YET ANOTHER UPDATE: This story confirms the first. Mr. Burgis, in turn, now reports that he has since gotten confirmation from Nader folks in Michigan that this AP story is correct. The final two paragraphs of Mr. Burgis's message, below, remain of interest, however.
UPDATE: Ben Burgis, Green Party member from Michigan, informs me that the story posted below earlier today is inaccurate; he writes:
"The link, from the Nader/Camejo web-site, establishes that at the July 15th deadline for turning in all the signatures, the Nader campaign turned in a grand total of 5,000 signatures, 1/6th of the 30,000 necessary to get on the ballot, and that Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, a Republican, has refused to put Nader on the ballot on the basis of the Reform nomination on the excuse that a minority splinter group that is now using the name Reform Party of Michigan disputes the nomination and that she refuses to 'get involved with an internal matter' of the Reform Party, which strikes me as a pretty flimsy excuse for keeping off the ballot a candidate who is predicted to get at least 2% or so of the vote in Michigan and as much as 6% of the vote nation-wide.
"None of that means that some Republicans weren't encouraging Michigan residents to sign Nader petitions out of their own calculations of self-interest--that seems well-established enough and covered in many different media sources--but it does mean that (a) the claim that the Republicans gathered 40,000 signatures for Nader is simply wrong, and (b) at least some highly positioned Michigan Republicans actually want to keep Nader off the ballot.
"Personally (I'm obviously biased given my party affiliation, etc.) I think that any alleged help some Republicans may or may not have given Nader to get on the ballot is far less of a scandal than the openly anti-democratic efforts of Democrats around the country to keep the preferred candidate of millions of voters *off* the ballot, using techniques frighteningly reminiscent of those used by Republicans in Florida in 2000--scrutinizing the signature of every one on each petition for criminal background, unreported changes of address, etc., etc., any technicality that could be used as an excuse for disqualifying signatures.
"This is particularly ridiculous given the case of Illinois, where long-standing state law as it has always existed would keep Bush off the ballot, since the Republican National Convention will be long after the state deadline. Thus, just by enforcing existing law as it has stood for years with bipartisan approval, the Democratic majority in the Illinois state legislature could keep Bush off the ballot. But--got to love that duopoly!--the Democrats controlling the state legislature are changing the deadline to accommodate the RNC. All of this at the same time that they are trying to deprive millions of voters of their democratic right to vote for Ralph Nader. Any legal technicality in the book is fair game to get Nader off the ballot, but enforcing the clear-as-day provisions of state law that the Republicans knew about (but assumed would be changed to accommodate them) would be an unfair abuse of power."
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Details here:
"The Michigan Republican Party submitted more than 40,000 signatures last week in a bid to get independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the state's November ballot.
"Of course, this is not really about helping Nader. It is all about helping President Bush and hurting Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry's campaign in a closely contested state.
"The Michigan GOP denies that, of course. Matt Davis, a spokesman for the group, said it was merely concerned about third-party candidates being left off the ballot. He could not name, however, another third-party or independent candidate his party has helped."
The Republicans should be embarrassed too, but I think they're beyond that.
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