Strayhorn Sues Secretary of State

I had predicted this would happen, it’s just happening a little differently than I thought:

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn sued the Texas secretary of state today, claiming he’s hurting her campaign by unfairly enforcing rules for independent political candidates.

For several weeks now, Carole Strayhorn has moaned and groaned about the rules for independent candidates. Of course, to make political hay, she’s masked that by complaining about Secretary of State Roger Williams being too close to Gov. Rick Perry.

While I agree with that, the fact is that is just the rhetoric she’s selected to cover up her reasons for complaining about the process: she knows she may not be successful and she needs the publicity.

So, Friday, she filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Austin challenging Williams’ plan to manually examine her petition signatures instead of using statistical sampling. She claims this violates her constitutional rights.

Independent candidates for governor must, of course, collect 45,540 signatures from registered voters who did not cast ballots in either the Republican or Democratic primaries March 7.
All Democrats should write, call, or fax the Secretary of State’s office and come out against statistical sampling. The fact is, if the statistical sampling method is used, she has a better chance of getting on the ballot.

Here’s more:

The Strayhorn lawsuit — which includes three voters as plaintiffs — asks for an injunction requiring Williams to review the validity of her petition immediately after he receives it in the quickest manner possible, said her campaign spokesman, Mark Sanders.

“We hope to get a hearing early next week,” Sanders said. He suggested that the secretary of state’s office is trying to prevent Strayhorn from getting on the November ballot. “This whole situation begs the question: What are they afraid of?”

Strayhorn’s campaign also complained about when Williams allowed the campaign to start collecting voter signatures. Her campaign manager, her son Brad McClellan, said Strayhorn should have been allowed to start gathering petition signatures immediately after the polls closed on primary election night, March 7.

The Strayhorn campaign also wanted to be allowed to hand in an initial batch of signatures and then add to that before the May 11 deadline for independents’ petitions.

Williams said no to her requests, citing state law.

Texas’ law for independent political candidates is among the toughest in the nation. It took effect in 1905 and has remained essentially the same since, according to the Texas Legislative Reference Library.

No independent has been elected Texas governor since Sam Houston in 1859.

I had predicted this would go to court after Strayhorn turned in signatures collected between now and the Runoff, because, based on his previous statements, I assume the SOS will make those null and void. At any rate, it’s gone to court a bit earlier.

We can only assume Strayhorn will be unsuccessful in her lawsuit. Ralph Nader has sued the SOS before concerning idependent candidate requirements, and he got nowhere. Of course, Strayhorn’s angle is a bit different, but I still can’t see how she’ll be successful.

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