Ralph Nader Loses Challenge to Fees in Pa. Ballot Case

Updated 5:04 p.m.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has denied former presidential candidate Ralph Nader's latest attempt to set aside a Pennsylvania court's judgment against him related to his 2004 run for president.

During Nader's campaign, a group of Pennsylvania voters challenged his eligibility to be on the ballot, claiming he failed to get enough valid signatures supporting his candidacy. After a lengthy court battle in that state, Nader and his running mate, Peter Camejo, lost and were ordered to pay $81,102 in legal fees.

To enforce the judgment, the Pennsylvania group went after assets Nader held in D.C.-based banks. A District of Columbia Superior Court judge approved enforcement, and Nader appealed. In an opinion (PDF) published this morning, the appeals court found that under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution, the trial judge was right to order enforcement of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court's judgment.

Nader is trying to recover $34,218 that was disbursed from one bank account and stop the disbursement of $22,710 from another account. Camejo previously settled with the Pennsylvania group, which has been represented by Reed Smith, to pay $20,000 of the total judgment.

According to today’s opinion, Nader argued that the Superior Court judge erred in not allowing him to introduce new evidence that the Pennsylvania judgment “was unlawfully procured.” The Superior Court judge found that the evidence wasn’t “new” and had been available for Nader to use had he pursued a motion for a new trial in Pennsylvania. Judge Vanessa Ruiz wrote the opinion for a three-judge panel.

“Even if we assume that Nader’s claims, if proven, would constitute fraud in the procurement of the cost judgment, however, challenges in the receiving court are generally not permitted because of the strong presumption of the validity of a final decision by a sister state which resolved the merits of the controversy,” Ruiz wrote.

Nader’s attorney, Washington solo practitioner Oliver Hall, said today that “the legal fight is not over.” He said the appeals court got it wrong because there was evidence that was never considered by a Pennsylvania court, related to Nader’s claims that the challenge to his ballot eligibility was improperly prepared by Pennsylvania “state employees working at state expense.”

“Reed Smith’s actions in challenging the Nader petitions and then attempting to collect $80,000 from a candidate simply because he had the temerity to run for public office outside of the two-party system, has had a hugely detrimental effect on the democratic process in Pennsylvania,” Hall said.

Reed Smith associate Nathan Fennessy, who argued for the Pennsylvania group on appeal, said today that he and his clients “are pleased with the result.”

“We think the court properly applied the Full Faith and Credit analysis and reached the proper result,” he said.

Judges Stephen Glickman and Phyllis Thompson joined in the opinion.

Comments

[Paul D.]

Romeo,

If you consider the Democratic Party to be "left wing extrmist nuts", then what epithets would you assign to Nader - who is far to the left of the crooked corporation-run Democrats?

The Democrats and Obama are vile in many ways, but being "left wing" is certainly not one of them - quite the opposite!

[Romeo]

Why are we not surprised that Democrats are up to more crkooed misuse of taxpayer monies. These extremist left wing nuts led by a wacky president, who demonstrates daily his lack of intelligence and ability to develop any meaningful solutions to the financial mess, largely created by his democrat party, is guilty of massive incompetence.

[vijay antharam]

Please continue to fight Mr. Nader.

[jautumn]

Darren, your statement is ignorant, and your ageism and political bigotry are an insult to your own intellect. I have utterly lost my patience with the likes of you.

The Nader campaign turned in over 51,000 signatures in Pennsylania in 2004, about double the required number. Democrat Pennsylvania Government officials criminally ordered government workers to comb through Nader's nominating petitions at taxpayer expense to help the Democrats identify over 32,000 minor technical errors that the crooked Democrat Secretary of State then used as justification to DENY THE WILL OF THE 32,000 VOTERS who signed those 32,000 valid signatures that were not counted.

The people of Pennsylvania resoundingly directed the Secretary of State to place Nader's name on the ballot, and the Democratic Party and crooked Democrat government officials STOLE taxpayer money to concoct absurd excuses to justify their SILENCING of the PEOPLE of Pennsylvania:

"In all, 32,681 signatures were rejected. Nader’s campaign was only short 6,879 valid signatures. In the final analysis however only 1.4% of the signatures were rejected as forgeries! The other signatures were all rejected because of poor handwriting, or because a husband filled in the address for both he and his wife or because they forgot to include their middle initial or they signed their name as William Smith then printed it as Bill Smith or forgot to include the date!"
http://paballotaccess.org/vca_kickoff_comments_murphy.html

This happened in state after state across the country. In Oregon we satisfied the requirements to get Nader's name on the ballot in two different ways but were cheated out of our voting rights both times by crooked Democrats working for or with the Kerry campaign colluding with crooked Democrat state election officials.

Mark my words, we will be vindicated. After eight years I am more infuriated than ever at the Democratic Party for their craven bigotry and criminal behavior back in 2004.

We told the truth about Gore, Kerry and Obama, that they were and still are all tools of corporate interests, and Obama out-Bushing Bush on every vital issue has proven us right. Those of you who participated in silencing our warning message should hang your heads in shame for the rest of your lives when remembering those campaign seasons. You spat at us, literally. You defrauded us. You assaulted us. You libeled and slandered us. We kept warning you.

Now as our nation slides rapidly into fascism under "I have authority to kill any citizen when I want, why I want, where I want, how I want without answering to anybody for it, but don't worry I won't, except that I already did" Obama, shame on you.

Ralph Nader is still fighting the good fight, and in Maine he will finally have his day in court now to present the mountain of evidence of the Democratic Party's craven criminal election tampering in 2004, not just in Pennsylvania and Maine but across the nation. The fact that the Republican Party managed to steal the election from Kerry in Ohio proves only the old adage that there is no honor among thieves, be they RINO's or DINO's.

In 2004 the Democratic Party's actions to block Nader's ballot access proved themselves to be the Anti-Democratic Party, just as the Republican Party's corporatist neocon establishment leadership is now proving itself to be the Anti-Republican Party with all its whining, dirty tricks and crimes to cheat against the Ron Paul campaign's brilliant tactical ground game to take control of the Republican Party by republican means.

Read what Nader wrote last June and learn something - follow the link to read more and learn more. Stop being such an ignoramus:

"It is now a matter of public record that state employees working for the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus illegally prepared Reed Smith’s challenge to the Nader-Camejo nomination petitions at taxpayer expense. Further, according to sworn testimony in the Bonusgate proceedings – which remains undisputed – Reed Smith partner Efrem Grail coordinated the state employees’ effort."
http://www.freeandequal.org/2011/06/open-letter-from-ralph-nader-to-chief-justice-ronald-castille/

[Louis Lombardo]

For a more informed citizenry, appointed judges should be identified by the party label that nominated them e.g. (R), (I), (D) or that they are otherwise identified with.

Years from now, people the world over will remember the many lives saved or improved by Nader. Who will remember these judges? For what?

[Darren McKinney]

The quixotic Mr. Nader was not sanctioned 80 grand for having had the temerity to run for office, he was sanctioned 80 grand for having had the temerity to drag out a court challenge when he'd clearly failed to secure the requisite number of petition signatures. Had he simply acknowledged the inconvenient truth about his failure and stood down in Pennsylvania, he would not have been sanctioned.

It's time for Mr. Nader to disappear. He's too old and crazy now, and before he ends up doing a Pierre Salinger or Dan Rather flame-out, he should go quietly and preserve his largely noble legacy.

[RD]

Regardless of legal niceties (and continuing court decisions), the fact remains that, short of being Ralph Nader, most people have a very SLIM chance of running for office against the 2-party monopoly in our so-called democracy, since it is clear both the Democrat& Republican parties will throw umpteen legal challenges, and tons of money, to deliberately frustrate anyone's efforts to compete for leadership to govern in America while also keeping them out of debates these 2 parties control.

[Sebastian]

Where the Justice? The system is flawed. SM