{news} Re: [CTGP-elections] Support HB 6436: A bill that will reduce our petitioning requirements to 1000 SIGNATURES!

Thu Feb 12 11:19:55 EST 2009

I did not imply that the bill is bad, but that it is not a panacea. If it
passes, among the reasons for its passage will be that it does not have any
positive effect on the press, the LWVs, or campaign finance reform; all
those are actually larger issues for electability than the number of
signatures required, and the legislators know that.

Also, I guess that the reason the congressional requirement was not reduced
proportionately to 200 is that last year we made a bigger impact on the
congressional races than on the others, so they're more worried about our
affecting close races. Since most of them are psychologically conservative
and they cannot know a year or more ahead of time whether such an effect
would be positive or negative for them, they'll assume it would be
negative.

I hope we'll all make it to the hearing early and make the arguments most
likely to make the bill pass. Unfortunately, those are not the arguments
closest to our hearts. I am not so anti-human as to say that we should not
say what we actually think, only that if we ascend in fine frenzies of
conviction, we're likely to fall from the sky like Icarus.

Richard

On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 10:05 AM, Ken Krayeske <wtcards at earthlink.net>wrote:

>   At first, I was thrilled to see the potential easing of ballot access
> laws - yet Richard makes immense sense here, too.
>
> Overall, though, I think if you only need 1,000 signatures, it means less
> time you have to spend collecting signatures, more time for campaigning and
> fundraising. If we only had to collect 1,000 for the Green Party statewide
> slate in 2006, we could have done so much more with the CTGP treasury,
> instead of spending it on a petition drive.
>
> And also remember that for public campaign financing, you still need an
> unfair amount of signatures - and this may be an effort to counter that,
> too.
>
> peace,
> kk
>
> Richard Duffee wrote:
>
>  Mike,
> I suspect some irony in this. The LWV and newspapers already claim that
> being on the ballot is not significant enough to warrant presence in the
> debates or news coverage. If the signature requirement is reduced, their
> claim will be strengthened. They'll say, "So you're on the ballot. So what?
> Anyone can get on the ballot. An individual can do it all on his own without
> any party support at all. This is supposed to be politics, not a hobby.
> Politics is about the moblization of groups in pursuit of realistic
> political objectives. You want us to let you in a debate or cover you
> when we don't even know if you actually represent a group?"
>
> I suspect that the reason some legislators believe this legislation has a
> chance of passing is that the majority of legistors know that the rather
> obnoxious and condescending response I've just quoted represents a general
> consensus now among the news media and the hosts of debates. Some
> legislators who would formerly have objected, after witnessing this year,
> will say, "So fine, Make it easier for them to get ballot access. That's not
> going to get them into the papers or the debates, and it certainly isn't
> going to give them any shot at the money. It's just going to make us look
> very magnanimous. That will take the wind out of their sails and make their
> arguments even less plausible."
> Richard
> On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 9:06 AM, Richard Duffee <richard.duffee at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Mike,
>> Do you know why they decided to reduce the requirements by 86.7% of
>> presidential, senatorial, gubernatorial, and other state-wide candidates,
>> but have only reduced the requirements for congressional candidates by 51%
>> to 67%? That is, the requirements for congressional races have fluctuated
>> between 2050 and 3000 depending upon whether the previous election was a
>> presidential one or not. Because there are 5 congressional races in the
>> state, the bill is, in effect reducing the need for valid signatures from
>> somewhere between 10,250 and 15,000 down to 5,000 at the same time that it
>> is reducing the statewide seat requirements from 7500 to 1000. A
>> commensurate reduction in congressional requirements would be to 200, not
>> 1000.
>>
>> Do you have any sense of whether raising this issue could backfire by
>> making some legislators feel, "Hell, if they're not even going to be
>> satisfied with an offer like that, the hell with them!" Does anyone know
>> whether they discussed the difference between congressional races and the
>> others? Did they acknowledge that congressional races are not state-wide
>> races? What did they say about that fact?
>>
>> Shall we swap drafts of speeches around amongst ourselves for comment?
>> Have a meeting before the 18th about them? A conference call?
>>
>> I'll be there on the 18th.
>> Richard
>>
>>  On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 9:52 PM, Mike DeRosa <smderosa at cox.net> wrote:
>>
>>>    *Greens,*
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>> *Good News:*
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>> *Today the GAE (Government And Elections) committee released HR 6436 in
>>> written form.  I gave the bill to Atty. and CT Green Party co-chair Steve
>>> Fornier to look at earlier today.  He says that the bill would **reduce*
>>> * **our state-wide office and congressional petitioning requirements to
>>> **1000 valid signatures  **(VS 7500 SIGNATURES OR 1% OF THE VOTES IN
>>> LAST ELECTION UNDER THE PRESENT LAW).*
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>> *In the past we have been required to collect 7500 valid signatures to
>>> get on the ballot for president or for other state-wide office and we have
>>> had to collect over 3000 valid signatures for congress.  **The bill also
>>> requires the Sec. of the State to do all the checking of the signatures and
>>> takes the responsibility away from the town clerks.*
>>>
>>> *The following link will direct you to a PDF of HB 6436:
>>> http://www.cga.ct.gov/2009/TOB/h/pdf/2009HB-06436-R00-HB.pdf**. *
>>>
>>> *Read it and let me know what you think!*
>>>
>>> *There is going to be a public hearing on this bill VERY SOON.  Here is
>>> the info from the GAE website:*
>>>
>>> *Wednesday, February 18, 2009***
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>> *Download to Calendar*
>>>
>>> *9:30 AM*
>>>
>>> *Government Administration and Elections Committee Meeting followed by a
>>> Public Hearing*
>>>
>>> *LOB Room 2B*
>>>
>>> *YOU NEED TO GET THERE AT 8AM TO SIGN UP TO SPEAK**.  THE PUBLIC HEARING
>>> SPEAKERS LIST IS AVAILABLE AT 8:30AM.  IF YOU GET THERE EARLY*
>>>
>>> *YOU CAN GET OUT VERY EARLY AND MOST OF THE REPRESENTATIVES WILL BE
>>> THERE TO HEAR YOUR TESTIMONY. THE WHOLE EVENT IS ON THE CT NETWORK,*
>>>
>>> * ANOTHER WAY TO GET OUR MESSAGE OUT.  THIS BILL CAME FROM THE CO-CHAIRS
>>> OF THE GAE COMMITTEE AFTER SEVERAL OF US MET WITH THEM *
>>>
>>> *RECENTLY.*
>>>
>>> *MAKE A SPECIAL EFFORT TO ATTEND THIS HEARING**.  IF THIS BILL PASSES IT
>>> WILL ABLE TO MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE TO THE GREEN *
>>>
>>> *PARTY AND WILL REDUCE ONE OF MOST UNFAIR AND DISCRIMINATORY MINOR PARTY
>>> REQUIREMENTS FOR  BALLOT ACCESS.  CALL YOUR REP, AND*
>>>
>>> *ASK THAT SHE OR HE SUPPORT THIS LEGISLATION.*
>>>
>>> *Sincerely,*
>>>
>>> *Mike DeRosa*
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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