Excerpted from the Star News Online:
New Hanover County Commissioner Brian Berger … submitted an application to the county Board of Elections Thursday afternoon to switch back to the Libertarian Party.
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Berger ran for commissioner in 2008 as a Libertarian and lost, but switched to the Republican Party before his successful election in 2010.
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This move also brings up questions regarding Berger’s pending removal from the Board of Commissioners.
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In a typical situation if a commissioner steps down or is removed, his or her party has the opportunity to nominate someone to fill the vacancy. But for Berger will this mean the party he was affiliated with during the election or the party at the time of removal?
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And here is a “timeline” of Berger’s supposedly erratic behavior, also from the Star News Online.
Independent Political Report makes no judgment about the allegations against Mr. Berger, but it looks to us like the establishment insiders are overreacting.
The hot issue for third-parties and independents is what happens to Berger’s seat if he is removed. There is an open question whether it goes to the party under whose banner he was elected, or the one where he is currently registered.
Thanks to Paulie and Ballot Access News for the tip.
@4 lol, random
It’s good the Libertarian Party picked up an offical. Berger has been in the news, he’s unstable, irratic, and has a lot of issues the Libertarians probably don’t want to deal with. He’s not a good “face” for the state party.
Well, it wouldn’t be fair to pick one or the other, so why not give it to the American Freedom Party instead?
#1, state legislatures frequently forget to write a law on how to replace independent candidates. When Arizona had an independent state legislator who resigned last year, there was no statutory provision so the county government made up a procedure. In Arizona, county governments have a role to play in replacing state legislators who leave office in the middle of the term. The county government, by law, gets recommendations from the political party that the ex-legislator was a member of. The county government last year appointed a committee of independent voters who made recommendations for a new independent legislator.
The LP should be allowed to pick. The R’s will most likely object and get the pick instead.
If it’s up to the party in the case of vacancies, what happens if it’s an independent?