{news} Big win in Connecticut lawsuit!

[Tim McKee]

----- Original Message -----

From: "Phil Huckelberry"
To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org
Subject: [usgp-dx] Big win in Connecticut lawsuit!
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:34:02 -0500


This is from Ballot Access News. The ACLU filed this suit on behalf
of the Connecticut Green Party. This is a huge victory - and one
which could very easily be spun against us. Don't be surprised to see
Greens accused of killing public financing. If you see it, tell
people the truth - that public financing is supposed to be about
making elections fairer and more democratic, not about propping up the
corporate parties!

Phil Huckelberry
Delegate, Illinois

http://www.ballot-access.org/2009/08/27/connecticut-public-funding-law-held-unconstitutional-because-it-discriminates-severely-against-minor-parties-independent-candidates/

Connecticut Public Funding Law Held Unconstitutional Because it
Discriminates Severely Against Minor Parties & Independent Candidates
August 27th, 2009

On August 27, U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill, a Clinton
appointee, held that Connecticut’s public funding law for candidates
is so discriminatory in favor of the two major parties, and against
all other parties and candidates, that it is unconstitutional in its
entirety. The opinion is 138 pages long. A link to the decision is
found in this news story from Connecticut News Junkie. Thanks to Ken
Krayeske for this news.

Connecticut’s public funding law was passed in 2006 and used for the
first time in 2008. Members of parties that polled 20% of the vote in
the last election are entitled to public funding if they receive a
certain number of qualifying contributions. Others must also obtain
the qualifying contributions, but they need to submit a very large
number of signatures, in addition.

The decision summarizes the problems with the law on page 71: “The CEP
(Citizens Election Program) enhances the relative strength of major
party candidates in ways that represent a severe burden on the
political opportunity of minor party candidates for the following
reasons: (1) it provides participating major party candidates public
funding at windfall levels, well beyond what most major party
candidates would typically be able to raise on their own from private
fundraising sources; (2) it permits major party candidates who are as
equally ‘hopeless’ as minor party candidates in many districts to
become eligible for full funding without first requiring such hopeless
major party candidates to make the same threshold showing of public
support required of minor party candidates through the additional
qualifying criteria; (3) the additional qualifying criteria for minor
party candidates are nearly impossible to achieve, thus ensuring that
minor party candidates will only very rarely qualify for the
‘enhancing’ benefits made available by CEP participation; and (4) in
the event a minor party candidate does qualify for partial CEP
funding, it handicaps that participating minor party candidate by
automatically granting full funding to his or her participating major
party opponent, and by prohibiting the partially-funded minor party
candidate from raising private contributions, up to the full grant
amount, in increments greater than $100.”
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******************************************
Tim McKee, New Britian, CT, main number cell-860-778-1304
National Committee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
CT GREEN TIMES
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