PRESS RELEASE from Libertarian Party
October 10, 2012

For Immediate Release

Contact: Media Coordinator, Molly Schwoppe 

Republican President candidate Mitt Romney has likely lost his last hope for a victory in the electoral-rich state of Pennsylvania.

Commonwealth Court Senior Judge James G. Colins ruled late today that the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania has filed nominating petitions containing more than the required 20,601 valid signatures and that the entire slate of statewide Libertarian candidates will remain on the November 6 general election ballot, including Libertarians two-term Governor Gary Johnson for President and Judge Jim Gray for Vice President. 

The ruling was a stinging defeat for Republicans who waged a grueling and expensive 9-week battle to force their Libertarian Party competition off the November ballot.

Governor Johnson said, “It is a travesty of the democratic process that Libertarians were required to endure such a drawn-out, expensive and unnecessary attack on their right to be on the ballot. Voters in every state deserve real choices in this election, and it is clear that the Republican Party, not only in Pennsylvania, but in key states across the country, will go to any lengths to keep liberty, nonintervention and smaller government off the ballot.”

With little money and an army of dedicated volunteers, the LP stood up to the superior resources of the Republican Party, never once considering capitulation, even though faced with the possibility of a significant assessment of costs, sanctions and attorneys fees that may be assessed on the losing party.

Statewide Libertarian candidates were required to file nominating petitions containing at least 20,601 signatures, far more than most states require and many times the number that the old party candidates must file. On August 1, Libertarians filed petitions containing over 49,000 signatures, more than twice the number needed.

Libertarians were required to field teams of at least 20 people each day for two weeks in Philadelphia. Each was paired with a Republican and a computer operator in order to tediously review challenged signatures. A similar operation was conducted in Harrisburg the following week. After this effort, approximately 14,000 signatures remained contested. For the next four weeks, four teams of lawyers and volunteers meticulously re-reviewed the contested signatures under court supervision.

The herculean effort to defend against the challenge was supported by more than 85 very dedicated volunteers hailing from seven states. Roy Minet, who coordinated the massive, marathon volunteer effort, stated, “Our volunteers are truly noble. We appreciate that we even had a few Green Party volunteers.”  Surprisingly, the Greens were not challenged this time around. “Some Republicans, who said they couldn’t ‘stomach’ what their party was trying to do, helped us as well,” Minet added.

The Libertarian Party is the party of small government with over a quarter million registered Libertarians.

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PRESS RELEASE from Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania

For Immediate Release
October 12, 2012
Harrisburg, PA


The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that each nominating petition signature line does not have to include the year as part of the date in order to be considered valid when “Revised January, 2012” is printed at the bottom of each form. An August Commonwealth Court ruling sided with Republicans, disqualifying 1,459 signatures on Libertarian petitions where the year was missing. By reversing the lower court, the Supreme Court struck a blow for common sense and increased the safety margin by which Libertarians exceeded the 20,601 signatures needed to get on the November ballot.

Libertarian presidential candidate and former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson, was added to the ballot on August 1, along with the entire slate of Libertarian Party candidates. Apparently fearing that Johnson would draw more Republican than Democrat votes, Republicans challenged the Libertarians, claiming that many of their signatures were invalid. Libertarians were dragged through a grueling and costly 9-week signature verification process that culminated Wednesday when Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Colins ruled that Libertarians had more than enough signatures and could remain on the ballot regardless of how the Supreme Court ruled on two appealed issues.

The following Libertarian candidates will remain ON the November 6 ballot:

• President	Governor Gary Johnson
• Vice President	Judge James Gray
• U.S. Senate	Rayburn Douglas Smith
• PA Attorney General	Marakay J. Rogers
• PA Auditor General	Betsy Summers
• PA Treasurer	Patricia M. Fryman

“The Supreme Court’s ruling is significant because it increases the valid signature total to the point where any Republican appeal of Judge Colins’ decision would appear to be doomed,” Libertarian attorney Paul A. Rossi said this morning. Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling, when combined with another Commonwealth Court decision in Libertarians’ favor that the Supreme Court allowed to stand, means that the valid signature total is now 24,252 versus 20,601 required.

John Karr, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania Elections Committee, observed, “The entire process was heavily biased in favor of the Republicans. We beat them at their own game. Their attorneys are whining that they didn’t have enough time. Nine weeks is not enough time? Voters desperately need meaningful choices on the ballot. If Republicans fear healthy competition, they should nominate better candidates instead of attempting to deny voters those choices.”

The Libertarian Party is the party of principle. That principle is simply, “Live and let live.” With over a quarter million Americans registered Libertarian, it is the largest and best alternative for those who want smaller government and more freedom. Visit www.LP.org and www.LPPA.org for more information.

For additional information:
Contact: Roy Minet (Media Relations Committee Chair) at Media-Relations@LPPA.org or
Dr. Tom Stevens (LPPA Chair) at 1-718-357-7075 / Chair@LPPA.org
 

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PRESS RELEASE from Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania

For Immediate Release
October 8, 2012
Philadelphia, PA

More than a half dozen contractors paid by Libertarians to gather nominating petition signatures have independently reported that a private investigator hired by Republicans offered them substantial sums of money to testify in court that they had obtained signatures fraudulently. This appears to have been part of the attempt by Republicans to disqualify thousands of signatures in a court hearing, thus forcing Governor Gary Johnson, Libertarian candidate for President, and the other statewide Libertarian candidates off the November ballot. However, following an entire day of testimony, the judge disqualified very few petitions on various technicalities, but ruled that signatures had not been obtained fraudulently and that the vast majority could be counted.

Today, Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania Chair, Dr. Tom Stevens, joined the Gary Johnson campaign in urging the Philadelphia District Attorney to conduct a thorough investigation. “This reeks of Watergate-style illegal tricks,” said Stevens. “The allegations tend to gain credibility when so many non-Libertarian Party circulators come forward, reluctantly, with substantially the same accusation. There is a whole lot of smoke here, and we suspect there may also be a fire,” he continued.

Statewide Libertarian candidates were required to file nominating petitions containing at least 20,601 signatures, far more than most states require and many times the number the old parties must file. In past years, the requirement has been as high as 60,000. On August 1, Libertarians filed petitions containing over 49,000 signatures, more than twice the number needed. A week later, Republicans challenged about 40,000 of these.

The challenge has required Libertarians to defend their petition signatures in a 9-week battle against everything the Republicans and their high-priced gang of lawyers could throw at them. Yesterday, Libertarian attorney Paul A. Rossi announced that, as of the end of business Saturday, more than the required number of signatures had been verified as valid. Barring anything unexpected, the entire Libertarian slate of candidates should remain on the ballot. Additional valid signatures should be verified as the process continues through Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. A final ruling from Commonwealth Court Senior Judge James G. Colins is expected then.

The Libertarian Party is the party of principle. That principle is simply, “Live and let live.” With over a quarter million Americans registered Libertarian, it is the largest and best alternative for those who want small and limited government. Visit www.LP.org and www.LPPA.org for more information.

For additional information:
Contact: Roy Minet (Media Relations) at Media-Relations@LPPA.org or
Dr. Tom Stevens (Chair) at 1-718-357-7075 / Chair@LPPA.org

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Ed. Note.  Roy Minet also provided this postscript in a March 4, 2013 email:

The Republicans lined up a few garden-variety Republican voters who would have standing to file the suit, no doubt with the promise that the Rs would pay all costs and indemnify them against possible law suits.  I no longer have and don't recall their names at this point and don't believe that's particularly important as the whole thing was instigated, orchestrated, managed and paid for by the Republican organization(s)... 

Of course, the Rs expected the LPPA to fold in two or three days, just as the Constitution Party was bullied into doing.  We did not and eventually prevailed, winning a few good legal precedents in court along the way.  We believe the Rs incurred costs in the neighborhood of $500,000 and we have now filed suit to recover $214,000 of our costs.  See http://www.ydr.com/state/ci_22305779/libertarians-seek-recover-214-000-costs

The challenge proceedings were very closely supervised by The Commonwealth Court...  We were pretty completely absorbed by defending against the challenge and didn't worry about much other than succeeding at doing that.

Article I, Section 5, of the PA Constitution specifies that all "elections shall be free and equal."  PA ballot access law pretty clearly does not satisfy that requirement.  We are attempting to remedy that through the courts and PA State Senator Mike Folmer has introduced the Voters' Choice Act that would eliminate the artificial barriers erected by the Rs and Ds to eleminate their competition and reduce voter choice.  There is a PA Ballot Access Coalition working on this as well.  www.paballotaccess.org/

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from the Constitution Party of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Ballot Access

                On August the 8th, 2012,  Committee members of the Republican Party, in an effort to control and limit your choice at the voting booth this November; filed a challenge in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court against the Constitution Party of Pennsylvania.

                The Constitution Party, in order to overcome the unequal Ballot Access Rules which have been imposed by the two dominant political parties, collected over 35,000 signatures to allow our party and its candidates to be listed on the Ballot in November. What qualifies this as unequal is the fact that the Republicans and the Democrats are only required to obtain 2,000 signatures each, whereas the Constitution Party was required to obtain 20,601 signatures.

                Aware that the Republicans would challenge the validity of these signatures, The Constitution Party of Pennsylvania filed 35,269 signatures with the Department of State Elections Bureau. After their review we were still left with 32,612 as signatures. We believed this would be more than sufficient to withstand any challenge. After this great expense in time, treasure and sweat, it now appears that it was all  for nothing.

                It seems that the party which declares that it is for free markets is unable to uphold such principles when it comes to the political marketplace. How can they justify violating their free market principles? How can they justify shutting down their competition by making such unfair and unequal ballot access requirements in the first place? It can only be justified if they are willing to follow the Machiavellian principle of "the end justifies the means". They appear unconcerned when it comes to depriving you the liberty of voting your conscience for a candidate which most closely approximates your core values and beliefs.

                Article 1, section 5 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania declares that "Elections shall be free and equal; and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage." Has the erection of these ballot access rules by Pennsylvania's Civil Authority interfered with our right to suffrage? 

                These rules which were developed and passed by the two-party duopoly have only served to strengthen the monopoly fostered on us by the two dominant parties. We the people of Pennsylvania receive no benefit from these rules. On the other hand; we get to suffer the loss of more of our liberty as we are forced to choose between the two dominant party candidates. So much for land of the free and home of the brave…..Instead we have become land of the deceived and home of the slave!

                  The Constitution Party, being true to its namesake, seeks a restoration of our constitutionally limited government…..yes, the one “We the People” authorized in the first place.                              

                 This monster; often mistakenly referred to as “our government”, has incrementally usurped the powers which lawfully belonged to the States and to the People respectively. As many of our fellow Americans lived their lives and worked their jobs, they were totally unaware of these unlawful acts committed by our elected leaders. Over the years our chains have been quietly forged and deceitfully slipped over our hands and our feet.

                If the Republican leadership truly believed in Constitutional government, there would be no need for a Constitution Party. We could all rest and feel assured in the fact that constitutional government would return every time that the Republicans regained the seats of power. Has this ever really happened?

                Fortunately, there is a rare breed of patriot, sometimes referred to as constitutionalists. Despite being few in number, thin in the wallet,  unmercifully demonized in the media and looked upon by their own government as possible terrorists; they still remain true to their principles and their desire to be a voice for good within their respective communities. Are these patriots to be denied the choice of a constitutional candidate on the ballot?

                Do we still live in a free society? I declare that the real meat and potatoes of our liberty have been stripped away, leaving us only with the vestiges of our liberty…the on the surface trappings which only serve as an illusion that we are still free. One example of such a trapping is our right to vote. Yes, we still have that right but it has been watered way down due to the limits and controls imposed by our two-party masters. When the choice you are given only permits you to choose the lesser of two evils, your choice must necessarily end in evil.

                This two-party tyranny over the American people must end!  We can no longer allow the State and National party leadership of these two dominant parties to control our choices and deprive us of our precious liberty!

                Is America over or will you and I stand to defend her in these dark hours? Is it worth the struggle to fight for a return of Justice and Liberty for all?

                The responsibility rests upon your shoulders…it rests upon mine as well. If we don’t accomplish it, do you suppose that our children will? Can you perceive that putting it off on them may make the likelihood of success even more precarious and the cost even more unpleasant?

                Let’s strive together to return the hearts and minds of our fellow brothers and sisters back to the wisdom and understanding of our nation’s founding fathers. At the same time we must all unite in turning our hearts to our children…..to concern ourselves with what type of society we will be leaving for them. If we fail to take this quest seriously and in a timely manner, our society will be doomed and the earth will be ultimately wasted! (see Old Testament/ Malachi 4:5&6)

Jody Fike

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PRESS RELEASE from Green Party of Pennsylvania
August 10, 2012

For the first time since 2004, the Green Party of Pennsylvania has put statewide candidates on the Pennsylvania General Election Ballot. Wednesday’s 5pm deadline for filing a challenge to candidate nomination papers passed with no challenge to the Greens. The result is that the Green Party Presidential team of Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala will appear on this year’s ballot.


“We are thrilled,” advised Party Chair, Carl Romanelli. “Considering the history during the past eight years, we are a little surprised to see that the Democrats chose not to challenge our nomination papers. However, we view this decision as more strategic than benevolent. Our party retained a lawyer and we were prepared to defend our papers and the hard work of our volunteers,” Romanelli continued.

During recent years the Greens have been challenged by the Democratic Party in nearly every even numbered year. In 2008, as a result of a Grand Jury investigation, about a dozen employees of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives were indicted, then later convicted or entered guilty pleas, for using millions of taxpayer dollars in the effort to remove Romanelli from the 2006 ballot. The same scenario was played out in 2004, regarding the challenge to Ralph Nader’s Nomination Papers in that year.

Stephen Baker, a York County Green, said “We turned in quite a volume of signatures, the most since 2006. It would have been difficult for the Democrats to proceed with a challenge as it would have required expending considerable resources and would have re-opened the embarrassing criminality of the Bonusgate scandal. The process for achieving ballot status, for third parties in Pennsylvania, is unjust and wasteful. Ballot access laws in this state must change.”

Romanelli notes that many individuals contributed to the Greens collecting about 35,000 voter signatures. “We had so many of our longtime members working since early March to collect signatures, but we also had many skilled petitioners who did not participate, as the hard work in previous years was nullified by our candidates withdrawing from the challenge, rather than to defend it. This is clearly due to the regressive practice in Pennsylvania of assessing legal fees and costs on challenges not defended successfully. In addition, the excitement of our strong presidential ticket of Stein/Honkala assured we would obtain a suitable number of signatures.”

“The Stein campaign invested resources into Pennsylvania in order to augment the amount of signatures during the past month. Cheri Honkala, of Philadelphia, was a key organizer and was the inspiration of volunteers working the Philadelphia area,” offered coordinator, Hillary Kane.

“Things looked grim in June, but the energy and hard work of Jill and Cheri clearly put us over the top. These candidates are not only incredible organizers, but their message resonates with many working class voters. In fact, our candidates were willing to be arrested in order to expose the predatory foreclosure practice employed by Fannie Mae and big banks, to the detriment of families. We are delighted that Pennsylvania voters will have another option this November,” Kane continued.

Despite its success this year, Greens were quick to condemn the challenges brought by the Republican Party, against both the Constitution Party and the Libertarians. “It is clear that the Republican Party of PA will go to any length in order to manipulate the vote. For example, the petition challenges this year, combined with the passing of Voter ID in a close, partisan vote, shows just how determined the Republicans are to mute dissenting voices. Between both of these actions we see nearly one million Pennsylvania voters being disenfranchised. We find that shameful and believe any party worth its rhetoric would not engage in such machinations,” suggested Romanelli.

The Green Party, as well as the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party, are co-plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the practice of assessing fees on candidates in petition challenges. The parties are seeking to have such a practice voided as unconstitutional. The Greens pride themselves on the fact they will not take corporate money, but rather accept only donations from individuals.