Kasich Cronies Are Causing Libertarian Candidates’ Woes

The Libertarian Party of Ohio (LPO) has been
grappling in court all year with Republican pals of Gov. John
Kasich, and insists that the Ohio GOP is using unethical tactics to
snuff them out. Their claim just earned some more credence.

The Associated Press (AP) reports on the latest
revelation:

A Republican consultant and appointee of Gov. Kasich was
responsible for hiring the law firm whose challenge pushed two
[LPO] candidates off the statewide ballot.

Terry Casey worked for Kasich’s 2010 campaign and the governor
has since appointed him to the $70,000-a-year job chairing the
state personnel review board.

Casey’s role hiring Zeiger, Tigges & Little emerged in a
case in which Libertarians are asking federal Judge Michael Watson
to restore governor candidate Charlie Earl and attorney general
candidate Steven Linnabary to November’s ballot.

In a new court filing, the [LPO] also says Bradley Smith, hired
to oversee the disqualification hearing by Republican Secretary of
State Jon Husted, didn’t disclose he was working for Ohio’s
Republican attorney general, Mike DeWine, doing pro bono work at
the time.

It was
previously unknown who hired the Zeiger firm, and the Ohio GOP
chairman swore under oath that his party played no role in
Libertarian woes.

Some background is necessary: In March, Earl got enough
signatures to run, but Husted had him disqualified on a
technicality, because the person Earl hired to collect signatures
failed to list the LPO as his employer. The would-be candidate took
the case through the court system claiming that the signature
collector’s First Amendment rights, specifically his right to not
declare his employer, were being denied by Husted, but the courts
ruled against Earl, saying the burden on his rights were
minimal.

In order to get the ball rolling on that
disqualification, though, Husted needed a registered member of the
LPO to challenge Earl’s bid. Casey hired the Zeiger law firm, which
convinced a local Libertarian named Gregory Felsoci to sign the
challenge. Significantly, Judge Watson described Felsoci as a
“guiless dupe” who “lacks even a basic understanding of the nature
of the protest he agreed to sign.” That’s putting it lightly.
Felsoci thought he was signing a petition to help Earl get
on the ballot.

Judge Watson also acknowledged that the GOP or its affiliates
orchestrated a plot against the LPO, and higher courts admit that
this plot undermines the LPO’s status as a “ballot-qualified party”
and therefore could do “severe
and irreparable harm” to it. To regain its status as
ballot-qualified would require jumping through
new, burdensome hoops thanks to a GOP-crafted law that recently
took effect. 

Casey brushed off the LPO’s most recent complaint as a mere
distraction from the third-party’s own shortcomings, and then he
pulled a quintessential ’80s teen movie antagonist move: He
“thanked Libertarians for the free publicity” because it’ll help
him find donors to pay Zeiger’s legal fees, according to the
AP.

None of the Republicans’ meddling has any legal bearing on the
fact that Earl did break the rules by not disclosing a signature
collector’s employment status, but is that one technicality
anywhere near as anti-democratic or downright unetical as the fact
that the GOP is squashing voters’ alternative choices like
this?