[Lnc-business] Good News for LPOH!

[Alicia Mattson]

This is excellent news.  For those of you who are relatively new to the
LNC, this plot in Ohio has dragged on for a long time, and it's full of the
dirtiest, most underhanded abuse of power by the GOP establishment there.
The GOP governor didn't want competition on the ballot which he thought
would pull away some of his votes.

Without researching, off the top of my head, maybe I can approximate the
story somewhat.  It's a complex plot, but LPOH had maintained this status
for many years, and they lost it over a dispute about whether a contractor
had to fill in a blank listing an "employer" on some candidate petitions.
There was a legal fight over it, and it went to some non-judge
administrative resolution process.  The LPOH had an attorney who was able
to fish out evidence that the decider in that hearing initially wrote and
was planning to issue a ruling in favor of the LPOH.  Then he got a phone
call at the 11th hour (was it from the SOS office? or some other such
operative of the governor's) that leaned on the hearing officer, and
suddenly he changed his mind and ruled the other way.  With that candidate
disqualified, the LPOH couldn't maintain their party status.  The
legislature has played games with the laws trying to keep the LP from
re-establishing their status.  So this petition drive may have "only" been
16 months, but the bigger picture for why it was necessary is a much
longer, ugly story.

-Alicia




On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 1:14 PM, Elizabeth Van Horn via Lnc-business <
lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:

> To clarify, this is stage one.  Ohio has until Monday to file a challenge,
> which they may do.
>
> But, LPOH is in good spirits after a 16 month long-haul effort, so are
> hopeful.
>
> ---
> Elizabeth Van Horn
>
>
>
> On 2018-07-12 16:08, Elizabeth Van Horn via Lnc-business wrote:
>
>> Harold Thomas, the LP Ohio state Chair, just reported that the Ohio
>>    Secretary of State has recognized the LP as a minor party.  A letter
>>    was sent from the state's general counsel a few minutes ago confirming
>>    that 60,294 valid signatures are recognized.
>>
>>    --
>>    Elizabeth Van Horn
>>    LNC Region 3 (IN, MI, OH, KY)
>>    Secretary Libertarian Party of Madison Co, Indiana
>>    LP Social Media Process Review Committee
>>    Vice-Chair Libertarian Pragmatist Caucus
>>    [1]http://www.lpcaucus.org/
>>
>> References
>>
>>    1. http://www.lpcaucus.org/
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
   This is excellent news.  For those of you who are relatively new to the
   LNC, this plot in Ohio has dragged on for a long time, and it's full of
   the dirtiest, most underhanded abuse of power by the GOP establishment
   there.  The GOP governor didn't want competition on the ballot which he
   thought would pull away some of his votes.
   Without researching, off the top of my head, maybe I can approximate
   the story somewhat.  It's a complex plot, but LPOH had maintained this
   status for many years, and they lost it over a dispute about whether a
   contractor had to fill in a blank listing an "employer" on some
   candidate petitions.  There was a legal fight over it, and it went to
   some non-judge administrative resolution process.  The LPOH had an
   attorney who was able to fish out evidence that the decider in that
   hearing initially wrote and was planning to issue a ruling in favor of
   the LPOH.  Then he got a phone call at the 11th hour (was it from the
   SOS office? or some other such operative of the governor's) that leaned
   on the hearing officer, and suddenly he changed his mind and ruled the
   other way.  With that candidate disqualified, the LPOH couldn't
   maintain their party status.  The legislature has played games with the
   laws trying to keep the LP from re-establishing their status.  So this
   petition drive may have "only" been 16 months, but the bigger picture
   for why it was necessary is a much longer, ugly story.
   -Alicia

   On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 1:14 PM, Elizabeth Van Horn via Lnc-business
   <[1]lnc-business at hq.lp.org> wrote:

     To clarify, this is stage one.  Ohio has until Monday to file a
     challenge, which they may do.
     But, LPOH is in good spirits after a 16 month long-haul effort, so
     are hopeful.
     ---
     Elizabeth Van Horn

   On 2018-07-12 16:08, Elizabeth Van Horn via Lnc-business wrote:

     Harold Thomas, the LP Ohio state Chair, just reported that the Ohio
        Secretary of State has recognized the LP as a minor party.  A
     letter
        was sent from the state's general counsel a few minutes ago
     confirming
        that 60,294 valid signatures are recognized.
        --
        Elizabeth Van Horn
        LNC Region 3 (IN, MI, OH, KY)
        Secretary Libertarian Party of Madison Co, Indiana
        LP Social Media Process Review Committee
        Vice-Chair Libertarian Pragmatist Caucus
        [1][2]http://www.lpcaucus.org/
     References
        1. [3]http://www.lpcaucus.org/

References

   1. mailto:lnc-business at hq.lp.org
   2. http://www.lpcaucus.org/
   3. http://www.lpcaucus.org/