength in numbers?
Why only Perry?
It was the VA GOP who eff’ed up by changing the rules (see below).
Every candidate signs an agreement before the election not to litigate intra-party disputes (no suing your own party).
The VA GOP announced that their Rules Committee would not meet in time to resolve the dispute by the state deadline (Dec 27). So Newt and Perry had no recourse within the party rules.
Perry’s only other option is to sue the state on broader constitutional grounds.
Here’s the timeline.
2008 Primary: The VA GOP (rpv.org) instructs all candidates to get 10000 sigs, with 15000 as a safety margin. This repeats the recommendations of the State Board of Elections. All candidates do submit 10000+ sigs. The VA GOP waives the requirement to verify the signatures and submits them without checking.
May 2011: The VA GOP instructs all candidates to get 10000+ sigs, with 15000 as a safety margin (same as 2008).
July 2011: Candidates are allowed to begin collecting signatures.
October 2011: Some guy named Osborne, who is running in a state election, files a lawsuit protesting that the no-check rule is unfair.
November 2011: In reaction to the lawsuit, the VA GOP decides to change the no-check rule for presidential primaries. They increase it from 10000 sigs to 15000 sigs. They send an electronic notice (e-mail or fax) to all candidates advising of the rule change.
For whatever reason Newt’s campaign didn’t get the notice. The e-mail/fax was never received or misrouted, unclear.
December 2011: The Gingrich campaign announces they have over 10000 sigs (the requirement) and are pushing for 15000 to meet the recommended number (see May above). At this point they believe they have breathing room. Getting 15000 is not essential just a good cushion so they aren’t too worried.
December 21, 2011: The VA GOP publishes an undated letter announcing the rule change.
http://tinyurl.com/8yxgw69
The PDF contains a hidden Microsoft Word creation date of 12/21/2011. This is the first public announcement of the rule change AFAIK.
Newt’s campaign freaks out at the surprise rule change (claims ‘Pearl Harbor’). Now getting 15,000 sigs isn’t nice-to-have but absolutely essential. Newt flies to VA to scramble to get 15,000 sigs.
Newt’s campaign turns in 11,500 sigs, short of the new rule’s 15,000 no-check requirement.
December 23: Because Newt/Perry are below 15,000 sigs the VA GOP runs the sigs through a computer-based address checking system. This has never been done before, not in 2008 nor prior primaries, for any candidate. Enough sigs are rejected to toss Newt and Perry off the ballot. The VA GOP announces this on Twitter.
December 27: The VA GOP turns in the final slate to the State Board of Elections.
The graceful way Perry accepted responsibility compared to the whining tantrum thrown by Gingrich, even promoting an illegal write-in campaign, says a lot about the character of the two men.
Never mind.
Go Perry!
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