I may have said I was no longer involved in electoral politics. I changed my mind last week after talking to Richard Winger over at Ballot Access News out of San Francisco. https://ballot-access.org/ The battle over ballot access for “3rd Parties” is not over yet, and the filing deadline was Monday, March 13. Nobody else seemed to be interested, so what else could I do? I really do want to see this battle to final resolution, win, lose or draw.
I filed online, paid my $15 fee with a credit card, with the Montana Secretary of State to be a Green Party candidate in State House District 61 in Bozeman, my home district. It was a last-minute decision with purpose relating to an ongoing lawsuit against the Montana SOS challenging the signature requirement for acquiring ‘new party’ status in the 2016 election. I’ve written about it before. https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/08/montana-ballot-access-decision-suppresses-green-party-voters/ …and here: https://pieceofmindful.com/2021/11/10/green-party-prevails-at-9th-circuit-court/
What’s the point of all this, you might ask? There are a few outstanding issues which must be settled, if possible. Our lawyers have been negotiating with the SOS and Attorney General and have submitted what’s called a consent judgement to the original federal district court judge, Judge Morris, for his signature. Judge Morris was reversed by the 9th Circuit on November 8, 2021. If, and when he signs, the issues we raised in MGP, et al. v. Jacobsen, Montana SOS, will be finally resolved.
The consent judgment is what Plaintiff’s attorneys negotiated with the AG’s office and a special AAG, although neither were involved in the case in either the District Court or on appeal in the 9th Circuit. The joint motion and consent judgment was filed Tuesday, March 1, 2022, settling all remaining issues in the case. Apparently, the SOS and AG have agreed to recognize the MGP this year. Hopefully he will sign the consent judgment soon.
In the meantime, I am listed as “pending” on the SOS candidate listings posted online for the 2022 Primary Election to be held in June. If the Sec. of State rejects my filing, it will be the second time the Montana Green Party has been unceremoniously jerked from the ballot after filing for ballot access in Montana. The ball is in the State’s court, and on the judge’s desk. I’ve done what I can and can only wait to see what happens next.
Piece of Mindful 
Statism is the bastard child of Collectivism, and the root cause of all of humanity’s woes.
After the last two years (and really, all of the amassed evidence throughout all of human history), you’d think that folks like Mark would finally start to reject the whole idea of the State – which is based on the constant threat of physical violence – in favor of less barbaric, more sane methods of achieving peace and justice.
Alas, like a baby bird, people like Mark were raised by the State in State institutions, and subconsciously see the State as their “family” and cannot even conceive of a world without it. For these people, an attack on the State is an attack on themselves.
It’s sad to watch really, especially for someone as perspicacious as Mark. To throw in his lot with the thieves and murderers in government in a naive attempt to wield the ring of power for his own noble (selfish?) purposes. Really hard to respect someone like that.
https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM
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Well there Cyrus, Anything to preserve “Wildlife and Nature” is always.. “well worth the Cause”. So it appears…You are way…Waaaay off the “MARK”.
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Cyrus,
Curious what your selling here. “The state” is not some permanent fixture, or at least I see it that way. We are seeing the system of (man-made, abstractions) nation states being weakened, reordered and reformed under the increasing power of the United Nations, Google, Facebook and untold numbers of global corporate structures and institutions most people are totally unaware of. The ruling families do not seem to all be on the same page lately, or I could be imagining that, of course. We are clearly in a transition period, or at least is seems that way to me.
Are you able to share your preferred alternative to the status quo, however difficult that may be to identify and define? I’m all ears.
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Umm, Cyrus, it was Steve Kelly who wrote this piece, not Mark.
BTW, seems most on this site are pretty much well-past supporting the political theater phase of life.
Despite the abundant corruption of political life, my understanding of Steve’s purpose is to preserve more of nature, at least for a bit longer. That seems a worthy goal, but if after winning, I see undoctored images or video of Steve jet-skiing in the Caribbean with the elites, I will stand corrected.
Good fortune, Steve!
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