Michelle M asked about what Roche's DFL endorsement beef was against Dibble.
My recollection is that Roche said that Dibble, as a member (and Board member) of Progressive Minnesota was a member of another party, and therefore ineligible under DFL rules to receive DFL endorsement. I don't know what jurisdiction the Sec of State has in such an internal (DFL) party matter. In any case, it was asserted (both by DFL and Progressive Minnesota leaders, I believe) that PM was not in fact a distinct party, but more of the nature of a caucus. It had once been a sort-of distinct party circa 1996, a Minnesota branch of the (now defunct?) national New Party. Though it (usually?) only endorsed (progressive) DFL candidates. Incidently the New Party is to be congratulated for suing Minnesota in about 1996 on the issue of fusion candidacies, whereby a candidate could be endorsed by two (or more) distinct parties, and appear on the ballot showing each party's designation. This has been done in several states, certainly in NY since at least the '50s. (Ken Keating, James Buckley, Jacob Javits were NY senators who all carried dual endorsements.) The New Party won in district court, forcing our legislature to pass a (grossly inadequete) fusion law for one year, until AG Humphrey was able to send lawyers from his office to argue against fusion at the Supreme Court. The New Party argued freedom of association. Our Minnesota attorneys were put in the embarrassing position of arguing fusion would confuse our voters, only to have a Justice from NY say New Yorkers must be smarter than Minnesotans because they had been using for 50(?) years without difficulty. BTW, fusion candidacy would enable third parties to gain footholds because it holds them harmless from the "wasted vote syndrome" argument. (Candidate A gets the sum of the votes cast for her on the multiple party lines.) It also allows voters to send clearer messages. (I'll vote for Javitis as a Liberal Party candidate, though I might not as a Republican Party candidate.) So fusion is a reform with similar impact as Instant Runoff Voting. But why would the Legislature or the AG's office want to empower voters or help third parties? Thanks for trying, New's. Alan Shilepsky Downtown Mpls. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
