Results tagged “20th Congressional District” from Sundwall for Congress - Special Election 2009

From the TU Blog:

January 26, 2009 at 11:28 am by Jordan Carleo-Evangelist, Staff writer
Update: In an interview this afternoon, Sundwall said he has not officially declared his candidacy and that much will depend on when Gov. Paterson issues a proclamation declaring a special election.

If Paterson doesn't do that until the end of the week, or later, Sundwall said he believes he and his supporters will have enough time to establish a campaign committee, start collecting money and seeking the 3,500 signatures he'll need to gather in 12 days to get on the ballot.

But Sundwall said his campaign, if it materializes, will be as much about drawing attention to what he says is New York's fundamentally unfair electoral process, which he said creates and an unfair high burden for third parties to get on the ballot. (See his post below.)

"This is putting on the Don Quixote armor and charging at windmills as far as we're concerned," Sundwall said. "I'm not looking to go to Congress, let's put it that way."

He continued: "If I can get on the ballot, I'd be more than happy to talk about the Federal Reserve, the conflict in Iraq and financial crisis, all that good stuff."

Sundwall tried to get on the ballot in the 20th in 2006 but said Attorney Thomas Spargo, who he suspects was working at least indirectly on behalf of then-U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, had him knocked off the ballot. End update.

According to his Web site, Eric Sundwall, the chairman of the Libertarian Party of New York, is seriously considering a bid to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in the 20th Congressional District.

I have to say I was quite surprised to see Kirsten Gillibrand appointed NY's junior Senator on Friday by David Paterson. My immediate reaction was to make a fun commentary on YouTube about it. Certainly in retrospect, with Caroline not in the running, an upstate political insider blue dog Democrat with a Palin potential (the superficial feels good kind) was the obvious choice.

After some other conversations, emails and even some Facebook chatting, the reality of a 'special election' has started to set in. I may have been the only 'Libertarian' ever to run in the district, when I did in 2006. Having served on the Libertarian National Committee and now serving as the chair of the LPNY, I recognize the difficulties a third party faces and appreciate the diversity of input and the impossibility of electoral victory based on a cold hard historical reality.

For this special election, over 3500 signatures would need to be collected in possibly as little as 12 days or as much as three weeks. While the latter may be possible with a rapid money and volunteer infusion, the reality is stark if the former. This post is designed primarily for interested parties to provide input into a potential candidacy on my part. Depending on certain facts and realities on the ground, it is possible that a brief, yet quixotic campaign for liberty is possible. I will list potential advantages and ideas after the 'jump'.