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Iowa Republicans ask judge to knock Abby Finkenauer off ballot

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Two Iowa Republicans are asking a district judge to overturn a state panel’s ruling to accept Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer’s nominating paperwork, a move that would result in Finkenauer being taken off the ballot for the 2022 elections.
The petition for judicial review was filed Thursday in Polk County District Court.
Finkenauer, of Cedar Rapids, is one of three Democrats seeking the party’s nomination to face longtime incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who also faces a primary challenge.



Iowa’s primary election is June 7, and the general election is Nov. 8.


The State Objection Panel -- comprised of the secretary of state, attorney general and state auditor -- this week considered objections to dozens of signatures collected by the Finkenauer campaign on her nominating petitions.
As a candidate for U.S. Senate, Finkenauer was required by state law to acquire at least 3,500 signatures, including at least 100 signatures each in at least 19 counties.

After the panel’s review, Finkenauer finished with exactly 19 qualifying counties, including one with exactly 100 signatures and two more with 101 each.​



The panel of Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate, Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller, and Democratic Auditor Rob Sand, voted 2-1 to deny the objection, clearing the way for Finkenauer to remain on the ballot. The Democrats, Miller and Sand, voted to deny the objection while Republican Pate voted to approve it.


The panel members disagreed over rulings on some signatures that contained incorrect or illegible dates. Miller and Sand argued the information on the forms was sufficient, while Pate argued the signatures were not completed to the letter of the law and should have been disqualified.
The objections to the Finkenauer campaign’s signatures were brought by Kim Schmett, a former Republican candidate for Congress and former leader of the Polk County Republicans, and Leanne Pellett, co-chair of the Cass County Republicans.

Alan Ostergren, a Des Moines lawyer who has been active in conservative political and legal causes, is representing Schmett and Pellett in the request for judicial review of the state panel’s ruling.

The filing asks the district court to reverse the state panel’s decision or require the panel to reconsider the objections to Finkenauer’s signatures without Miller and Sand participating.
Ostergren argued before the panel that Miller and Sand should recuse themselves for voting on Finkenauer’s petitions and argues the same in the legal filing.
Ostergren argues Miller should have recused himself because the panel considered some of the same issues that were raised when his campaign’s signatures were challenged, and that Sand should have recused himself because Ostergren previously sued Sand and the auditor’s office and because, in a statement, Sand’s spokesperson called Ostergren a “political hack.”


Ostergren also argues Miller and Sand incorrectly ruled on the objections to the Finkenauer campaign’s signatures and that their rulings were “based on an erroneous interpretation of law that had not been clearly vested by a provision of law in the panel.”

 
Grassley has nothing to worry about. He could have died last week and Iowans will still find a way to get him 4 more years. What an embarrassment we are.

Attempting to skim by with the bare minimum is what's embarrassing.
 
I’m sorry, but as a Democrat myself, I am continually stunned by how pathetically bad our party really is. How do you come this close to screwing this up? Saved by the permissive oversight of two of the scant few well-positioned Democrats remaining in government—one of them old enough to remember outhouses and party line phones. We need a revolution on the left here in Iowa. We are not ready to fight Republicans. We need to start by changing the guard within our own party.
 
Abby knows better, and she should have done better. I know that she is already fighting the big fight, but its fair to shake your head over how she allowed this very important detail to be overlooked. That being said, its also important to not get lost in the weeds over this...Abby taking on Grassley is truly akin to David taking on Goliath. I'll be voting for her.
 
This whole damn thing is embarrassing to me as an Iowa Democrat! Little wonder how Iowa Dems get their ass bear in statewide elections year after year...Hellsbells, they can’t even get the nomination papers signed correctly! Even the AG had issues...and Beas been AG for years!
But I will vote for the Democrat as opposed to the self appointed Constitutional expert rom Ioway. I doubt if it will be enough but I can only be pleasantly surprised!
 
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This is what the GOP has in store for America. Contest every signature, and every vote. They’d rather do that then field decent candidly or reflect anything beyond their increasingly triggered base.
 
This is what the GOP has in store for America. Contest every signature, and every vote. They’d rather do that then field decent candidly or reflect anything beyond their increasingly triggered base.
Oh and runny to Nancy and having her overturn an Iowa election and bypass the Iowa appeal process. You freaken triggered little lib.
 
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