[statecom] Legal Opinion

[Daniel Melnechuk]

Dear John,

How quickly you jump to conclusions about intent and levy accusations  
against my integrity. A simple "Why did you seek a legal opinion"  
would have sufficed.

But to be clear, I have no intent to file a lawsuit against the GRP  
nor have i had any communications with anybody, candidate or not,  
about aiding a lawsuit against the GRP.

John, I am an officer of the GRP and it is my duty to make sure that  
the GRP does not break the law or put itself in danger of getting  
sued. And i take that duty very seriously.

In that light, i sought a legal opinion from an election lawyer about  
our situation of having a plan that is silent on the issue of  
candidates dropping out of the race after getting on our ballot so  
that i would have a better understanding of what the legal  
ramifications are for the GRP since i have to sign off on, according  
to our delegate selection plan, on the list we send to national of  
our appointed delegates. I also sought this opinion since others on  
Adcom had mentioned the possibility of getting one at some point  
earlier on including Merelice i believe.

Peace,
Dan



On May 25, 2008, at 3:36 PM, John Andrews wrote:

> Dan,
>
> I think that our Party has the right to know if you and Grace Ross are
> involved in legal preparation to file lawsuits against the State  
> Committee
> and the Party Co-chairs in order to take away our right to define our
> Delegate Selection Process.  The fact that you have sought legal  
> counsel to
> develop the grounds for such a lawsuit seems obviously to indicate  
> that you
> are preparing to do so.  If you are helping others to file a  
> lawsuit without
> your name, this does not resolve you of your involvement.  Please  
> have the
> integrity to tell us if this is so.
>
> - John
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 1:17 PM, Daniel Melnechuk  
> <isis at isisdesign.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Statecom Reps and Adcom Members,
>>
>> Please review the legal opinion (PDF) just obtained from an  
>> election lawyer
>> about commonwealth law, our delegate selection plan, and  
>> communications with
>> Michelle Tassinari regarding same. I am not going to extract any  
>> from the
>> opinion since the entirety is important to read.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Below is the recent accepted by consensus proposal at statecom  
>> about our
>> delegate selection plan:
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> http://green-rainbow.org/pipermail/statecom/2008-April/008333.html
>>
>> PROPOSAL:
>> The Administrative Committee and all working committees which  
>> might be
>> involved with the related issues are hereby instructed to make  
>> good faith
>> efforts to implement the Delegate Selection Plan as filed with the
>> Secretary
>> of State in October 2007 and amended as specified below.   
>> Deviations from
>> this Plan should be made only where it is impossible to follow it for
>> reasons of legal compliance or where unavoidable changes in dates  
>> must be
>> accepted.  Any such deviations should be for purposes of better
>> implementing
>> the intent of the Plan, not to undermine it, alter its intent,  or
>> elaborate
>> upon it.  Simultaneously,  the following two changes to the Delegate
>> Selection Plan are adopted:
>>
>> i) On page 16, at the end of the second paragraph under Delegate and
>> Alternate Delegate Requirements, add:  "Candidates that are not in
>> communication with their delegates to instruct them after the  
>> first vote or
>> roll call have effectively released and freed their delegates."
>>
>> ii)  On page 9, at the end of the paragraph following  
>> "Definitions", add
>> "Reported write-in votes for which the Commonwealth has not provided
>> candidate names shall be apportioned among the other options in  
>> proportion
>> to the vote totals for those options."
>>
>> BUGET IMPACT:  None
>>
>> IMPLEMENTATION: This proposal does not alter the previously  
>> assigned roles
>> and responsibilities for implementation of the Delegate Selection  
>> Plan.
>> AdCom and CDLC are  primarily responsible for implementation of  
>> that plan.
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Peace and Justice,
>> Daniel Melnechuk
>> Party Treasurer
>> State Committee Representative, Third Middlesex State Senate District
>> Procedures, Structures and Meetings Committee
>> Tech Committee
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> StateCom mailing list
>> StateCom at green-rainbow.org
>> http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/statecom
>>
>>
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