TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

REFORM California nonpartisan redistricting..... Missouri open primaries..... Maine initiative and referendum.... North Carolina fair ballot access.... Oklahoma ballot access

• CA: Proposition 11 levels the redistricting playing field (Mercury News)
• CA: House Dems oppose Calif. redistricting measure (Daily Comet)
• MO: In our view: Consider local races (Joplin Globe) Our recommendation is that party affiliation is secondary to ensuring that competent people are elected to our county offices.
• ME: AUGUSTA Charter panel mulls petitions and their limits (Kennebec Journal)
• NC: Ballot laws hurt democracy-N.C. obstructions thwart third parties, independents (Daily Tarheel, UNC)
• OK: Barr fight: Ballot access is candidate's focus (NewsOK.com, The Oklahoman Editorial)

BONUSGATE PENNSYLVANIA

• Green Party candidate wants case reopened (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Bonusgate, a distraction we don’t need (The Sentinel) Meanwhile, a serious reform — a constitutional amendment to take partisanship out of the redistricting process — languished in committee, which means it can’t be passed in time for the next round of reapportionment following the 2010 census.
• Something’s Rotten in the State of Pennsylvania (Dissident Voice) Bonusgate involved the use of state employees to challenge the nominating petitions of Ralph Nader in 2004 (Also see Political Profiling in Pennsylvania, CounterPunch )

THIRD PARTY NEWS
Editorial: Barkley: IP gets a serious candidate (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• New Hampshire activist Betty Ward invites independents to participate in IndependentPrimary.com where you can vote for your favorite candidate online until Dec. 18 (Concord Monitor)


• FAIR.org says "The Lou Dobbs Primary" is a media forum for immigration issue, not a dialogue for voters ( Media Advisory)


• Ron Paul supporters make strong showing at National Presidential Caucus in Winston Salem (WINSTON SALEM JOURNAL)


• New Jersey legislature will consider a bill to require county committees of political parties (D & R) to have consitutions, bylaws (NY Times)


• Obama rocks the Apollo (by HERB BOYD, Special to the AmNews)


• The Oprah Factor (The State)


• Carl Romanelli was removed from the 2006 ballot in his campaign against Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and then Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, after enough of the more than 95,000 signatures were ruled invalidated by the board of elections. Romanelli needed 67,000 to get on the ballot as an independent candidate during that race. He's still fighting. (Citizens Voice)


• In spite of dismissal of indictment, Oklahoma 3 charged again in TABOR petition drive case--no surprise there (The Journal Record) and (KTEN Local News)


• Azi Paybarah reports on the "media scrum" where Bill Clinton lauded Mayor Bloomberg (The Politicker)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents understand hypocrisy--If you consider yourself a political independent, you probably should visit www.independentvoting.org (Columbian)
• Americans feel we are "seriously off on the wrong track" but Repubs prefer to "stay the course" (Los Angeles Times)
• Lively Obama/Clinton contest, Netroots rooting inside the box (Politico)
• Carl Romanelli, county Green Party co-chairman, suspicious of Pennsylvania plan for independent voters in candidate cross-filed elections (Wilkes Barre Times Leader)
• The small divided Green Party (Dissident Voice-by Joshua Frank)
• In Kentucky, pol calls for independent ethics commission (News Enterprise)
• In Washington, elitist party system excludes independent (LETTER to HeraldNet)
• In North Carolina, Sam Smith wants nonpartisan elections (Charlotte Observer)
• Kinky Friedman eyeing gubernatorial bid as Democrat (Houston Chronicle)

AIN'T EASY BEING GREEN

FILM SCREENING: A 92 MINUTE DOCUMENTARY

MONDAY APRIL 9, 2007
STITELER HALL AUDITORIUM (ROOM B6)
AT THE CORNER OF 208 S. 37TH STREET (BETWEEN WALNUT AND LOCUST STREETS AT 37TH STREET)
PHILADELPHIA, PA
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
5:30-6:30pm- There will be dinner and mingling.
6:30-8:00pm- Film screening.
8:00-9:00pm- Panel Discussion with reps from Annenberg, PoliSci Dept. and History Dept.

Morse-Levin Productions Presents:
AIN'T EASY BEING GREEN
Directed by Stephen Robert Morse
Edited by Matthew Langhirt
Ain't Easy Being Green depicts the obstacles faced by Carl Romanelli, the Green Party's nominee for United States Senator from Pennsylvania in 2006. A quirky character who set himself apart from the other candidates in this race, Romanelli battled numerous legal challenges from the Democratic Party, because Democrats across the nation were furious that he would spoil the election. But Carl Romanelli did not go away quietly, and this is his story.

Cosponsored by: Political Science Department, Wharton Venture Initiation Program, History Undergraduate Advisory Board, PoliComm, Women's Studies Undergraduate Advisory Board, 34th Street Magazine, The Middle East Forum at Penn, and the Libertarian Speaker Committee.

THIS SCREENING IS COMPLETELY FREE. PLEASE BRING ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS, RELATIVES, AND ANYONE INTERESTED IN POLITICS!

Pennsylvania: US Supreme Court considering whether to hear Carl Romanelli case

U.S. Supreme Court Disposition of 4 Election Law Cases Expected on February 20
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to hear four particular election law cases at its February 16 conference. The results will not be released to the public until February 20. The 4 cases include three ballot access cases: (1) Pennsylvania petition-checking procedures, filed by Carl Romanelli; (2) Illinois petition-checking procedures for initiatives, filed by the Protect Marriage Initiative organization; (3) New York petition requirements for candidates getting on a primary ballot for Delegate to Judicial Conventions. The 4th case is from Utah and concerns whether a state may require all initiatives on one particular subject to fail unless they receive a “yes” vote of two-thirds. (Ballot Access News)