[statecom-discuss] Fwd: Natlcomaffairs Digest, Vol 43, Issue 77

[Yarden]

Bill,
Perhaps this should go onto the GRP website.  Please check it out 
independently.
Elie

Begin forwarded message:

> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:10:58 -0400
> From: "Julia Aires" <julia.aires at verizon.net>
> Subject: [usgp-dx] Ralph Nader at Annual Meeting in PA
> To: <natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org>
> Message-ID: <017201c7b4df$8cf26130$2f01a8c0 at Laptop>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> sorry if this is a dupe - I had not seen it posted.
>
> For Immediate Release
> Contact:
> Hillary Aisenstein, 267-971-3559
> David Kurzweg, 610-823-5770
>
> Ralph Nader to Speak at Green Party Annual Meeting
> Consumer Activist will speak about Ballot Access at Reading meeting 
> this
> July
>
> GREEN PARTY OF PENNSYLVANIA
> http://www.gpofpa.org
>
> Reading, PA - The Green Party of Pennsylvania announces that longtime
> consumer advocate and three-time Presidential candidate Ralph Nader 
> will
> speak at the party's national convention this summer. Nader will
> headline an event on the evening of Saturday, July 14, at the Sovereign
> Performing
> Arts Center.
>
> Nader will speak as part of a series of evening events aimed at
> attracting new people to the Green Party and its "10 key values" which
> include democracy, ecology, social justice, and nonviolence. Nader's
> talk will focus on "ballot access," a term which describes the
> procedures which allow or block potential candidates' ability to get
> their names on the ballot.
>
> In 2004, Nader was forced off the Pennsylvania ballot by the Democratic
> Party and charged fines close to $90,000. He was trying to qualify as 
> an
> independent for President.
>
> Capital University Law Professor Mark Brown studied the 2004 legal
> wrangling that took Nader off the ballot in Pennsylvania and recently
> published a law review article on the affair. Brown discovered that the
> Democrats were aided by a judge who may have been motivated by animus
> towards Nader's
> candidacy.
>
> Carl Romanelli, last year's Green Party Senatorial Candidate, will also
> speak at Saturday's event. Like Nader, he was also kicked off the
> Pennsylvania ballot by Democrats. Romanelli commented on his experience
> with the Democratic Party and Pennsylvania judiciary, "More than the
> nasty politics, the inexcusable behavior of the Pennsylvania court
> system must be reviewed. The fact that the Pennsylvania Commonwealth
> Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court are blatant partisans is cause
> for an investigation and sanction."
>
> After an 8-week signature review process last fall, Democrats were able
> to find enough loop holes and technicalities to disqualify tens of
> thousands of legitimate voters' signatures from Romanelli's petitions.
> Furthermore, Romanelli was also ordered to pay fines close to $90,000.
> Romanelli has vowed to fight this verdict and has taken his case all 
> the
> way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Said Romanelli, "I will pursue this
> matter to its highest levels in order to right this injustice. 2006 is
> not an isolated case. It is part of a distinct, evolving Democratic
> strategy. Ralph Nader and I shatter the myth that the Democrats are the
> good guys."
>
> Supporters of ballot access are worried that if the tactics employed in
> Pennsylvania are ultimately successful, Democratic legislators around
> the country will likely introduce similar punitive election laws in
> other states particularly "swing states", in a preventive effort to 
> keep
> independents and newer political parties off the ballot.
>
> Earlier this year, Pennsylvania was singled out by European human 
> rights
> groups for particularly bad ballot access laws.
>
> DC-based hip hop act Head Roc will also perform on Saturday. Thursday
> and Friday nights' line ups will feature more local bands. The
> convention, which will attract close to 200 Green Party delegates from
> all over the country and the world, will take place at the Abraham
> Lincoln Wyndham hotel in Reading July 12-16.
>
> For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.gpanc.org.
>
> The Green Party of Pennsylvania is an independent political party that
> stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. The Green Party of
> Pennsylvania stands for grassroots democracy, sustainable economics,
> nonviolence, and ecology. The Green Party of Pennsylvania stands in 
> firm
> opposition to the War in Iraq and has always advocated for energy
> conservation and sustainable energy policies.
>
>
>
>
> Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll
> http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F
> Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>