
Voters should get to choose. Which one do you like?
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2005
For more information contact:
- Ken Krawchuk at 267-496-3332
- David Jahn at 610-461-7755
"VOTERS CHOICE ACT" RALLY HELD IN HARRISBURG
The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition held a kickoff rally to introduce their Voters Choice Act last Saturday, September 24th, in the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg. A crowd of 40 supporters gathered to hear representatives from Pennsylvania's largest third parties and independent campaigns. Among the speakers were the 1998 and 2002 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Ken Krawchuk, Libertarian Party state chair David Jahn, former Green Party state chair Jennaro Pullano, Constitution Party national chairman Jim Clymer, Reform Party state treasurer Tom McLaughlin, John Murphy of the Ralph Nader campaign, and the 2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik. High-resolution photos of the rally can be found at http://tinyurl.com/cht8k.
"We are heading for a political train wreck in 2006," Libertarian Ken Krawchuk told the crowd. "Over one million voting-age Pennsylvanians risk being denied their right to vote for the candidate of their choice." Because of a fluke in the existing ballot access laws, third party and independent candidates will need to collect approximately 100,000 signatures in order to appear on the statewide ballot in 2006, as compared to less than 3,000 for the two old parties.
Green Party's Jennaro Pullano focused on the impossibility of organizing so mammoth a petition drive. "Last year we had to work around the clock for four days to get our petitions ready for submission. I don't know how we'll be able to do it when the number is 100,000. That's the equivalent of getting everyone here in Harrisburg to sign our petition."
Jim Clymer of the Constitution Party noted that if Utah had Pennsylvania's ballot access laws, the Democrats would not be a political party, and if Massachusetts had them, the Republicans would not be a political party. "The major parties have conspired to make Pennsylvania one of the most difficult states in the nation to acquire permanent ballot access so they can maintain a monopoly stranglehold on the electoral process", Clymer concluded.
Reform Party's Tom McLaughlin focused on the statistics that result from Pennsylvania's draconian laws, specifically, that if not for third party candidates, 27% of the Congressional races would have no opposition, 28% of state senate races, and a whopping 56% of state rep races. "Republicans and Democrats try to muddy the waters or write us off as third parties", McLaughlin said. "We are not third parties, we are the only functional SECOND Party!"
John Murphy of the Ralph Nader campaign described in detail the extreme lengths that Pennsylvania Democrats went in order to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot, concluding that, "The very magnitude of that effort itself indicates that, under any conception of a democratic system, it is that very person who should be on the ballot!"
Libertarian David Jahn pointed out how third parties hold their own primaries at their own expense, then collect tens of thousands of signatures to get on the November ballot, while the two old parties benefit from taxpayer-funded primaries, then require no signatures to get on the November ballot. "This is a process that is not healthy, as it permits the major parties to run and elect sub par candidates with ease while our candidates are overwhelmed with ballot access hurdles."
At a reception immediately after the rally, the 2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik addressed the crowd, comparing Pennsylvania's bad ballot access laws to the Jim Crow laws of old, since they create a second class citizenship supported by law.
The complete text of the remarks of the presenters can be found on the Coalition's website at www.PaBallotAccess.org.
The Voters Choice Act reforms Pennsylvania's draconian ballot access laws by leveling the playing field for third parties and independent candidates. Under the current law, Democrats and Republicans must collect 2,000 signatures to have their names placed on the statewide primary ballot, and none at all for the November ballot. However, to have their names placed on the November ballot in 2006, third party and independent candidates will be required to collect a minimum of 67,070 signatures, more than 33 times as many, despite a Constitutional provision that "Elections shall be free and equal".
The Voters Choice Act would change the definition of a minor political party from the current district-by-district electoral formula (2% of a recent winner's vote total) to one based upon statewide voter registrations (0.05%), and allow minor political parties to nominate candidates for all offices directly according to their party rules, and at their own expense, rather than by the existing, taxpayer-funded nomination papers process. Independent candidates would continue to nominate candidates for all offices via the current nomination papers process, but using the same signature requirements required of the two old parties rather than the current district-by-district electoral formula (2% of a recent winner's vote total).
A copy of the Voters Choice Act and its accompanying white paper can be found on the Coalition's website at www.PaBallotAccess.org.
The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition is an association of representatives from Pennsylvania's largest political third parties and independent campaigns, including the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Constitution Party, the America First Party, the Reform Party, the Prohibition Party, the Socialist Party, the Unified Independent Party, the New American Independent Party, and the Ralph Nader campaign, among others.
The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition
PO Box 309
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081
www.PaBallotAccess.org
PBAC@PaBallotAccess.org
Voice: (610) 543-8427
Fax: (215) 572-9248

TCS: Tech Central Station - The Technorati Candidate In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore found out that it was possible to win the popular vote, and still lose the electoral vote. In last week's Democratic primary for New York City Public Advocate, Andrew Rasiej found out that it was possible to win the blogger vote, and still lose the popular vote.
For the two months leading up to the primary election on September 13, Rasiej captured the hearts and minds of bloggers like no other candidate since Howard Dean with a technology-centric campaign that included a plan for citywide wireless Internet access, a video blog (in addition to a regular blog), and a plan for making 911 calls from the NYC subway. On the day preceding the election, in fact, 'Rasiej' ranked as one of the ten most popular search terms on the blog search engine Technorati. Anyone convinced of the power of the blogosphere to determine the fate of political careers (Trent Lott, anyone?) would surely have guessed that Mr. Rasiej was on the cusp of sweeping into office with a broad new mandate to revolutionize politics.

Massachusetts moves ahead sans Microsoft | CNET News.com Massachusetts has finalized its decision to standardize desktop applications on OpenDocument, a format not supported by Microsoft Office.
The state on Wednesday posted the final version of its Enterprise Technical Reference Model, which mandates new document formats for office productivity applications.
As it proposed late last month before a comment period, Massachusetts has decided to use only products that conform to the Open Document Format for Office Applications, or OpenDocument, which is developed by the standards body OASIS.

Meet WQED personalities, hear about upcoming programming on WQED tv 13, WQED fm 89.3 and Pittsburgh Magazine. This is also a great time for input on issues affecting your community, and how WQED can better serve you. This Community Reception will be held at Robert Morris University.
For more information and to RSVP, call 412-622- 1313.

As an RC, OpenOffice.org 2.0 RC still -- even more so -- needs to be downloaded and tested by the community. You are urged to download and start the application. The sooner we clean up the bugs, the sooner we can come out with OpenOffice.org 2.0.
OpenOffice.org 2.0 is the world's best and easiest to use free productivity suite. Read the product page and features pages for more information.
* Product
* Features
*** NOTE: Windows user with OpenOffice.org's older, beta and past developer builds should remove them prior to the installation of the RC because of an incorrect interpretation of their version information by the Windows Installer. As a matter of course the stable version OpenOffice.org 1.1.x (most recent: 1.1.5) can be used concurrently.
Free Pennsylvania, http://www.freepa.org. It is a highly moderated discussion site for political discussion among those that consider themselves conservatives: whether fiscal, social, or both. There are forums for general discussion, news, and a Campaigns section to discuss the various political campaigns currently being waged. Over the last few days I have had a few friends register and make a few posts in order to make sure that everything is functional. Now that thebugs are worked out (I hope), it’s time to let the masses know that Pennsylvania conservatives finally have a home on the Internet. Please take a moment to register and help to get this community started.
7Online.com, WABC-TV A woman was given a ticket for sitting on a park bench because she doesn't have children.
The Rivington Playground on Manhattan's East Side has a small sign at the entrance that says adults are prohibited unless they are accompanied by a child.
Forty-seven-year-old Sandra Catena says she didn't see the sign when she sat down to wait for an arts festival to start. Two New York City police officers asked her if she was with a child. When she said no, they gave her a ticket that could bring a one thousand dollar fine and 90 days in jail.
The city parks department says the rule is designed to keep pedophiles out of city parks, but a parks spokesman told the Daily News that the department hoped police would use some common sense when enforcing the rule.
The spokesman told the paper that ticketing a woman in the park in the middle of the day is not the way you want to enforce the rule.

Transcript: Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt duck Q: Mr. Roosevelt, do you feel that the current system is able to survive financially with out cutting programs?
Mark_Roosevelt A: We do have serious financial issues. We are spending about 40 million dollars more than we have in revenues. And we have spent down the surplus that we had so that it will be entirely gone at the end of 2006. There will have to be cuts. And we will have to work with the state and the foundation community to gain as much new revenue as possible. But there is no way that this problem can be solved without making some very difficult decisions.



The Forbes Funds is pleased to announce that the 2005 research studies funded under The Tropman Fund for Nonprofit Research are complete. These studies address many of the strategic challenges and opportunities affecting nonprofits in the Pittsburgh region.
You are cordially invited to a special half-day conference on November 2, 2005, featuring these new research findings. At the conclusion of this special event, we will announce the recipient of the fifth annual Alfred W. Wishart, Jr. Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management, as well as present the 2005 Frieda Shapira Medal. Also, The Pittsburgh Foundation will present the Isabel Kennedy Award. (We’ll have lots to celebrate!)
This year's Annual Nonprofit Research Conference is presented in cooperation with Robert Morris University (our host), as well as Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School of Public Policy, Duquesne University’s School of Leadership, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
Wednesday, November 2, 2005, 3:00-4:00 pm Workshops
4:15 pm - 5:30 pm Research and Awards Presentations
5:30 pm Reception
Hosted at the Sewall Center, Robert Morris University, Moon Township Campus, Main Campus, 6001 University Boulevard, Moon Township, PA 15108.
PARKING NOTE. Parking is available in the upper lot for which the campus will have electronic signage posted.
RSVP: Amy Thomas at thomasa@pghfdn.org, accepting RSVPs by e-mail only.
When you RSVP to Amy Thomas, please indicate if you will:
A. Attend a workshop; and, if so, which one. (Please see the list below.)
B. Attend the research and awards presentations.
Or
C. Attend both a workshop and the research and awards presentations.
Three concurrent workshops will be held from 3:00 until 4:00. All rooms are located in the Sewall Center, Robert Morris University, Moon Township Campus. All 3 workshops will be limited to the first 30 respondents.
WORKSHOPS
1. The Cost of Meting Compliance: A Case Study of Challenges, Time Investments and Dollars Spent (please designate this as session 1 for RSVP)
2. Service Clustering: Building Cohesive Public Service Capacity (please designate this as session 2 for RSVP)
3. Why Engage? Understanding the Incentive to Build Nonprofit Capacity (please designate this as session 3 for RSVP)
These 3 research projects will be presented and discussed in brief during the session beginning at 4:15pm in the International Suite at the Sewall Center. (Seating for the research and awards presentations is limited to 300 people.)
Please RSVP soon. We apologize, in advance, if we cannot accommodate your participation in one of the workshops. As with our recent conferences, we will maintain a waiting list, if necessary, and advise you about openings.
We hope you will join us for this special opportunity to explore emerging issues and cutting edge methodologies for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of nonprofit organizations in Pittsburgh.
Peirce for Ohio Governor 2006 - On the Trail -- Can Cleveland Use Property Taxes to Prod Intransigent Developers? Forest City had hyped similar plans in 1989, after it gained control of much of the property, but nothing happened. The convention center's implosion has the company reverting yet again to squirrel mode. "It will sit for a long time," the co-chairman of Forest City, Sam Miller, said of the peninsula.