Posted on 10/19/2004 1:34:11 PM PDT by orangelobster
CINCINNATI - A federal appeals court has ruled that it would not grant presidential candidate Ralph Nader an injunction to block a lower court's order that removed him from the Ohio ballot.
Nader had appealed an Oct. 12 ruling by U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus, who refused to place the independent on the ballot because of fraud by signature collectors.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in its decision Monday that Nader could not demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of the case.
"The state administrative hearing officer found substantial evidence of fraud by the petition circulators which is supported by the evidence," the decision said.
The panel also denied Nader's request for an expedited appeal. It was not immediately clear when the court would hear the case.
Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, said he had not seen the ruling but was pleased that the court denied the injunction.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestate.com ...
Unless petition circulators turned in lists with nothing but names like Elmer Fudd and Mickey Mouse, those names were added by saboteurs who sought to invalidate the Nader petitions.
Hardly seems fair to toss out a candidate's request to appear on the ballot because some bitter Democrats didn't want him to be successful.
"The state administrative hearing officer found substantial evidence of fraud by the petition circulators which is supported by the evidence," the decision said."
What is the nature of this evidence that shows fraud by the petition circulators? Unregistered voters (but real peoples?).
BTW, I found a Donald Duck registered in some state (Tennessee?) and he's even in the phone book.
"Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said the ruling meant Nader's attempt to get on the Ohio ballot now rests with the Ohio Supreme Court."
Yeah, you can bet that there were hordes of sleazy moveon-type people volunteering to work for Nader and signing petitions with ridiculous names to undermine his campaign. Add the Edwards team of Ambulence Chasing Lawyers harassing the Nader camp with frivolous lawsuits and you see that the Dem. party has become the anti-free speech party.
There is still hope that the State Supreme Court can reverse this. This decision bears close watching.
The Rats have a long tradition of keeping "certain" names off of the ballot. Lyndon LaRouche always runs as a Democrat but his name is kept off of many primary ballots illegally (through Rat judges).
Bummer.
Go Ralph! Go Ralph! Go Ralph!
I can't believe this is not major news. Seems more important than photoshopping dan rather into compromising photographs. I hope people can keep their eye on the ball.
2004: the year of systematic disenfranchisement of Nader voters.
The message of Nader is communism and that there is no difference between Kerry and Bush.
There are conservatives who won't vote for Bush and there are leftists who won't vote for Kerry. If their fringe candidate isn't on the ballot, they won't vote. It's a matter of principle with wacko fringe third party types, or at least the overwhelming majority of them.
"There is an assumption here and among Democrats, not to mention the MSM, that Nader votes are Kerry votes that are taken away. "
Yes, I do assume that. I'll never forget how Ross Perot took a sizeable chunk of the Bush Sr. votes and we ended up with clinton would pulled somewhere like 42 percent of the vote, a percentage lower than kerry or bush will get this year.
Nader has some valid points that appeal to both Dems. and Republicans, but obviously more to Dems. Never forget the Perot years as I suspect we will be in store for another such split in 08.
I don't think Nader makes any points that appeal to Republicans. Enlighten me.
I'll concede that Nader may take some Democratic votes in states which are already decided. There are some realistic Anybody But Bush voters who know that voting for Nader won't make a difference to the election outcome. But I don't think Nader makes a difference in a close election.
And the constitution party takes it from both ends...
How many non-battleground states has Nader's ballot been opposed?
I'm in Ohio.
Where, pray tell, did you get that bit of information?
I'm curious.
This is good news - it keeps Nader out of the ballot battle that will ensue. That last thing we need is two "disenfranchised" candidates bitching to the court.
Here's the thread about Nader/Ohio from earlier today.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1250220/posts
It's important that Nader gets on the ballot. Obviously he's already been all but bankrupted by the Kerry court challenges.
Uh, yeah. You just posted this thread.
I'm asking about the poll numbers for Nader.
4%? No way.
"How many non-battleground states has Nader's ballot been opposed?"
I'm not sure as I only keep track of the few states that are close, but I've read that Kerry's people have opposed Nader in many states by filing nuisance lawsuits and making false claims (similar to the concept of the 'pre-emptive attacks' outlined in the DNC handbook). In Ohio and Penn. they have challenged the validity of petitions. In florida Nader got on the same ticket that Perot used and the dems. claimed that this is no longer a bona fide party.
If for no other reason, these Nader court challenges bear close watching as the same techniques will be used by the Dems. on November 3 after the Bush win.
"Uh, yeah. You just posted this thread.
I'm asking about the poll numbers for Nader.
4%? No way."
Uh, yeah, you asked where I got the info. Where do you get this notion that Nader would make a court challenge to a bush victory... as long as you're interested in contrarian arguments.
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