State accepts Massie anyway?

Apparently, our request to the Office of Elections to remove Massie as candidate for governor has been ignored. He's on the list, and as a Green. This man has no history with the Green Party, did not contact the Greens, signed up as a Green at the same time he filed for office, and wasn't terribly responsive when Jim Sykes tried to contact him repeatedly after his name appeared on the Elections website.

Personally, I don't think that Dae Miles should be running on our ticket, either (the man is actively asking people NOT to vote for him, but to vote for David Guttenberg). I like Guttenberg, but if Miles wants people to support Guttenberg, he should have volunteered for his campaign, not run against him. Miles doesn't have a history with the Greens, either, and also signed with the party on the day of filing. He is hurting both the Green Party and Guttenberg's campaign with this stunt.

This is a serious problem for small parties: every nutcase and wingnut thinks they can simply use the ballot line to get public recognition. This hurts our actual candidates and gives the party a bad name. I see this kind of invasive candidacy as hostile to the Greens, and counter to our values: diverse viewpoints and grassroots participation are very important, but those ten values need to be respected. Candidates such as this do not uphold those values, and by not working with the party, show themselves to scorn accountability from the get-go.

Documents sent to statewide

The State of Alaska, in yet another attempt to get us off the ballot and restrict the voters' choices, has sent us Discovery Requests for just about every document we've ever produced...I suppose to prove that we are indeed an organized political party, as per state law. So I've shipped off a box of minutes, convention notes, flyers, etc. obtained from former secretary Marilyn Russell to our legal beagle, Kevin Morford. I have to go through the many boxes o' stuff and send off more, too. Jim Sykes is doing likewise, and I suppose the other bioregions are digging things up here and there.

The postage is adding up.

Massie to be removed from ballot

The Green Party of Alaska statewide council has sent letter to the Division of Elections requesting Massie's removal from the primary ballot:

The Green Party of Alaska requests that David Massie be removed as a candidate for Governor from the primary ballot pursuant to AS 15.25.042.

The Statewide Council of the Green Party of Alaska has met and reviewed the circumstances of Mr. Massie's filing. Based on information available to the Statewide Council, we find that David Massie has not met the minimum requirement of being registered as a Green Party of Alaska member for 180 days prior to the June 1 filing date.

Under the Green Party of Alaska Bylaws which have been submitted to the Alaska Division of Elections and approved by the US Department of Justice, the Statewide Council is requesting the removal of Mr. Massie under bylaw Article VI, Candidate Endorsement/Challenge, Section 1b as follows:

"Section 1b) Disqualification of Candidates for Public Office and Public

Officials From Holding Party Offices.

A candidate may be removed if, in the judgment of the Statewide Council, she/he appears to be in clear violation of Green Party of Alaska principles and platform, have no previous history with the Green Party of Alaska, or appears to promote ideas and platform positions substantially different from Green Party of Alaska.

A Green Party of Alaska candidate may also be removed from the ballot for the following reasons:

1. If a candidate was not a registered member of the Green Party of Alaska 180 days prior to the Alaska Division of Elections filing deadline, the candidate may be removed from the ballot by the Statewide Council."

Once again since Mr. Massie has not been a registered member of the Green Party for 180 days we asked that he be removed from the primary ballot.

Green candidates in Alaska

I made an entry about this earlier on the Ester Republic blog, but here's an update. Note that a couple of these candidates are simply registered Green, and have not contacted the Green Party (at least not yet) about their candidacies.

State Senate District D:
David P. Braun (Green) - NOT CERTIFIED P.O. Box 222 Healy, AK 99743 Phone: (907) 683-2654

State Representative District 7:
Mark A. Ames (Green) AFC - P.O. Box 71693 Fairbanks, AK 99707 Phone: (907) 457-5096
[Ames has registered recently as a Green, but not recently enough per Green Party rules. I've never seen him at a Green party meeting.]

State Representative District 8:
Dae Miles (Green) - NOT CERTIFIED 2849 Mello Lane Fairbanks, AK 99709 Phone: (907) 457-3236. His website is www.votedae.com
[Miles is an experienced candidate in the Fairbanks area, but I've not seen him at a Green party meeting. I don't think he's served in pubic office.]

United States Representative:
Eva L. Ince (Green) P.O. Box 111426 Anchorage, AK 99511 Phone: (907) 522-1059. Her website is www.evaforcongress.us

Governor:
David M. Massie (Green)- NOT CERTIFIED P.O. Box 240921, Anchorage, AK 99524 Phone: (907) 333-0555