Kennedy Campaign in Dispute with Natural Law Party Organizer Over Ballot Access Contract

Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly engaged in a dispute with a third party advocate who initially attempted to revive the Natural Law Party for Kennedy to later use as a way to help the campaign with ballot access.

According to an article published in the Bulwark on Thursday, Joe Wendt, a third party advocate and former chair of Florida’s Reform Party, attempted to revive the Natural Law Party earlier this year to help the Kennedy campaign achieve ballot access in Florida. Wendt, who was recruited for the task after historian Darcy Richardson and Ballot Access News editor Richard Winger allegedly pitched the idea of reconstituting the party, planned to reorganize the party and hold a convention to nominate Kennedy. To that end, he entered into a formal agreement where he would later give control of it to Kennedy’s allies.

The effort initially received enthusiastic support from the Kennedy campaign, leading to a $10,000-a-month consulting contract between Wendt and the campaign. However, a combination of “bureaucratic delays and mistakes,” as well as the complicated nature of the contract, eventually led to a breakdown in trust and cooperation between the two sides.

“The contract is complicated: It was drafted by Kennedy’s team, but his campaign is not a party to it. Instead, it’s a written agreement between Wendt and the national Natural Law Party—which he controlled at the time of the signing,” the Bulwark article reads. “The contract only became effective if Wendt gave up control of the national and Florida branches of the party to Kennedy campaign allies. Wendt was then to be paid with donor money secured by the campaign, text messages show.”

Wendt eventually relinquished control of the national party by early March. However, he hesitated to hand over the Florida affiliate amid friction with the Kennedy campaign’s ballot access director, Nick Brana. Wendt expressed to Brana at the time his concern that the campaign would treat the newly-reconstituted party like it was disposable.

Kennedy campaign lawyer Paul Rossi has since accused Wendt in the Bulwark of acting without proper consultation and attempting to hijack the party for personal gain by not involving the Natural Law Party of Michigan in the reorganization process. He further claimed Wendt filed misleading documents listing himself as the party secretary and held the party “hostage to the highest bidder.”

Wendt has pushed back on the claims, calling the Kennedy campaign “swindlers” for their behavior and stating that the campaign had never accused him of wrongdoing until now. Wendt cites months’ worth of text messages with Brana and Rossi as proof, which the original article explores in more detail. According to the Bulwark, none of the texts reflect the Kennedy campaign’s claims.

The article continues that Brana eventually offered Wendt $30,000 as an olive branch, but Wendt declined, insisting on the return of control over the national party and declaring the contract void. Wendt added the campaign should pay him $800,000 and that he intended to contact a lawyer. Brana countered that there was no clause preventing the campaign from seeking alternative forms of ballot access, which became necessary due to application errors.

As of this article, Kennedy is still expected to achieve ballot access in Florida after securing the endorsement of the Reform Party, which is in the process of reacquiring ballot access in the state. Notably, the article adds that Kennedy turned to the Reform Party after his relationship with Wendt and the Natural Law Party soured.