Luis Rodriguez, longtime antigang activist in the Chicano community has joined the Rocky Anderson ticket as the candidate for Vice-President.
“The search for a highly competent, dignified, principled running mate has been arduous,” Rocky stated. “Luis exceeds any expectations I had. He will inform, uplift, and motivate in this campaign, just as he does every day in his inspirational work.”
Luis Rodriguez is “co-founder of the Network for Revolutionary Change, trying to fill the gap of strategic and unified leadership among the poor, the pushed-out, the dismissed, and forgotten. He’s also co-founder of the nonprofit Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore and its publishing wing, Tia Chucha Press, in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles.”
Best known for his “bestselling 1993 memoir Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.” Rodriguez has written 15 books and had articles published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The LA Weekly, The Nation, The Progressive and other periodicals.
Rocky Anderson notes that “Unlike most candidates for high public office, Luis brings with him a wealth of knowledge and real-life experience, inspirational personal growth, and proven commitment to social, economic, and environmental justice. Such justice is an essential element of a nation committed to equal opportunity, peace, and genuine freedom for all.”
Full profile of the Justice Party candidate for Vice-President @ http://www.voterocky.org/vice_presidential_candidate_luis_rodriguez?utm_campaign=vp&recruiter_id=47806&utm_medium=email&utm_source=voterocky
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@46 weird….
#31 Rob Sherman has confirmed that the Stein campaign opposed the challenges.
Paulie, see http://www.uncoveredpolitics.com/2012/07/19/independent-greens-help-to-put-virgil-goode-on-virginia-ballot/
#31 Where did Sherman say this?
Independent Greens gathered sigs for themselves. They’ll sell the line to the highest bidder. Goode already got his own signatures, separately.
#9 Jill Stein did a lot of reaching out to Rocky Anderson, but to little avail.
How are they assisting Goode?
@37 I have much respect for the Independent Greens of Virginia, which is another reason why I saw the member’s comments as ironic.
They are a group of conservative Greens that nominated Chuck Baldwin for president in 2008, so I’m not surprised that they are assisting Goode in this cycle.
@ “Just saying” nonsense. Born in the US = natural born citizen. Doesn’t matter who your parents were. I’m just saying….
The big question for both PSl and Rocky is who gets the California line.
The PSL will probably be on more ballots than the Justice Party this year. If Anderson runs again in four years, I think he’ll have a better chance at getting on more ballots.
He did change his mind, but it was too late:
http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/07/23/four-presidential-candidates-removed-from-illinois-ballot/
Four Presidential Candidates Removed from Illinois Ballot
July 23rd, 2012
“On July 23, Illinois election officials removed Virgil Goode (Constitution Party), Stewart Alexander (Socialist Party), Rocky Anderson (Justice Party), and Michael Hawkins (Together Enhancing America Party) from the November 2012 ballot.
The man who had challenged their petitions had decided to withdraw his challenges to their petitions. But the hearing officer refused to let him speak, so he wasn’t able to withdraw the challenges.”
I would take anything the Cook County chair said with a grain of salt or two. He didn’t make any claim like that to me. I’m reporting it as he said. I agree with #30. It’s hypocritical, but he didn’t seem troubled.
I’m inclined to take Stein at her word, also Howie Hawkins, the Georgia Green Party, myself and other Greens who’ve objected to restricting ballot access in any way. ILGP chair Phil Huckleberry has written a lengthy account of his opposition to the Cook County’ chair’s action, which I will ask to see if I can forward here.
As for the off your meds comment. It is always the case. When any person or group do not have a POLITICAL response to a political arguement- they do PERSONAL smears instead.
Oh and I do put it out there that Bob Sherman may have been lying about the Jill Stein campaign asking him to do this. I am simply reporting that this is what he himself said.
Scott West
According to Illinois Cooke County Green Party chairman Bob Sherman himself (the guy who did the actual challenging) he did so under the directions of the Jill Stein campaign and the National Green Party “leadership.” Also- to dispel the “spin” (i.e. lies) that this saw Bob Sherman alone that did this, he had the assistance of the Cook County Green Party lawyer.
I suspect that this has been a PR disaster for the Greens and is the reason that the Jill Stein campaign is now asking him to withdraw.
Too late- the damage is done.
29,000 raw for 25,000 valid wouldn’t have survived a challenge. His position is ludicrous and hypocritical.
Constitution Party probably would have qualified under his personal challenge standard – getting the number of signatures Democrats and Republicans need in the primaries – but they didn’t know he would do this, so they quit as it was obvious they would not get close to 25k (much less 50k or 75k if you really want to be challenge proof).
I’m co-chair of the SC Green Party. After learning about the challenges here and on Ballot Access News, I called spoke to Cook County GP chair on the phone, asking him to withdraw the challenges. He refused for personal reasons: since the ILGP had actually collected legally-sufficient signatures, he was personally offended that anyone else would get on the ballot with only one or two token signatures. It begins and ends there. No further discussion possible, really.
Jill Stein was among those who wrote him asking him to withdraw the challenges.
Extremely low.
I would not bank on NJ and WA. It doesn’t sound like much, but LP almost missed WA and MS (and did miss LA) due to filing paperwork delays and errors in 2008. A thousand valid sounds really easy, but shockingly often is not.
Collecting and collecting enough are two different things. I discussed viable options for getting on in those states with Rocky’s campaign. They had no money at all to commit to any of them. It’s possible, but unlikely, that they could have really dedicated volunteers in exactly the right states, but volunteers that productive are rare – even the LP has only a very tiny handful of people in the whole country who volunteer even hundreds of signatures.
Paying lowball rates for petitions right now is not likely to succeed either. There are many states with good packages of petitions right now and no one will travel somewhere to get a low rate. You are far more likely to hire someone who does not produce what they promise or just wastes your time altogether. Finding and hiring good petitioners, and getting volunteers to actually produce significant numbers, are both very hard. Even more so when you need them in specific states.
I agree that it sounds doable on paper, but I’m not sure Rocky’s team has really figured out that they have to do it to be on in all those states and what it takes, or if they have, it may be that they just can’t raise even that much money.
That’s states already in the bag. Greens have 21 using that measure. I’m sure Greens will have a lot more than 21. Not sure how many more Rocky will get, but hopefully at least some.
Wildly optimistic, but I don’t fault candidates for putting forward their most optimistic possible outcome.
Johnson still says all 50 (presumably plus DC) everywhere he goes, although Oklahoma is up to the courts and by most accounts a hail mary pass, and many of the rest are still far from assured.
js @ 22:
It wouldn’t hurt for you to actually read Amendment 14 to the US Constitution. That one overturned the “Dred Scott” decision that you’re referring to.
Unless *you* seek to destroy the US by telling lies about what the US Constitution actually says. Be honest.
(sigh)
PEACE
@14 – He was born to Mexican nationals, making him a natural Mexican and ineligible for office. Please stop spreading lies. If you want to destroy America, do it honestly.
Ironically, @8 “Green Party Voter” links to the Independent Greens of Virginia, whose website advocates for “More Candidates, Less Apathy” and here he is arguing in favor of the Stein/Sherman strategy.
Michael Cavlan, Word is getting out that you are not taking your medication.
Oh and ROCKY ROCKS. Stellar VP choice.
Been very busy- campaigning.
Rocky will be on the ballot in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The teams of volunteers are already in place and gathering sigs.
The difference between the Justice Party and the Greens? The Justice Party are actually willing to work with people. The Greens simply arrogantly demand that people work under them. Refusing to hear or ask themselves why people will not do so.
Then there is the Illinois deal. Word is getting out that according to the Illinois Cook County Chair- who challenged other third party folks- did so under the directions and orders of the National Greens. Including the Jill Stein campaign.
@16
As I’ve said, anyone can remember and spew talking points. However, Stein cannot match Rocky’s record of actual accomplishment and executive experience as the former Mayor of Salt Lake City.
Many voters prefer for a candidate to have a record of tangible results. For those on the left with this mindset, Rocky is a significantly different choice than Stein. Why should these voters not have that choice available to them?
@16 No it’s not. Rocky Anderson and the Greens stand for the exact same things. Seriously. I defy any “Just” to give me one tangible diference between the Justice Party and the Green Party.
@9 Rocky SHOULD join the Green Party because we have a preexisting base of activists and elected officials that are trying hard to break into higher offices. Having two different parties with the same values makes it harder for both parties to win political power.
@8 Typical Green trying to restrict choices for voters.
According to my Wikipedia, he was born in El Paso (which is in the US) making him eligible for the office.
According to wikipedia, Luis Rodriguez was born a Mexican national.
Thus he is ineligible for the office of Vice-President.
Rocky Anderson and the Justice party should be shamed for participating in such a treasonous travesty.
Richard… what are the chances this ticket will be on in enough places to have a theoretical chance to win?
Austin, chances are the Michigan Natural Law Party and the Connecticut Independent Party will nominate Anderson.
@Humongous
OK, off the top of my head…
He’s already on in Utah, New Mexico, Mississippi and Oregon. That’s 4.
Unless they’re asleep at the wheel… he’ll get on in Colorado, Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Tennessee and Washington State. That’s 6 more, which gets him to 10 total.
Minnesota and Wisconsin are 2,000 signatures each. Doable if he can find a couple supporters in each state or if he’s got enough cash to fund a rapid petition drive.
Same for Iowa, Idaho and Arkansas… all three have low enough bars that if he’s able to hire some petitioners, he ought to be able to scoop them for a few thousand dollars each.
There’s always a chance the NY Independence Party puts him on the ballot, although they probably wouldn’t.
He’s contesting the Peace and Freedom nomination in California.
He’s involved in a lawsuit for Vermont.
I’ve heard they’re collecting petitions in Rhode Island.
If everything above goes perfectly, that’s 19 states. But as we know, NOTHING ever works out that well, so I pegged it at 12-15 for the final total.
Under 10 would be almost difficult to accomplish at this point, unless his campaign is just totally off the rails.
#8
Why didn’t the Greens work with Rocky? It works both ways.
Rocky and his VP should join the Green Party and run as congressional candidates.
The authority on Ballot Access, Richard Winger at Ballot Access News has Rocky on in only 5 states.
Rocky is dumb to not work with the Greens.
Although, Dr. Stein, gentle and gracious nominee continues to speak with respect, and kindness about Rocky.
He lost my respect months ago for his refusal to work with Greens.
Thanks Paulie,
I thought I heard him say 30 on a radio interview the other day.
30 states requires a much bigger petitioning effort than Rocky has been able to put together. Same goes for 15 states. There aren’t all that many of the ballot qualified one state parties and they won’t all necessarily nominate him, sorry.
Those other parties have one or two states each, there’s only a tiny handful of them, and he may or may not get them all. That won’t get him anywhere near 30. California is the big question (P & F) and that has yet to be determined.
Rocky is also seeking the nomination of other parties. I think he will be on in over 30.
@2 sounds optimistic.
I think less then 10 is much more likely.
I’d suspect best case scenario is between 12 and 15 states.
How’s da Justice Party doin for ballot access?