Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Romney Supporters Fail to Remove Gary Johnson from Iowa Ballot
Gary Johnson will be on the ballot in Iowa, despite an attempt by Mitt Romney supporters to have his name removed.
Last week, Iowa voters Gloria Mazza of Clive and Dean Montgomery of Urbandale challenged Johnson’s right to be on the Iowa ballot. They, along with witness Jay Kramer, claimed that the Libertarian Party of Iowa held a fake convention and that they did not have delegates.
Kramer, who is the Election Day operations manager for the Mitt Romney campaign in Iowa, claimed that he only saw one person walking around in a Gary Johnson t-shirt at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, where the Libertarian convention was held. He says that the Libertarians had people walking around and asking people to sign up as delegates, rather than holding a convention.
Many Ron Paul supporters in Iowa have considered the Libertarian ticket, and that has the Romney campaign very nervous. After the treatment they received at the hands of the Republican National Committee, many are not sure who to vote for in November. In order to block a possible upset, the Romney people tried to remove Johnson completely.
It is believed that Johnson, who is a former Republican, would take votes away from Mitt Romney. Third party candidates are sometimes viewed as “spoilers” in swing states, and could allow Obama to carry Iowa, rather than the Republican candidate.
“This was clearly a setup,” said Alicia Dearn, attorney for the Johnson campaign. ““The Libertarian Party had 2,000 petition signatures and should have been on the ballot without challenge, as they have always done in the past,” said Dearn. “But Republican Iowa Secretary of State Schultz — in violation of longstanding Iowa law — rejected the petition and required the Johnson campaign to caucus at the state fair. There, the Romney campaign watched the Johnson campaign’s activities for the sole purpose of bringing this eleventh-hour challenge.”
The challenge claimed that the signatures should be thrown out, because the signers weren’t registered Libertarians. Iowa has a pristine record for allowing third-party candidates on the ballot.
The Romney campaign hired a Des Moines-based law firm to argue the challenge before the panel, confirming the suspicion that the campaign was behind the attempt at ousting Johnson.
Full article: http://theunconventi … on-from-iowa-ballot/
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