Ralph's latest woes

Published June 29, 2004 4:18PM (EDT)

Ralph Nader faces more ballot access troubles. Yesterday, an Illinois man filed a challenge to the more than 25,000 signatures Nader submitted to get on the ballot there, which will almost certainly lead to a showdown in Illinois court. Facing a similar challenge in Arizona, Nader hired Republican lawyer Lisa Hauser to fight the independent's ballot-access battle in the Grand Canyon State. Though she insists that she has worked for Democrats before, this move fits right in to Nader's increasingly dubious record of accepting GOP support in his campaign.

Meanwhile, today's Joe Conason column details another Federal Election Commission complaint against the Nader campaign from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which alleges that conservative groups in Oregon illegally helped Nader get onto the ballot in that swing state. This in addition to the complaint CREW filed last week objecting to the Nader campaign's sharing of office space and phone lines with a charity Nader founded. Why all the fuss over a few shared phone lines? CREW's executive director had this to say: "No one, not even Ralph Nader, is exempt from campaign finance and tax laws."


By Stephen W. Stromberg

Stephen W. Stromberg is a former editorial fellow at Salon.

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