March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Greens lose party status > State’s high court cites Nader’s low returns

PORTLAND — A state supreme court ruling Friday has stripped Maine’s Green Party of its official party status.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court said the alternative party does not qualify because its nominee for president failed to receive 5 percent of the vote in the last election.

The Greens received official recognition in March 1996 after organizing as a new political party in the aftermath of the 1994 gubernatorial election that saw its nominee, Jonathan Carter, receive more than 5 percent of the vote.

But that same year, Green presidential candidate Ralph Nader failed to reach the 5 percent threshold in Maine.

The court said state law makes it clear that qualified parties must show the requisite support at each biennial election.

“Legally, we are required to disqualify them as a party,” Secretary of State Dan Gwadowsky said Friday.

But Nancy Allen, co-chairwoman of the Green Party, said the decision does not disqualify the party as there is an injunction prohibiting that action until the case is fully resolved.

Allen said the party will meet to decide whether to appeal the decision or pursue a case in federal court.

The Green Party party argued that the political viability of a major party should be measured during a four-year cycle, instead of every two years.

Allen said the law is unfair to emerging parties that can do well in state elections but not nationally.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s promoting grass-roots democracy,” she said. “It’s kind of a squashing of the state of Maine by the federal government.”

Gwadowsky’s office proposed a bill in the last legislative session that would have allowed the party to maintain its status if it received 5 percent of the gubernatorial vote every four years.

Under the bill, which was defeated by the Legislature, a new party wouldn’t be penalized for having a poor national candidate, Gwadowsky said.

“I think the court was accurate in its ruling, as we understand it, the current law is accurate. We attempted to change that law, but the Legislature didn’t pass it.”

The Legislature has twice rejected proposals that would have amended the statute to be consistent with the Green Party interpretation.

“I think the people of Maine have lost a really good opportunity for a good political party,” Allen said. “I’m disappointed but we’re not going to go away.”


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