Barbour Wants to Crack Down on Third Parties

[Governor PiT]

Barbour Wants to Crack Down on Third Parties
Posted by Brad Winthrop --- September 11th, 2007
Gov. Haley Barbour says Mississippi should begin enforcing a state law that requires political parties to do a little leg work before certifying someone as a candidate for office. Under the state law, a political party cannot certify a candidate as its nominee until that person files all of their campaign finance documents with the secretary of state’s office.

“That’s something that isn’t being done,” Barbour said. “We’re going to go forward and make it plain that we’re not going to certify someone as the nominee until the party has done what they’re supposed to do.”

Barbour said since it was already a state law is was unclear what sanctions could be imposed against the parties. Barbour, Attorney General Jim Hood and Secretary of State Eric Clark, who make up the Board of Election Commissioners, met Tuesday to approve the ballot for the Nov. 6 general election.

Barbour’s comments came after the board discussed whether to take the name of Green Party candidate Melvin Brown off the ballot. Brown, of Tupelo, is a candidate for the House District 16 seat. The other candidates for the seat are incumbent Democrat state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville and Republican J. Everett Dutschke of Tupelo.

Clark had recommended removing Brown’s name from the ballot because the office had not received Brown’s statement of intent. Election laws require that the political party forward the candidate’s statement of intent to Clark’s office.

Jan Hillegas, a member of the executive committee of the Green Party of Mississippi, gave the board copies of e-mails that indicated that Brown’s statement had been received by the party, but apparently the party had failed to forward the information to Clark.

Clark said he was reluctant to set a bad precedent by leaving Brown’s name on the ballot. But Barbour argued that it wasn’t Brown’s fault that the Green Party had dropped the ball.

“I am loathe to punish this guy because the party screwed up,” Barbour said. “I’m satisfied that the guy filed.”

The board voted unanimously to keep Brown’s name on the ballot. They also approved the sample ballot, subject to review.

Before the meeting began, Paul Leslie Riley, a Constitution Party candidate for state commissioner of agriculture and commerce, was informed that a question about his residency had been resolved.

“Well praise the Lord for that,” said Riley, who had traveled from Pontotoc County to Jackson with his wife and nine children.

Clark’s office sent Riley a letter last week that said he would be disqualified as a candidate because he was not a legal resident of Pontotoc County. Clark said the situation had been remedied when Riley registered to vote in the county. Riley said he moved his family from Chickasaw County to Pontotoc County in December, but had not registered to vote by March when he filed his qualifying papers.

The other candidates for agriculture commissioner are Republican incumbent Lester Spell of Richland and Democrat Rickey Cole of Jackson.

Source: WLOX ABC-TV 13

[Hashemite]

Why does Barbour hate democracy?

[Sensei]

Why does Barbour hate democracy?

Elaborate, please.

[Hashemite]

I'm joking. Of course candidates should be registered in accordance with electoral laws, but if Barbour is saying this just to have less third parties, then he does hate democracy.

[Harry]

Why does Barbour hate democracy?

because he's an ass, though that shouldn't be a new revelation at this point...

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Does MS have 3rd parties?

[Southern Patriot]

Mississippi has eleven qualified parties:
Democratic
Republican
Libertarian
Constitution
Reform
Natural Law
Green
America First
Veterans Party of America
Southern Party
Unity 08

[So the Heroes Fall]

Hey, Barbour does something good for once.

[Lief]

Hey, Barbour does something good for once.

...

Fascist-MN, please.

[So the Heroes Fall]

The Democratic Party is fascist by your standards as it pulled out all the stops to block ballot access for Nader and used some extremely underhanded moves (such as sending people to pack Nader's nominating convention in Oregon but refuse to sign the petition saying they were there, hence making the convention useless)

[Hashemite]

Hey, Barbour does something good for once.

...

Fascist-MN, please.

[Lief]

The Democratic Party is fascist by your standards as it pulled out all the stops to block ballot access for Nader and used some extremely underhanded moves (such as sending people to pack Nader's nominating convention in Oregon but refuse to sign the petition saying they were there, hence making the convention useless)

Yes, I thought that was disgraceful. If the Democrats don't want people voting for the Green party, they should do that by convincing Greens to vote for them, not by limiting their options. That's about as undemocratic as you can get.

[So the Heroes Fall]

The Democratic Party is fascist by your standards as it pulled out all the stops to block ballot access for Nader and used some extremely underhanded moves (such as sending people to pack Nader's nominating convention in Oregon but refuse to sign the petition saying they were there, hence making the convention useless)

Yes, I thought that was disgraceful. If the Democrats don't want people voting for the Green party, they should do that by convincing Greens to vote for them, not by limiting their options. That's about as undemocratic as you can get.

The Democrats didn't bother the Green Party at all. Nader was not the Green candidate.

[Speed of Sound]

The Democratic Party is fascist by your standards as it pulled out all the stops to block ballot access for Nader and used some extremely underhanded moves (such as sending people to pack Nader's nominating convention in Oregon but refuse to sign the petition saying they were there, hence making the convention useless)

Yes, I thought that was disgraceful. If the Democrats don't want people voting for the Green party, they should do that by convincing Greens to vote for them, not by limiting their options. That's about as undemocratic as you can get.

The Democrats didn't bother the Green Party at all. Nader was not the Green candidate.

Ummmm.....they infiltrated and nulified the Green Convention. That isnt bothering the Greens? What must you do to bother someone these days? Soon we'll have to rename attempted murder as "conspiracy to be a pest".    -_-

[So the Heroes Fall]

The Democratic Party is fascist by your standards as it pulled out all the stops to block ballot access for Nader and used some extremely underhanded moves (such as sending people to pack Nader's nominating convention in Oregon but refuse to sign the petition saying they were there, hence making the convention useless)

Yes, I thought that was disgraceful. If the Democrats don't want people voting for the Green party, they should do that by convincing Greens to vote for them, not by limiting their options. That's about as undemocratic as you can get.

The Democrats didn't bother the Green Party at all. Nader was not the Green candidate.

Ummmm.....they infiltrated and nulified the Green Convention. That isnt bothering the Greens? What must you do to bother someone these days? Soon we'll have to rename attempted murder as "conspiracy to be a pest".    -_-

No they didn't. The Green national convention went on without a hitch and nominated David Cobb.

[Ghyl Tarvoke]

Hey, Barbour does something good for once.

...

Fascist-MN, please.

[So the Heroes Fall]

I'm not fascist, just have become rather Machiavellian. After everything the GOP has done it's kind of hard not to be. I honestly don't see how blocking Nader from the ballot is any more underhanded though then the way the GOP basically used him as an extension of their campaign (and the fact that he completely went along with it, hook, line and sinker.)

[Harry]

BRTD:

He's doing this because the only 3rd party candidates here are right-wing ones.  We need to keep right-wing third party candidates on the ballot to siphon votes from the Republicans.

I highly doubt a Green candidate will ever cost a Mississippi Democrat an election, but it's possible that a Constitution, Libertarian, or independent candidate could cost a Mississippi Republican one.

[So the Heroes Fall]

BRTD:

He's doing this because the only 3rd party candidates here are right-wing ones.  We need to keep right-wing third party candidates on the ballot to siphon votes from the Republicans.

I highly doubt a Green candidate will ever cost a Mississippi Democrat an election, but it's possible that a Constitution, Libertarian, or independent candidate could cost a Mississippi Republican one.

That's a good point. I guess I can't approve of this in this case.

[Hashemite]

The Democrats should accept third parties and instead campaign to get the votes that go Green or to any third party instead of wanting to destroy the Greens.

[??????????]

I agree with the neo-nazi that started this thread. Suppressing third parties is a terrible thing.

[Lief]

BRTD, meant Nader, not the Green party.