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Platt: A Name You’ll See at Least Twice

VotePlatt.com — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:36:57 +0000

Candidate turns in petitions for second ballot slot

Reprinted from Charleston City Paper
by Greg Hambrick

James Island voters didn’t see Eugene Platt’s name on the 2008 ballot, but he’s making up for it this year.

The Statehouse candidate for District 115, who had already been endorsed by the Green Party, will also have his name on the ballot as a petition candidate.

Platt delivered more than 2,000 signatures to the South Carolina Election Commission last week, likely securing a second spot on the ballot.

The candidate is a strong supporter of fusion voting — where a name can appear two or three times for a particular office, with the votes added together. It backfired on him in 2008 when he failed to win the Democratic nomination. Due to a state law preventing a losing primary candidate’s name from appearing on the general election ballot, he was kept out of the November race.

This November, Platt will face off against Democrat incumbent Anne Petterson Hutto and Republican Peter McCoy.

Fourth Circuit Upholds South Carolina Restriction on Fusion

VotePlatt.com — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:46:57 +0000

By Richard Winger
Reprinted from Ballot Access News

On July 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th circuit, upheld a South Carolina law that limits the usefulness of fusion. South Carolina permits fusion (the practice of letting two parties jointly nominate the same candidate). However, South Carolina law also says that if a candidate tries for two nominations, and loses one nomination but gains another party’s nomination, the fact that the candidate lost the battle for one party’s nomination also cancels out the other nomination. The Court upheld that law. The decision, South Carolina Green Party v State Election Commission, 09-1915, is 14 pages.

The case had been filed by the South Carolina Green Party, which had nominated a candidate for the legislature early in 2008. When that candidate, Eugene Platt, then also tried to get the Democratic nomination, he lost the Democratic primary and then he couldn’t even run as the Green Party nominee in November. The Court said this was not a severe burden on the Green Party because the Green Party was free at that point to substitute some other candidate.

The opinion makes no reference to the recent events in the South Carolina U.S. Senate election, in which the leadership of the Democratic Party had supported a former state legislator, Vic Rawls, who had won the Working Families Party nomination, but then lost the Democratic primary in a surprise upset. If the Green Party had won this case, then the Democratic Party’s preferred candidate this year would have been able to appear on the November ballot as the Working Families Party nominee.

In South Carolina, any qualified party is free to nominate either by convention or by primary, but the practice is that the major parties always choose to nominate by primary, and the other parties always choose to nominate by convention. One might imagine that a minor party convention might consider nominating a particular major party person at its convention, but then reject that person and thereby cause that major party member to be ineligible for the major party nomination. This scenario never happens, because no candidate may be considered for a minor party nomination if that candidate doesn’t file a declaration of candidacy. So a major party member simply refrains from filing a declaration of candidacy in time to be considered at a minor party convention.

One of the leading ways that minor party members ever get elected to state legislatures is through fusion, in which a minor party member gets his or her own party’s nomination, and then is also able to win a major party nomination. Most of the Libertarians who have been elected to state legislatures in the party’s history have won this way. The opinion does not acknowledge this point.

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Green Party Sees Fresh Interest in Senate Race

VotePlatt.com — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:41:16 +0000

Clements hopes dissatisfaction will have voters going green

Reprinted from Charleston City Paper
by Greg Hambrick

This week’s column:

Third-party candidates are often left to quietly suffer a sound defeat. The money and manpower aren’t there for a high-profile statewide race, and the grassroots support is, well, too deep in the roots. Never mind the fact that there typically aren’t enough nonpartisan, unaffiliated voters to best two big-party candidates.

But, if we’ve already learned one thing from the U.S. Senate race to represent South Carolina, it’s that this is not your traditional election season. And with enough animosity going around for the two major party candidates, it may just mean a competitive race for Green Party candidate Tom Clements.

Alvin Greene’s surprise win in the Democratic Primary last month shocked political observers, but it also disappointed disaffected Republicans and moderates hoping for a spirited challenge against arch-conservative Jim DeMint. Greene certainly offers a working-man appeal in the race, but he’s had a tough time getting beyond stumbling interviews and his noticeable absence on the primary campaign trail.

Two potential independent candidates, businesswoman Linda Ketner and Charleston School of Law professor Constance Anastopoulo, dashed the hopes of supporters last week when they each turned away calls to run.

The subject of a statewide petition campaign, Ketner asked that organizers shelve the effort. She cited the difficult task of getting off the ground with a little more than 100 days before the election.

“At this late date, it’s just not possible to assemble the team and resources we need to mount the effective campaign we all want,” she said in a statement. “Bottom line: yes, we deserve — and desperately need — better government, but a last minute campaign without essential resources won’t get us that outcome.”

That void makes for a strategic opportunity for the Green Party near the top of the statewide ticket, says Eugene Platt, a candidate for S.C. House District 115 representing James Island and a state organizer for the Green Party.

“At the very least, what happened in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate has given the Green Party a statewide visibility we did not enjoy previously,” Platt says.

A longtime environmentalist and regional nuclear campaign coordinator for the Friends of the Earth, Clements notes his name will appear on the top of the ballot (a hypothetical factor in Greene’s unexpected victory).

He’ll need more than ballot positioning to defeat an incumbent popular with his far-right base and a Democrat likely to secure what we’ll playfully refer to as the “Jesse Ventura” vote. That said, polling suggests a distinct window of opportunity that isn’t often available to Green Party candidates.

In a Rasmussen poll a week after the June primaries, DeMint held a 58 percent majority, but Greene only had 21 percent support, suggesting Democrats and moderates aren’t automatically getting in line behind their candidate. Black voters, expected to flock to an African American senator, were split in their support for Greene.

There’s also a recognizable portion of the GOP that isn’t thrilled with a second DeMint term. In a primary race that wasn’t on anyone’s radar, unknown Susan Gaddy found 70,000 votes against the incumbent.

Clements certainly recognizes the opportunity to find a mix of support from disinterested moderates in the middle and dissatisfied party members on either side of the political spectrum. He sent out a release following Ketner’s announcement that highlighted his big-tent approach.

“This gives the green light to disaffected Democrats, Republicans, and independents to unify behind my campaign,” he said. “I will listen to all South Carolinians of all views and beliefs and pay close attention to the rightful anger and mistrust about the mess in Washington.”

Clements will need more than anger at Washington insiders; he’s going to need to find anger among South Carolina’s two-party establishment.

Greens Growing on November Ballot

VotePlatt.com — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:26:42 +0000

By Greg Hambrick
Reprinted from Charleston City Paper

James Island resident Eugene Platt announced his third-party candidacy for the state House District 115 months ago. But the Green Party will have more names on the ballot.

Environmental watchdog Tom Clements will run for U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s seat. Former football player and business owner Morgan Reeves is running for governor. The statewide ticket will also include Leslie Minerd as a candidate for attorney general and Doretha Bull for education superintendent.

Particularly of note for the Lowcountry: Robert Dobbs, who weeks ago was planning a Democratic primary campaign abandoned that effort and has chosen a safer route to the November ballot. He’s now running as a Green.

Platt says the increased presence on the ballot will help the small party get a better foothold in South Carolina. He also says he’s seen a growing frustration with both major political parties.

“I believe the 2010 election cycle offers historic opportunities for third party and independent candidates,” Platt says.

South Carolina Supreme Court to Hear Case on Party Loyalty Oath

VotePlatt.com — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:01:41 +0000

By Richard Winger
Reprinted from Ballot Access News

On January 6, the South Carolina Supreme Court will hear Tempel v Platt, a case involving the Green Party’s attempt to place Eugene Platt on the November 2008 ballot as its candidate for the State House of Representatives, 115th district. The Green Party had nominated Platt by convention. Afterwards, that same year, Platt had run in the Democratic primary for that same seat (in June) and lost that primary.

The Democratic Party of South Carolina had then sued Platt, saying that by trying to be the Green Party nominee in November 2008, he was violating a pledged he signed when he entered the Democratic primary. The pledge, which is in section 7-11-210 of the election law, says if someone who lost a fight for a party nomination still tries to run for the same seat in November some other way, “the chairman of the party which held the primary shall forthwith institute an action in a court of competent jurisdiction for an order enjoining the person from so offering or campaigning in the general election.” See this story. Thanks to Dave Gillespie for the link.

This case is separate from Platt’s case pending in the 4th circuit, South Carolina Green Party v South Carolina Election Commission. That federal case argues that it is unconstitutional for South Carolina to keep a party nominee off the general election ballot if that same nominee later tries to get another party’s nomination and loses the fight for that second party’s nomination. All the briefs have been filed in the federal case, but no hearing date has been set.

One may read this post and wonder what the difference is in the two cases. The reason there are two cases is that Platt faced two legal barriers to being put on the November ballot as the Green Party nominee. First he placed the barrier of a state ballot access law, which is the subject of the federal case. Second, he faced the barrier that another state election law gives a party to power to sue someone who tries to run against the party’s nominee, if that person had first tried to obtain that party’s nomination and had failed to get it. That second law would even make it illegal for someone like that to run as a write-in candidate in November. All of these laws make little sense, given that South Carolina permits two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. None of the other states that permit fusion place such landmines in the path of anyone who tries to use the fusion process.
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SC High Court to Hear Election Case

VotePlatt.com — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:44:16 +0000

Decision will clarify rights of multiple-party candidates

By Yvonne Wenger
Reprinted from The Post and Courier

COLUMBIA — The future of candidates in South Carolina running under more than one party label will be decided after state Supreme Court justices rule on a case before them this week.

The American Civil Liberties Union is arguing the case on behalf of Eugene Platt, who tried to run in 2008 as a Green Party candidate for House District 115 after losing the Democratic Party nomination.

At odds in the case are South Carolina’s unusual election law that allows a candidate to represent more than one party on the ballot and the state’s “sore loser” statute that the Democratic Party said stops a candidate defeated for one party’s nomination from appearing on the ballot for another party.

The justices will hear the case at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

State Rep. Anne Peterson Hutto, a Democrat, represents District 115, and her seat in the Statehouse is not at stake. Action by the high court would provide clarity for future candidates.

Platt said he will run against Hutto for her seat in the 2010 election as a Green Party candidate.

Platt was denied a spot on the 2008 ballot after he lost the Democratic primary to Hutto. His case has been tied up in court since then.

“We’re optimistic, fellow Greens and I, that the state Supreme Court will rule on our behalf,” Platt said. “It is extremely gratifying that the preeminent institutional guardian of the Constitution, which is to say the ACLU, has taken up our case. Conversely, I can’t imagine the Democratic Party can be proud.”

A federal case on the same matter is pending before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.

The Charleston County Democratic Party, represented by local lawyer Truett Nettles, argues that the case comes down to a loyalty pledge that Platt signed when he sought that party’s nomination. The pledge states that the candidate agrees not to run in the general election against the Democratic nominee, Nettles said.

Platt said that he had the nominations from the Green Party and the Working Families Party prior to his bid in the Democratic primary. But, according to arguments in earlier court appearances, Platt first officially declared his candidacy as a Democrat.

Bryan Sells, senior staff counsel with the ACLU Voting Rights Project, said the case in state court is simple. Loyalty oaths long have been held to be unconstitutional, Sells said. The ACLU wants to protect the First Amendment, he said.

“His (Platt’s) defeat in the Democratic primary left the Green Party and Working Families Party without any candidate and it infringes on those parties’ First Amendment right,” Sells said.

Reach Yvonne Wenger at ywenger@postandcourier.com or 803-926-7855.

Act Responsibly

VotePlatt.com — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 21:25:07 +0000

Letter to the Editor
By Eugene Platt
Reprinted from the Post and Courier

How unfortunate that, just ten days before Christmas, Charleston City Council found itself lacking sufficient courage to adopt the Charleston Green Plan: Sustainability & Climate Protection for the 21st Century Council’s adoption would have been an extraordinary gift not only for their constituents, but also for everyone in the larger community. After all, to paraphrase John Donne’s famous sermon, “No city is an island, entire of itself. Any city’s shortcomings in sustainability diminishes the others, because all are involved in mankind. Therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Adoption of the Charleston Green Plan is a rare policy issue that transcends consideration of “liberal versus conservative.” Truly, it is one of “responsible versus irresponsible.” We pray City Council will act responsibly when it revisits this issue next year.

As articulated in its “Ten Key Values,” the Green Party is on the cutting edge of environmental responsibility: “We support a sustainable society which utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation.” City Council—as well the State Legislature and Congress—would do well to follow our lead. (See www.gp.org)

Sincerely,
Eugene Platt
Member, Steering Committee
South Carolina Green Party

Eugene Platt to Run for State House in SC as a Green

VotePlatt.com — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:59:04 +0000

Reprinted from Independent Political Report

Eugene Platt, the only elected Green in South Carolina, will be running to represent the 115th district in the State House of Representatives. He is currently on the James Island Public Service Commission, and ran for the same House seat in 2008, but was thrown off the ballot. He ran in the Democratic primary, and because of that it was ruled that he could not appear on the general election ballot as a Green. Ballot Access News explains what happened:

Platt had tried to run for the legislature in 2008. After the Green Party had nominated him at its convention in April 2008, he had also run in the Democratic primary. Because he lost the Democratic primary, his nomination by the Green Party was voided by the State Election Commission. He and the Green Party are currently in the 4th circuit, arguing that the state law that permits such retroactive disqualification is unconstitutional. South Carolina does permit two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate, and is the only fusion state that says one nomination can be jeopardized if the candidate tries and fails to win a second party’s nomination.

If elected, Platt says that his first priority will be ending South Carolina’s “Right to Work” status. He claims that this will allow unions to more easily organize and grow. Other positions include opposition to capital punishment and making sure that state college tuition does not increase more than inflation every year.

In a press release, Platt said that he expects a Republican and centrist Democrat to run against him. He brands himself as a “progressive Green.”

The Charleston Post and Courier carried a story on Platt’s announcement:

James Island Public Service District Commissioner Eugene Platt said he will try again next year to win the state House District 115 seat, but will run as a Green Party candidate this time.

Platt lost the 2008 Democratic primary to current District 115 Rep. Anne Peterson Hutto, and later lost a court challenge to remain on the November 2008 ballot as a candidate from another party.

Platt said that if he was elected, he will fight for working families by ending South Carolina’s status as a “Right to Work” state, a move that would make it easier for labor unions to form here.

South Carolina Green Who Had Been Barred from 2008 Ballot Will Try Again in 2010

VotePlatt.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:10:53 +0000

By Richard Winger
Reprinted from Ballot Access News

On October 13, Eugene Platt declared his candidacy for the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2010 from the 115th district. He is the Green Party’s only elected official in that state; he currently serves on the James Island Public Service District Commission, having been re-elected to that position last year. Here is his web page, although it appears not to have his recent declaration posted yet.

Platt Back in the Statehouse Race

VotePlatt.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:26:32 +0000

Green candidate makes another go for James Island seat

By Greg Hambrick
Reprinted from Charleston City Paper

Eugene Platt is back in the race for state House District 115, and this time he’s wearing a solid shade of Green.

After losing in the Democratic Primary in 2008, Platt was kept out of the race as the Green Party candidate because of a state law preventing a primary loser from appearing on the November ballot.

This race isn’t about a grudge with the Democratic Party, says Platt. It’s about options and making people aware of the Green Party.

“I think people across America want alternatives to the choices they have now,” Platt says.

The James Island and Folly Beach district has seen two very close elections in the last four years, with Democrat Anne Peterson Hutto narrowly beating Republican incumbent Wallace Scarborough in 2008.

A longtime member of the James Island Public Service District board, Platt says his campaign will focus on labor rights, the environment, public education, and social justice issues like capital punishment.