Don't Tell Lenora Fulani

A coup in the Connecticut for Lieberman Party.

[Hat tip: plunge.]

Comments

[John M. Joy]

If I remember the rules correctly, he'll need at least one other person, and quick: a treasurer.

JMJ

[ChrisO]

Yet another example why political parties should have no official status.

[Petronius]

Ah...Lenore Fulani, that preserver and archeologist of defunct political parties. I remember some years ago the Illinois democrats went into crisis mode when in a little voted primary they ended up with two LaRouchians on the ticket. The candidate for Governor, Adlai Stevenson III set up the Illinois Soldarity party to cut off the cranks, but he still lost. And Fulani's minions took over the shell of Illinois Solidarity as part of their 50-state scam to loot the Federal Election matching fund system. True entreprenureship at its best!

[Robert]

Don't know about Conn.'s election law, but in NY a party after first getting 50,000 votes for governor has a window of time in which to submit bylaws to the bd. of elecs. If more than one set of bylaws is submitted, the settlement as to which bylaws are authentic is decided by a majority of the candidates who were on that party's statewide ballot.

Also, in NY a party is allowed to change its name. That's not true in all states.

Anyway, independent candidates who won statewide elections in Conn. (Weicker) and Maine (King) established new ballot lines thereby. In Conn.'s case it was A Connecticut Party. In Maine's case, the line was donated to the Libertarians, who then found they couldn't get enough enrollees to nominate anyone by primary (petition), and therefore were very limited in the offices they could be on the ballot for. Plus, they couldn't run as independents using that ballot label, because they had locked it up as a party!

[Gwen]

Not sure what to make of the "Don't Tell Lenora Fulani" crack, but consider her already told 🙂 - By the way, I didn't have to, she's sufficiently at the forefront and in the middle of what's being built on the ground among independents to capitalize on whatever we need to capitalize on to empower independent voters and strengthen the independent movement. And to the person who insinuates that Fulani's 50 state presidential run was a scam: check your history, much has been built off that - as someone who spent hundreds of hours petitioning and working my ass off to put Fulani on the ballot and raise small contributions from hundreds of people, I take offense to your assumptions.

[John M. Joy]

Robert:

Last I knew (so take with the number of grains necessary and proper)...

Usually, a new party files its bylaws along with its party registration. Apparently, that's not strictly necessary (which I didn't know; either the rules changed, or, since I always operated under the "petitioning candidate under a party moniker intends the party to survive the campaign" assumption, just, um, assumed).

Minor party status is conferred, on a per-office basis, to parties whose candidate gains at least one percent in that race. It's only good for that office, and only for the next race (and only means that the party need not petition next time 'round, but can nominate per its bylaws).

Major party status is granted via either a substantial share of voter registration enrollments, or a substantial share of the votes for governor (20%, last I checked). This is why ACP was a major party in Connecticut following the Weiker election (but not following Eunice Groark's campaign). All the "goodies" accrue to major parties: they can primary (at taxpayer expense), can run full slates without petitioning, can run candidates for Registrar of Voters, ... - of course, they also find their bylaws are suddenly subordinate to state laws regulating major parties.

Party committees must (again, last I knew) file with the SotS, and include (in addition to the aforementioned bylaws) a chairman, a treasurer (and optional but recommended deputy treasurer), and - mandatory - a designated "depository" (bank that has the committee's money). They must also make periodic financial disclosures; failure to do so subjects the treasurer, especially, to big fines and/or jail time.

JMJ
(A former Party Committee treasurer - and chairman - in the Constipation State)

[mutt]

thanks for that clarification JMJ. So tell me....

Can Ned Lamont challenge Joe for the Connecticut for Lieberman Party nomination in 2012?

That would rock.

[Robert Goodman]

What else would rock? A move by the relevant Democrat committee to disenroll Lieberman from Conn.'s Democratic Party. Here in NY you can do that to someone for not being "in sympathy with the principles" of a political party. In NY you can also throw someone off a party committee for being "disloyal" to your party; I wonder if Lieberman's on any committees of the Democrats in Conn.