TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

IDAHO INDEPENDENT INTERVENTION

• Idaho independents to intervene in closed primary lawsuit (Fort Mill Times) Either way, American Independent Movement organizer Mitch Campbell said, all the talk about closed primaries has helped the state's independent voters coalesce.
• Idaho Independents to intervene in closed primary lawsuit (Local News 8) and (Fox 12 News KTRV) The attorney, Harry Kresky, says closing the primary would effectively bar any Independent voters from participating in the primary process.
• Beck withdraws from GOP chairman race, endorses Semanko over Sullivan (Idaho Statesman) Sullivan supports open primaries. But after the failure in the Legislature, he finally filed a lawsuit challenging the law, as directed by the Central Committee.

CONROY V. STATE COMMITTEE/MASTER V. POHANKA

• lTop NY court says state party committees have authority (NY Newsday) Elected Local county organizations lose to state committee in court
• FINDLAW: Daily Opinion Summaries for New York Court of Appeals (lennyesq blog)

CAMPAIGN
Poll Shows Obama Leading McCain in New York (City Room/New York Times) Most New York State Democrats in the new survey said that Mr. Obama should pick Mrs. Clinton as his running mate (53 percent to 35 percent), while Republican voters resoundingly opposed the idea (62 percent to 27 percent), as did most independent voters (53 percent to 41 percent).

REFORM

• Politicians are picking voters, instead of the other way around (PennLive/The Patriot News) Redistricting
• Politics with pancakes, the same day (Sioux City Journal/Politically Speaking) Same Day Voter Registration
• Hometown Democracy Filing Federal Suit (WMBB TV Panama City FL) Supporters of the FHD Petition, including national ballot-access expert Gary Sinawski, are optimistic that the federal court will object to what the State and its allies in the development industry have been doing to the citizens' right to petition their government through the initiative process, and will redress the balance in favor of the citizens being able to access the ballot with FHD sooner rather than later.
• Fla. planning amendment sponsors sue (Forbes)
• Notice of Appeal Filed in North Carolina Ballot Access Case (Ballot Access News)
• New York's campaign-finance system blasted (Ithaca Journal)

New York City Independence Party: Voters, not courts, will decide future of the party

The four county chairs of the New York City operation of the Independence Party of New York released the following statement today in response to the Court of Appeals decision to affirm lower court decisions that grant the State Committee the right to authorize non-IP candidates to run on the IP line in the city of New York in all but citywide elections.



"The New York City county organizations continue to control the Independence Party line in citywide elections, including the 2009 races for Mayor, Public Advocate and Comptroller. With our expanding base of support at the local level and thousands of Independence Party members joining county committees in their boroughs, we will continue the fight for democracy in the party. Ultimately, the future of the party will be decided by the voters, not the courts.”



Signed:

Cathy L. Stewart, Chair, New York County Independence Party

Robert Conroy, Chair, Kings County Independence Party

Gerald Everett, Chair, Queens County Independence Party

Sarah D. LyonsChair, Richmond County Independence Party



The decision has the practical effect of giving power to the State Committee over duly elected County Committees on local matters.