Posted on 01/17/2012 3:31:51 PM PST by Quicksilver
A federal appeals court in Virginia today denied an emergency request by Republican presidential hopefuls Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich to be placed on the ballot for the Virginia primary.
After failing to get the required 10,000 signatures necessary to be placed on the ballot, the two candidates argued that Virginias strict ballot law was unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed with a lower court and ruled today that the candidates had waited too long to file their suit.
The court ruled unanimously that Perry and the other candidates had every opportunity to challenge the various Virginia ballot requirements at a time when the challenge would not have created the disruption that this last-minute lawsuit has.
The court said that if it had ruled in favor of Perry, then it would encourage other candidates for president who knew the requirements and failed to satisfy them to seek at a tardy and belated hour to change the rules of the game.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
You are beginning to sound like an unreconstructed Souvrn'r or somebody who wants to embarrass the South.
The only issue of importance here is my right to chose from among the most notable Republican candidates if I so wish.
That's been denied. There are people who played tricks to reach this end. One of them is the Lt. Governor of Virginia.
And then there are the dead people ~ we'll never get to hear what they said about the signature verification processes they participated in.
What rules were changed and were the rules changed to specifically deny certain candidates due process?
What government official or agency changed these rules?
Newt didn’t plan for Virginia, therefore he planned to fail. If one actually started calling in for signatures 1 to 3 months before the deadline, that person could have made it, even if it was Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich’s failure says a lot about him. Seriously, a man who was once a speaker of the house now can’t bother actually planning his own campaign trail as well as a RINO can? What’s this all coming too? Are the GOP all a bunch of Romney supporters, or are they really this pathetic at organizing themselves? Gingrich should have quit and endorsed Santorum, but now the Putz practically handed the primaries over to Romney, who will have no problem saying, “Hey, Gingrich is all talk, remember how he couldn’t prepare himself for the Virginia ballot, and I won by default?” Even worse if you can imagine Romney’s voice saying these exact words.
Newt didn’t plan for Virginia, therefore he planned to fail. If one actually started calling in for signatures 1 to 3 months before the deadline, that person could have made it, even if it was Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich’s failure says a lot about him. Seriously, a man who was once a speaker of the house now can’t bother actually planning his own campaign trail as well as a RINO can? What’s this all coming too? Are the GOP all a bunch of Romney supporters, or are they really this pathetic at organizing themselves? Gingrich should have quit and endorsed Santorum, but now the Putz practically handed the primaries over to Romney, who will have no problem saying, “Hey, Gingrich is all talk, remember how he couldn’t prepare himself for the Virginia ballot, and I won by default?” Even worse if you can imagine Romney’s voice saying these exact words.
How is this a 14th Amendment case?
“The only issue of importance here is my right to chose from among the most notable Republican candidates if I so wish.”
You have no right under the Constitution to vote in a Republican Primary.
The officials waited until Romney submitted his petitions before they set the numeric standard for exemption. It was just below the number Romney's people submitted.
WOW!
That's the kind of koinkydink that will, of course, ultimately send somebody to prison.
The state law standard was 10,000 signatures. The practice was no validation.
The new rule, the 15,000 signature exception, was established AFTER the process of collecting signatures.
The consequence is this, the Republican party said it's running a primary. Instead they are running nominating petition contests.
If they want to do that there's a law already there for it, or for a caucus. We, the voters can deal with the party geeks on that basis if they want but they should announce the way we are going to select candidates, not play tricky dicky wicky when it's too late. Now they've expanded the primary internal nomination process to the point where it can be unfairly manipulated to destroy the primary just as if the only thing that counts in this state anymore are the choices of random people stopped in parking lots.
That's what we had back in the bad old days when the Byrd Machine ruled Virginia politics with an iron hand.
It's so undemocratic it has become UNAMERICAN! It's advocates should be tarred, feathered, and ridden out of the state on a rail.
End of discussion. If you don't understand the federal republic there's no sense trying to talk with you about the issue.
In any case, theft, murder and conversion are ALL against even Virginia law whether or not you believe that.
ICBW, but I think Romney is the only one that made it without an actual verification because he had >= 15,000 signatures. Paul had just under the magic number, but had enough qualifying signatures by verification.
They stand separate and apart from systems used elsewhere in this country. Whereas it should be relatively easy for Virginia (given its location) to attract major candidates to campaign here in Presidential primaries, we are actually just a dog hole. There's no reason for anyone to come here ~ not even state residents running for President.
Given the way this was worked there's no reason whatsoever to believe that Romney had enough signatures to qualify.
We could chose at caucuses ~ we could use petitions like we did back when there really was only a very small Republican party.
This system mixes things up and opens the doors for widespread fraud by elementally DISHONEST people ~ e.g. the Mittbots.
For all anybody knows those names were shipped in from Temple Work around the Beltway in Maryland.
I disagree with the ruling. In my view there were two key issues here; (1) the rules that basically allowed any candidate who previously ran to avoid a count and which were clearly designed to favor mitt romney and which were prejudicial to candidates who did not run in 2008 and (2) the change in procedure issued just before petitions were due to verify the signatures.
That said, I didn’t expect the courts to rule in favor. Just not the way the courts work here.
Oh, and Rick Perry made a big mistake in picking the Federal courts vice the Virginia courts to file suit.
This should have never landed in federal court. This is purely a state issue. The Commonweath of Virgina should have fixed this problem on their own, and if the Feds stepped in, it would be grounds for war. Personally, I want to see all candidates on the ballot. If VA can’t meet the needs of its own citizens then they certainly don’t deserve my tax dollars from PA to fix their problems. They can live or die without a full vioice if they choose.
“Virginia has the toughest rules for petitions for getting on a primary ballot.”
Is it a violation of the Constitution to have “the toughest rules for petitions for getting on a primary ballot?”
And could you please direct me to the place in the Constitution that states that no state may have the “the toughest rules” in the nation?
“This should have never landed in federal court. This is purely a state issue. The Commonweath of Virgina should have fixed this problem on their own, and if the Feds stepped in, it would be grounds for war.”
Spot on.
Interestingly, the other day I was in a bookstore and I saw a book called “Fed Up!” by some guy named Rick Perry.
Anyway, this Perry fellow wrote an entire book about the 10th Amendment and States’ Rights and how he really hates it when agitators from other states file frivolous lawsuits in Federal Court in hopes that an Activist Federal Judge will step in and overturn laws passed within a state.
I hear this Perry guy really respects the 10th Amendment.
Mark
All persons but those wanting to vote for Romney or Paul should stay home make the vote meaningless as to voter representation. I would think it fair enough for the others to ask their supporters to boycott the primary.
Actually I can state that he observed the standards. It’s not really his fault that the party changed it’s procedures half way through.
I share your dismay at what took place. I think the party leadership in Virginia really blew it. I just don’t see it as some sort of plot to prevent others from appearing on the ballot.
Evidently there was some litigation and they thought they needed to avoid doing something that would lead to more.
I don’t like Romney. I don’t like Paul. I don’t like the Republican leadership. I don’t think the leadership of the Republicans in Virginia have two brain cells to rub together between them, but I don’t see this as a plot to rig the primary.
That doesn’t mean that I’m right. I do not see the primary in Virginia being the grounds for other candidates not winning the nomination.
I do think you’ve got a valid reason to be upset about what took place, but I think you’re reading too much into it.
Who is your candidate?
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