BlogWood: MT Archives

No respect

An incumbent Democratic congressman from Louisiana tried some sneaky trickery this week, and it looks like he just may get burned for it.

First, Rodney Alexander has been running for reelection, raising money, wooing voters, asking to be sent back to Washington, as a Democrat. He even filed papers to qualify for the ballot.

Then, at the very last minute, after hitting up Democratic donors for money and volunteer time, he let it be known that he was switching parties and running as a Republican. At least, that was his plan.

Then things started to go very wrong for him: his staff resigned en-masse. His political advisors jumped ship. Hoodwinked financial contributors started demanding their money back. And, as it turns out, trying to qualify twice for the same race in Louisiana is a serious no-no:

A voter in Louisiana is filing a legal challenge to defective Congressman Rodney Alexander's ballot qualification, and seeks an injunction preventing the Secretary of State from issuing ballots printed with his name. The petition, filed by a voter and based on both Louisiana statute and prior precedent, rightly argues that Alexander's SECOND filing 20 minutes before the deadline is in effect a withdrawal of his candidacy under Louisiana law since candidates are prohibited from amending their ballot qualification in any way once it has been made. Others in Louisiana have been tossed for just this kind of behavior in the past.