Arkansas

[palmspringsbum]

Lendall faces different kind of campaign


Saturday, July 1, 2006 6:11 PM CDT
The Benton Courier


<img class=postimg src=bin/lendall-jim.jpg align=right>Jim Lendall of Mabelvale stopped by Thursday to talk about his quest for the Governor's Mansion as the nominee for the Green Party of Arkansas.

Lendall doesn't expect to have to pack boxes and move out of his three-bedroom Mabelvale home and head to Little Rock to correct Janet Huckabee's choice of wallpaper.

But he believes that the issues espoused by the Green Party of Arkansas and the fight to become a recognized candidate to present them are important.

“Ballot access has actually become more difficult since the 1950s,” Lendall said. “At one time, a third-party or independent candidate needed only 50 signatures to get on the ballot for any office in the state.”

The American Civil Liberties filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday in which the state Green Party challenged Arkansas rules on third-party access to election ballots, arguing that the state violates the Constitution by using different rules for independent candidates.

The state Greens sued the state over its denial of signatures submitted to be placed on the Nov. 7 general election ballot. The suit contends that the state unfairly uses a different standard for third parties from the one it uses for independent candidates.

The ACLU argued that the state's rules for third parties violate the First and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

In May, the Green Party turned in about 18,000 signatures, far fewer than the 24,171 required for the secretary of state to certify a new political party, according to state law.

The law requires third parties to submit the number of signatures equal to 3 percent of the total votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election. Independent candidates are required to submit only 10,000 valid voter signatures to get on the ballot.

The ACLU has asked the court for a speedy decision.

The case represents the third time since 1996, the group said, that the issue of third parties has been in a federal court in Arkansas.

In 1996, U.S. District Judge George Howard ruled that the different rules for third parties and independent candidates violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Howard's ruling allowed the Reform Party to remain on the general election ballot.

Howard also ruled in 2001 that Sarah Marsh be included as a Green Party candidate in the special election to fill Asa Hutchinson's congressional seat.

It will be Howard hearing the case again this time, too, Lendall said.

Despite Howard's rulings, the Legislature, chock full of Democrats and Republicans, hasn't found the time to change the laws.

It sounds to me like Judge Howard isn't likely to change his mind. The laws should be changed.

People have shown plenty of dissatisfaction with our two major parties. Voters deserve another choice if one is available. Despite their personal allegiances, legislators should make access to the ballot available to people willing to give them those choices.

“The Republicans are right wing,” Lendall said, “and the Democrats are the moderate wing of the Republican Party.”

American history is covered with examples of third parties (sometimes one-issue parties) and independent candidates being the original source of issues that eventually became main-stream for the major parties.

These candidates and parties sometimes have important things to add to the discussion.

Lendall, who was elected to the Legislature as an independent candidate in 1988, when he lived in the Hillcrest area of Little Rock, returned as a Democrat in 1999, after he had moved to Mabelvale. He served for six years before being term-limited.

“People tell me that liberals can't be elected in Arkansas,” he said. “I tell them ‘I've been elected four times.' ”

He said there are important issues such as ballot access, environmental protections, economic justice and others (on his Web site) that need to be heard.

Lendall said he realized that some of the issues that he advocated, such as medical marijuana, were not necessarily popular, but he tried to advance the debate, inform people and make progress.

And that's what he's doing in this campaign for governor.

jimlendall2006.com

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Mike Dougherty is city editor of the Benton Courier. His column appears Sunday and Thursday.

doughertywriter@yahoo.com