Friday, August 13, 2010

Urgent Rally

Earlier this week – and at the last possible moment – the Democrats and Republicans filed legal challenges regarding the ballot access petitions of EVERY third-party statewide candidate, regardless of party, plus a number of local candidates as well. Read the Inquirer story at www.tinyurl.com/2be88hu. A joint press release issued by Pennsylvania’s third parties is copied below.

Should the challenges succeed, not only will the candidates be summarily booted off the ballot, they could also be fined over $80,000. That’s what happened to the challenged statewide candidates in 2004 and 2006, and both the Pennsylvania and U.S. Supreme Courts have already upheld the legality of such draconian fines.

This sort of suppression of democracy is unconscionable. It’s time we take action.

This coming Sunday, August 15th, four separate rallies in support of voters’ choice will be held in Southeastern Pennsylvania at the homes of four of the politicos who are using legal shenanigans to crush their competition. We’ll be calling on them to renounce their unjust political games and let the voters of Pennsylvania have a true choice on the ballot this November.

The rallies will be held in South Philadelphia and near Media in Delaware County beginning at 12:30 and ending at 4:30. A map showing the exact locations and times can be found at http://www.tinyurl.com/RallyForVotersChoice . The rallies are intended to be peaceful, and since there are sidewalks at each rally location, feel free to bring the kids along for a valuable civics lesson. If you’re the artistic type, you may want to take a few moments beforehand to create some colorful signs and banners. I’ll be bringing along my picture of “Uncle Joe”, below. He seems to be the perfect logo for the event.

Please pardon the short notice. We only received word of the challenge on Tuesday, and the court proceedings start this coming Monday. Time is short. The time to act is right now!

See you there,

- Ken
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Ken Krawchuk
Libertarian for Pennsylvania Governor (1998, 2002)
Past Chair, Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (2002-04)

1 comment:

Mark Rauterkus said...

Sent from Mik:

Libertarian Friends;
Thank you to all of those who have responded so far to our request for help! We have had a great initial response both in terms of volunteers and contributors, but more help is needed!
We have now begun our own review in preparation of the review to be undertaken by the attorneys and the crew in Harrisburg on Monday. According to at least one Independent Congressional candidate who was challenged in the same manner, it was found during the review that many of the claims of signers not being registered voters were unfounded. I'm sure we will find the same thing.
It is important that we make this effort to stand up for the integrity of the electoral process in Pennsylvania!
As you can imagine, the costs to comply with the legal provisions in this matter are substantial. We still need the financial support of anyone who can make a donation for this effort!
You can send your donation directly to us through the mail here:
LPPA Treasurer Kat Valleley
22 Farber Dr.
Chalfont, PA 18914
or you may donate using PayPal on our website here:
www.lppa.org/actions/contribute-to-the-lppa.html
Depending on how the review goes starting Monday, we may still need some volunteers to be in Harrisburg later in the week. If you can be there during business hours and can help, please drop a note to LPPA Chair Mik Robertson at chair@lppa.org.
Once again I would like to thank all of those who have been very generous with their time and financial contributions! Your support is always appreciated.
Sincerely,
Michael J. "Mik" Robertson
Chair, Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania