[statecom] short defense Re: From the Co-Chairs Re: Legal Opinion

[Jim Hammerman]

Dear Elie,
I'm not sure what you mean that the lawyer "must have had much more to go 
on than all the relevant documents". My understanding is that, as he says, 
he read our plan and bylaws, the correspondence between Michelle Tassinari 
and the co-chairs, the withdrawal statements of Brown and Ball and the 
Independent Candidacy announcement of Nader and, based on his deep 
knowledge of and experience with Massachusetts election law, responded to 
the questions he was asked about who is considered a "candidate" for the 
purpose of being allocated delegates, and whether a public announcement of 
withdrawal or independent candidacy can be considered a release of 
delegates. 

And he was very clear on both counts--that someone who's withdrawn or 
announced an independent run is _not_ a candidate who can legitimately 
receive delegates within our delegate selection plan, and that withdrawal 
also effectively releases any delegates who may have been assigned from 
any obligations to those now "ex-candidates". It seems that the voters 
should reasonably expect their votes to count towards "legitimate 
candidates...standing before the voters as candidates for a political 
party" and that those who have withdrawn or declared an independent 
candidacy don't count as legitimate candidates within the party. Given 
that, he says a party that assigns delegates to such "ex-candidates" is at 
risk for legal action from party members, other candidates who would see 
such an assignment as unfairly disadvantaging them in their run for 
office, and possibly the Commonwealth for fraud. If this is as clear as 
Mr. Rom implies, I don't want us walking down that road.

By the way, I did read the sections of Massachusetts law he refers to. 
While they don't speak directly to our situation--and we shouldn't expect 
them to-- they do seem to indicate that parties are quite free to replace 
candidates who have withdrawn or are ineligible or are otherwise 
unavailable to serve in the roles for which they were nominated, again 
suggesting that only legitimate candidates deserve to benefit from the 
electoral process.

Best, Jim




Yarden <yen.yarden at verizon.net> 
Sent by: statecom-bounces at green-rainbow.org
05/30/08 06:30 PM
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Re: [statecom] short defense Re: From the Co-Chairs Re: Legal   Opinion






To have issued the opinion that I read the lawyer must have had much 
more to go on than "all of the relevant documents."
I am still waiting to find out from someone who can read better than I 
am able what the relevance of "Massachusetts
election law, G. L. c. 53, Sections 13, 14 and 15" is to any questions 
asked of the lawyer in question.  Have any members of the A Minority 
Opinion faction read the sections cited?  To what might have the 
lawyer been referring.  If I were seeking legal advice in the course 
of seeking consensus, I certainly would invite someone of opposing 
views to the consultation.  Seeking consensus according to some 
proponents includes having access to the same information.  'Seeking 
consensus' should never be a cover for intrigues in hegemonic quarrels.
Elie Yarden
MRGRA

On May 30, 2008, at 2:12 PM, Merelice wrote:

> On 5/26/08, Gracegrnrnbw at aol.com <Gracegrnrnbw at aol.com> wrote:
>
>> The lawyer who issued this opinion had all of the relevant 
>> documents (unlike
>> merelice implies- .....
>>
>> The questions sent to the Head of the Elections Divission were 
>> *not* in fact
>> agreed to by adcom.....
>
>
> Grace has a courteous way of calling me a liar. I stand by my 
> comments.
>
> Merelice
> _______________________________________________
> StateCom mailing list
> StateCom at green-rainbow.org
> http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/statecom

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