The Texas Democratic Party today cleared the way for Green Party candidates to remain on the ballot this year by dropping its state Supreme Court challenge to the legality of the Green's ballot access petition drive.
However, the Democrats indicated the party will continue its lawsuit at a lower court level in an effort to obtain civil penalties in the case.
"Although the motion we filed today means it is almost certain that Green Party candidates will remain on the ballot in 2010, the facts demonstrate that the participants in this petition gathering scam acted improperly and we continue to seek penalties allowed by law," said Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie.
Silencing the whine that Democrats aren't interested in democratic principles was a significant step in the right direction. More from News8Austin, courtesy Half Empty...
Officials with the Democratic Party said they didn't want to be accused of obstructing voters from choosing their candidate of choice, but encourage Green Party candidates to consider their campaigns.
“Green Party leaders should remember that actions speak louder than words. It is up to the Green Party candidates to decide whether they want to continue candidacies that were bought and paid for by Republicans who hold the Green Party in contempt," Richie said.
The truth for this writer is that I am sympathetic to the Green Party issues and efforts. They deserve to be heard by the voters of Texas. But they were worked like week-old laundry by Rick Perry's henchmen in this regard, and when they learned about it they decided that was all right with them.
If there is any new news here, it is that Rick Perry is quite obviously pursuing another 39% strategy in the 2010 election.
Update: Burnt Orange's comprehensive aggre-post includes video from last Friday's press conference that Green Party coordinator kat swift and others held following the Supreme's decision to set aside the lower court's block of their ballot effort.
Update II: there's a good back-and-forth going on between Democratic activist and my friend Stan Merriman at his blog Torches and Pitchforks and my friend and former Democrat/
