Thursday, April 17, 2008

Write-In Candidates

A friend of mine today provided me with the rules from the Secretary of State for "Write-In Candidates". It reads:

In order to become a write-in candidate in the general election, file a Declaration of Write-In Candidacy with the Secretary of State or your county judge, as appropriate, no earlier than July 27, 2008, and no later than 5:00 p.m. on August 26, 2008. Your declaration must be accompanied by either a filing fee or a nominating petition signed by a certain number of qualified voters.

The rules for a Write-In Candidate for District Attorney requires a filing fee of either $1,250 or a petition of 500 signatures. If a person complies with one or the other, they can be official, eligible "write-in" candidates for the D.A.'s race. They won't be on the ballot, but you can fill them in if you want to.

So, if you want to run, get your closest 500 friends to sign your petition and make it a possibility!

If I were to run, I think I would announce up front that I drink alcohol and cuss like a sailor. It might offend the delicate and duplicitous Terry Lowry, but that's how life goes in the real world of Public Service.

8 comments:

jigmeister said...

AHCL,
To even make a dent, without any hope of a write in getting elected, everyone needs to agree on one individual and then promote them as a alternative. It might be a fun kind of protest. It would probably hurt Lykos more than Bradford anyway.
But what damage does that do to those who have to stay??

Maybe get someone like Burt who has to retire anyway to do it and everybody support and promote him.

anonymous c said...

Ooh!

Muy interesante!

Might she consider it?

Anonymous said...

How about we just write in Magidson. He seems truly loyal to the office and could make some changes for the good! And he HAS experience!!!

or how about AHCL???

jigmeister said...

No handles allowed on the ballet. She would have to reveal her identity. Don't think Kenny would do it and give up his federal pension. How about Mark or Denise? It would take about 4 hours with 10 people getting signatures. I would contribute some and all of us could flood the blogs and columns.

Anonymous said...

ok, in order to protect identity, maybe not AHCL...
How about St. Martin then? Although Mark and Denise aren't bad either...

jigmeister said...

Steve's a good choice too. Start recruiting. Lets have some fun. It would be cool just to see the mischievious looks on everyone's faces.

Murray Newman said...

Realistically, I don't think that the write-in candidate would do much other than give those of us "in the know" a way to feel better about who we cast our ballots for. Jig is right that it would be nothing more than a protest vote. And I agree that it would probably hurt Lykos more than Bradford.

I doubt that any of the people mentioned would want to devote the time or energy to a futile battle.

jigmeister said...

But sometimes a dog just has to be tried. Besides most of your local bloggers are on your side, along with many cops, friends, victims, and anyone else you can educate.

Sure its futile, especially in a heated presidential election where the attention is focused elsewhere, but it would bring some attention to a crisis facing all of you in that the quality of the office and the work we have always prided ourselves on will be gone.

You will be making the statement that regardless of whether the leadership is incompetent, the work of the "trenches" DA's won't take on the incompetence of the "leadership".

I realize that my retirement places me in a vastly different place that those of you who are dependent on staying employed, but I remember saying I would leave whenever I didn't have fun anymore. That time may have come for many of you.

Maybe recruit someone who is already retired or has announced that intention. I'll bet many have: say Keno (he may have let his license go "retired" like I did to save money), Noll or someone with similar stature still living in the county. Too bad JBH lives outside.

There is a natural tendency to avoid politics because we always had that luxury, but you don't have it anymore. Spit in their eyes and fight back or sit back and get ready to deny that you are/were part of something very good!

Episode Seven: The Voters Awaken - A One Act -Sci-Fi Play

SCENE:  The Death Star orbits over Downtown Houston. [INTERIOR] The Imperial Council Chambers. EMPRESS OGG sits at the head of a long table ...