Nader and the GOP

[Sayhey]

This news from Michigan.

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Michigan Republicans gather names for Nader.
KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, July 8, 2004
(07-08) 16:51 PDT LANSING, Mich. (AP) --

Michigan Republicans are helping gather signatures to place independent Ralph Nader on the presidential ballot in the battleground state, irritating Democrats who accuse the GOP of trying to pull votes away from candidate John Kerry.

"It's another example of state Republicans willing to try every unethical trick in the book to hold power," Democratic Executive Chairman Mark Brewer said Thursday. "This clearly shows that a vote for Ralph Nader is a vote to re-elect George Bush. The Republicans know that, and that's why they are desperate to have Nader on the Michigan ballot."

Greg McNeilly of the state Republican Party said the GOP is doing nothing wrong and hopes Nader will draw votes from the Democratic candidate. Republicans will make sure Nader has more than the 30,000 valid signatures he needs by July 15 to qualify for the Michigan ballot, McNeilly said.

"Unlike the Democratic Party, where 'D' stands for disenfranchisement, we want voters to have choices," he said.

Brewer sent a letter to Nader on Thursday asking that he refuse the GOP's assistance and any petition signatures collected by the Republican Party, its staff or volunteers....

It is time for Nader to disavow these efforts on the part of the Republican Party. I don't see them gathering signatures to enfranchise numerous right-wing parties that would draw voters from the GOP. The tactics are transparent and if Nader hopes to have any credibility with progressives he needs to condemn them in no uncertain terms. It is sad to see someone I've respected most of my life being used this way.

[Chip NoVaMac]

Are they still at this crap? The Republicans seem hell bent on winning at any cost. Even it it is with questionable practices.

[Sayhey]

Here is that latest on the story. Ralph really needs to get a better grip on the reality of how he is being used.

Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe and former presidential candidate Howard Dean called for Ralph Nader to return donations from key Republican boosters -- but the independent presidential candidate insisted Friday he would not give in to what he called a Democratic "smear'' effort.

Nader, in what has become a public disagreement with his vice presidential candidate, Peter Camejo, strongly denied the recent windfall of donations from deep-pocketed Republicans was part of a GOP effort to wound Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Nader, at a debate with Dean at the National Press Club in Washington, called for the end of "the commercial interests ... that have turned Washington into corporate-occupied territory,'' but he said he had no intention of returning the checks from Republican contributors.

The increased pressure for Nader to support Camejo's position and renounce a spate of recent donations from wealthy backers of President Bush came after The Chronicle reported Friday that 1 in 10 of Nader's biggest contributors as of May 31 also were major donors to the president's re- election campaign and the Republican Party.

Camejo, in an interview with The Chronicle on Thursday, said he would advise Nader to give back the checks if the aim of the wealthy GOP donors was to peel votes from Kerry....

SF Chronicle (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/10/MNG9J7JMDK1.DTL)

[Voltron]

This news from Michigan.



It is time for Nader to disavow these efforts on the part of the Republican Party. I don't see them gathering signatures to enfranchise numerous right-wing parties that would draw voters from the GOP. The tactics are transparent and if Nader hopes to have any credibility with progressives he needs to condemn them in no uncertain terms. It is sad to see someone I've respected most of my life being used this way.
How about the dispicable tricks the democrats are using as in the lawsuits Nadar has stated they keep bringing against him to prevent him from running in various states?

[Voltron]

uhoh let me guess somebody is going to dare me to provide links right?
well :p

WASHINGTON -- Democrats attempted to put a roadblock in front of independent candidate Ralph Nader's efforts to gain access to the presidential ballot in Arizona, with the filing of a lawsuit by two Arizona citizens challenging the validity of the petitions submitted by Nader's campaign.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2644292

[Chip NoVaMac]

uhoh let me guess somebody is going to dare me to provide links right?
well :p

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2644292

Thanks for the link. The biggest issue I have is the State Democratic Party providing office space for the effort.

[blackfox]

I have problems with both parties on this one...they are obviously acting in their self-interests. I blame the Democrats slightly less, as they are on the defensive, but find their behavior reprehensible regardless...

Which comes back to the point of Nader himself, who should rise above this mess and condemn and distance himself from this behavior.

Perhaps he sees it as a vindication of his impressions of the imperfections of the two major parties and hopes it will resonate in the minds of the voters...but he seems oblivious to the ironys this all casts upon his own candicacy and campaign...

Pretty sad all the way around...

[Sayhey]

I have problems with both parties on this one...they are obviously acting in their self-interests. I blame the Democrats slightly less, as they are on the defensive, but find their behavior reprehensible regardless...

Which comes back to the point of Nader himself, who should rise above this mess and condemn and distance himself from this behavior.

Perhaps he sees it as a vindication of his impressions of the imperfections of the two major parties and hopes it will resonate in the minds of the voters...but he seems oblivious to the ironys this all casts upon his own candicacy and campaign...

Pretty sad all the way around...

I agree. The Democrats should expose the GOP connections and stay out of the courts. What they have to do is win people who would vote for Nader not prevent them from having a chance to vote for him. Although, having been in many petition campaigns, it is a given that the other side will check the validity of your signatures. It doesn't do much good to yell foul if your petitions are full of fraudulent signatures.

Nader just wants his platform and it now clear he doesn't care how he gets it. I thought better of Ralph.

The Republicans are using cynical tactics that will backfire once they are exposed. The quickest way to eliminate Nader as a threat to Kerry's election is for the GOP to continue on this way.

[Desertrat]

I've watched the ever-increasing partisanship of the two major parties for over forty years now: More with disgust than dismay. Worse, I guess, is that there are no alternative candidates who appeal to me.

Helluva note when the best ideas of Kerry, Nader, Bush and The Lib all add up to a second-rate dog-catcher...

'Rat

[Neserk]

"Politics makes strange bedfellows" is the approrpirate saying. Both parties are at fault. All 3 if you include Nader as a Party.

[Sayhey]

"Politics makes strange bedfellows" is the approrpirate saying. Both parties are at fault. All 3 if you include Nader as a Party.

The difference is what the Democrats are doing isn't sleazy. They are operating in a well worn path of challenging their opponents to follow the letter of the law. It maybe stupid and counterproductive, but it isn't sleazy.

Funding a third party candidate to take votes away from your opponent is well over the line of sleaze. It uses a trojan horse candidacy to, in effect, lie to the voters and fool them into casting votes that are the opposite of what they want.

[Desertrat]

"The difference is what the Democrats are doing isn't sleazy."

"And such a refreshing change it is!" said the guy from the land of Landslide Lyndon...

:D, 'Rat

[Sayhey]

"The difference is what the Democrats are doing isn't sleazy."

"And such a refreshing change it is!" said the guy from the land of Landslide Lyndon...

:D, 'Rat

'Rat, now I didn't say that Democrats hadn't ever done something sleazy. We both can come up with plenty of examples of that. My assertion was that in this case, specifically forcing the Nader campaign to show that the challenged signatures are not false isn't sleazy. I still think it is stupid to take them to court because it allows Nader to place himself as a victim of a Democratic campaign to keep him off the ballot. The campaign exists; victim he's not.

[Sayhey]

The latest from Michigan:

LANSING, Michigan (AP) -- In an about face, Ralph Nader decided Monday to accept thousands of petition signatures collected by Michigan Republicans if that is the only way he can qualify for the state's presidential ballot.

Last Thursday, Michigan Republican Party officials submitted 43,000 signatures -- far more than the 30,000 needed -- to ensure Nader could appear on the ballot as an independent.

Republicans began collecting signatures after it appeared that Nader might not get on the ballot as the Reform Party's candidate for president.

Nader's campaign had turned in about 5,400 signatures. But spokesman Kevin Zeese said it stopped collecting them a month ago after the national Reform Party endorsed Nader and it looked as though he could get on the ballot as its candidate.

But there has been a growing dispute over who controls the Reform Party in Michigan.

One group claiming to be the legitimate Reform Party of Michigan plans to nominate a presidential candidate for the ballot at its state convention Saturday.

Chairman Matthew Crehan, of Muskegon, Michigan, has said there is no guarantee Nader will get that nomination.

A group headed by John Muntz, of Wyandotte, Michigan, which also claims to be the legitimate state Reform Party, already has nominated Nader for the spot on the state ballot.

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land has said she can't accept that nomination until the dispute over who controls the state Reform Party is resolved.

Zeese said the goal is to get Nader on Michigan's ballot -- however it happens

CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/20/nader.signatures.ap/index.html)

[Sayhey]

And thanks to jello, the latest from Illinois:

"We've already identified no less than 10 Democrat state employees working on this challenge, most coming directly from Speaker Michael Madigan's staff," states Christina Tobin, a local coordinator for the Nader for President campaign. "I've requested the relevant payroll records to verify these state employees are not on the clock, but Madigan's staff is acting like they've got something to hide. If that isn't enough, Madigan is sending over his 16 year old interns that have no business being put into the middle of this legal process."

"In light of all this information," Tobin concludes, "we call on Mike Madigan to explain why state employees worked on the objections to Mr. Nader's petitions, and if these employees were on taxpayers' dollars while impeding democracy."

Nader/Camejo (http://www.votenader.com/media_press/index.php?cid=119)

If this is true, it not only qualifies as Democratic sleaze, but it means the Speaker may well be in trouble in a state that is solidly in Kerry's camp.

[mischief]

I wonder whether it could be argued that because there is no clear chain of command for the Reform party in Michigan that the Republican Party is looking to put two de-facto candidates on the ballot. It would be interesting to see what court rulings came out of such an accusation. It may be more effective than the current round of lawsuits.