Arizona judge declines to kick Green Party ’sham’ candidates from November ballot

AZ Green Party ’sham’ candidates to stay on ballot

PHOENIX — A judge on Tuesday allowed contested Green Party candidates in Arizona to remain on the November ballot, denying a request that they be kicked off because Republicans allegedly recruited them to siphon votes from Democrats.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink found that former Republican lawmaker Steve May recruited several of the 11 disputed candidates in order to take votes away from Democrats.

“The court has no hesitation in finding that each of these candidates was recruited in bad faith with a purpose to confuse the voting public,” Fink wrote.

But the judge also found that the candidates got on the ballot legally and appear to have a legitimate desire to run, even if they were recruited with deceptive motives.

Fink ruled that he would have removed one candidate, Christopher Campbell, from the ballot if Campbell hadn’t already withdrawn. Campbell admitted in a recorded phone call that his motive was to take votes away from Democrats; the judge found that Campbell was recruited by the daughter of Republican Rep. Jim Weiers.

Campbell was the most important target because he’s running for the state Legislature in a competitive district where Democrats believe a Green candidate helped a Republican win a narrow election two years ago, said Paul Eckstein, an attorney for the Democratic Party.

“I hope people take the lesson that this is not conduct to be admired and encouraged, and it’s destructive of the electoral system,” Eckstein said.

The Green and Democratic parties labeled 11 of the Green Party’s nominees “sham candidates.” Most of those candidates have since withdrawn.

The candidates and their backers argued that they wanted to take votes from both major parties. But the judge found that the presence of a Green Party candidate would be more likely to siphon votes from Democrats than from Republicans.

Three disputed Green Party nominees remain candidates: Theodore Gomez, running for corporation commissioner; Anthony Goshorn, running for state Senate; and Thomas Meadows, running for state treasurer.

Goshorn said he’s pleased with the ruling, and if he’s elected he hopes to make it harder for political parties to bring a case against candidates like him.

“I don’t want to steal votes,” he said. “I want to earn them, and I’m going to work 10 times harder to do that.”

The disputed candidates got on the ballot using a provision in state law that applies only to the Green Party. It allows people in some cases to become a Green Party nominee with a single write-in vote. The Green Party last week challenged that provision in federal court, arguing that it’s unconstitutional because it requires the party to associate itself with people who don’t share its views.

A federal judge also declined to kick the candidates off the ballot but he kept the case alive to consider the constitutionality of the provision being challenged.