[Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine

[Norm Olsen]

Hello Nick . . .

This is a "no brainer".  This particular case is much more important than all the other current litigations we have underway combined.  If I recall correctly, Maine has accomplished this achievement without significant financial support from the LNC.  I can see no better use of LNC funds than to support this affiliate in this effort.  Funding from the Affiliate Support budget line should also be considered to be available for this purpose.

With regard to recovering court costs, may I remind you of the situation in Colorado.  The Libertarian Party of Colorado sued for ballot access in a recall election (the first in Colorado's 135 years) and won.  That was two years ago and the court costs were $7,700.  LPCO is still awaiting a judgment in its favor with regard to court costs, and is still receiving billings from the attorneys involved.  It may be a long time before the LNC sees this $4,000++ again.

May I ask that you add to the agenda of the contemplated Executive Committee meeting consideration of a directive to Mr. Hall to contact the chair of the LPCO to insure that they have been competently advised on how to proceed with this issue.  Needless to say, LPCO does not have $7,700 to pay this billing. 

Norm
--
Norman T Olsen
Regional Representative, Region 1
Libertarian National Committee
7931 South Broadway, PMB 102
Littleton, CO  80122-2710
303-263-4995

-----Original Message-----
From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of Nicholas Sarwark
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 9:58 AM
To: lnc-business
Subject: [Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine

Dear Fellow LNC Members,

Pursuant to Policy Manual provision Section 2.04(2), I am writing to advise you of a proposed lawsuit to be filed in Maine.

As you may be aware, the Libertarian Party of Maine undertook a voter registration drive to obtain party status by obtaining over 5,000 Libertarian voter registrations by December 1, 2015.  The Libertarian Party of Maine collected and turned in over 6,000 voter registrations.
However, many of those registrations were not processed by the local officials who had them prior to the Secretary of State evaluating whether the party had 5,000 registrations. Per the Secretary of State's office, the Libertarian Party of Maine only had 4,489 registrations by the deadline.  More details here:
http://ballot-access.org/2015/12/09/maine-secretary-of-state-denies-libertarian-partys-ballot-access/

On hearing this news, I asked Oliver Hall to evaluate the cost of filing suit to require the Secretary of State to count the registrations that were turned in prior to the deadline but unprocessed and/or challenge the early deadline (Dec. 1 in the year before the election) as unconstitutionally early.  He has consulted with a colleague of his in Maine  who he has worked with before and would be willing to be co-counsel on the suit in Maine.  The retainer for litigating the entire District Court case would be $4,000, and would include: drafting and filing the complaint; drafting and filing the motion for temporary restraining order/preliminary injunction; preparing supporting affidavits; arguing the motion; and converting the (presumably successful) motion for preliminary relief into one for summary judgment (i.e., permanent relief) and filing that motion.

Per Mr. Hall, "The complaint would probably assert both facial and as-applied challenges to the statute (and the Secretary’s failure to process registrations pursuant thereto) under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and Section 1983. It would request declaratory and injunctive relief. It would also request attorney's fees under Section 1988. Assuming we win, and attorney's fees are awarded, the amount of the fees awarded would be paid to the LNC, as a refund of the retainer fee...."

The attorney in Maine is prepared to work on this case over the weekend to get the case filed ASAP.  It is my intention to seek approval from the Executive Committee today to go forward with this litigation.

I apologize for not giving more notice, but I am writing you as soon as I received an estimate from Mr. Hall.  Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.

Yours truly,
Nick

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