[lbo-talk] Paul Felton ("kill the Greens, " bill)

[Michael Pugliese]

http://web.greens.org/news/displayarticle.php?mediaId=1463
>...Currently, a major party must have a membership of one-third of 1 percent of registered voters and a candidate for governor or president who got at least 5 percent of the vote in the most recent general election. The Greens now qualify on both counts; Bacon got 5 percent when he ran in November.

The Luján bill, however, would require major parties to have a membership of at least 4 percent of registered voters - about 38,000 to 40,000, according to the Greens. They now have about 11,500.

"Eleven thousand does not make a major party," Democratic Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron told the committee. She advised the Green Party to "sell your platform" if it wants to be a major party.

"Why is it that we have to treat parties like children? They're not children," Vigil-Giron also said.

Adair chided Vigil-Giron, saying she was not being an objective administrator of the law, but rather had exhibited "evangelical zeal" on the subject.

"Why do you care one way or the other how many parties are out there?" Adair asked her.

Rules Chairwoman Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, abruptly adjourned the meeting before any action was taken on the bill - a move Adair criticized.

If the bill makes it through the Senate, it would have to go back to the House because the Rules Committee amended it earlier this week. The Legislature will adjourn Saturday at noon. 

Michael Pugliese