PETITION WARS

One front in the Great Petition War of '07 has closed. The attempt by Smith/Ashley/Premo to gain access to the Conservative and Independence lines is finished. Instead of relying upon the sometimes suspect interpretation of others, we thought we'd post the relevant part of the decision by Judge Richard M. Platkin, a Court of Claims judge and the fact-finder in these cases. The following are pages 9-15 of the decision in Wos v Ashworth. Sorry for the small print. Read More...

The decision in Rich v Bloodgood (Independence line) was substantially similar, touching most, if not all of the same legal points.

Charles C.B. Smith admitted to being the unofficial coordinator of these efforts. Unfortunately, for Premo, the fact that he (Premo), a candidate, was involved in the actually petition drive, cost him the Conservative line. Under the law, if Premo had not been actively involved in gathering signatures, he would have had enough signatures to primary for the Conservative line. Because of Premo's active involvement, all signatures were thrown out, even the good ones.

This was an ill-conceived and ill-executed effort. The basic premise was fine. There's nothing wrong with trying to hamper party bosses in their effort to run one slate of candidates. Voters deserve a choice. However, Premo should have not taken part in the petition signing process and, indeed, should have had a seperate petition from the other 'candidates.'

It's our prediction that Premo will secure the Democrat line at the upcoming caucus.

There's also news on the GOP front in the NG Petition Wars but this post is long enough. More on that later.

No word yet on the Free-Soil Party petitions, although Buchanan probably has enough valid signatures.