Open letter from Ralph Nader to Chief Justice Ronald Castille

Download a PDF version here

Ralph Nader
P.O. Box 19312
Washington, D.C. 20036
June 21, 2011

Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille
Pennsylvania Supreme Court
1818 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Dear Chief Justice Castille,

This open letter is prompted by your recent opinion in In Re Farnese, which repeats the demonstrable falsehood that the Nader-Camejo 2004 petition drive involved “extensive fraud and deception,” yet fails to acknowledge that the challenge to our petitions – filed by several partners in your former law firm, Reed Smith, LLP – was a product of the criminal conspiracy at the heart of former Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett’s subsequent “Bonusgate” prosecution. See In Re Farnese, No. 13 EAP 2008, 21 (Pa. March 29, 2011) (Slip Opinion enclosed). Such distortion of the facts, if not deliberate, is inexplicable. It is now a matter of public record that state employees working for the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus illegally prepared Reed Smith’s challenge to the Nader-Camejo nomination petitions at taxpayer expense. Further, according to sworn testimony in the Bonusgate proceedings – which remains undisputed – Reed Smith partner Efrem Grail coordinated the state employees’ effort. Yet in Farnese, you maintain that the unprecedented award of $81,102.19 in costs to our challengers was justified by the “extreme circumstances” in our case – ironically, a reference not to the criminality associated with the challenge effort, nor to the evidence and testimony identifying Efrem Grail and Reed Smith by name, but to the unfounded accusations about our petition drive. Slip Op. at 21.

Farnese purports to clarify the circumstances under which lower courts may impose costs in petition challenges, but in fact your opinion establishes no standard at all. Instead, Farnese holds – contrary to the statutory text and legislative intent of 25 P.S. § 2937 (“Section 2937″) – that a court may impose costs against any candidate “as it shall deem just,” subject only to “the discretion of the judicial officer.” Slip Op. at 19. Farnese thus reaffirms the dangerous precedent set in our case, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court first invoked Section 2937 to assess costs against candidates who defend nomination petitions that they are required by law to submit. Chief Justice Castille, the Jim Crow era ended in large part because the United States Supreme Court struck down such financial burdens in a series of landmark civil rights cases protecting candidate and voter rights. You acknowledge those cases in Farnese but choose to disregard them, Slip Op. at 16, 24, and proceed to enter an opinion that threatens candidates with financial ruin if they defend their right to run for public office. This is not just bad law; Farnese is a direct threat to the “free and equal” elections guaranteed by Article I, Section 5 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The purpose of this open letter is to correct the public record regarding the falsehoods in Farnese, which would be defamatory were it not for the doctrine of judicial immunity. In addition, Pennsylvania voters must decide whether to retain you in 2013, and they should be informed about the havoc that the “least dangerous” branch (THE FEDERALIST No. 78 (Alexander Hamilton)), under your stewardship, is wreaking upon their democratic form of government by denying voters their free choice of candidates. Finally, we still hold out hope that you will bring your views into conformity with the facts and law, by joining your esteemed colleague, Justice Thomas Saylor, in rejecting both Farnese and the discredited decisions in our case.
Read More

Ralph Nader to Promote Ballot Access Reform at Oklahoma City Rally

Oklahoma City, Okla. – Ralph Nader will speak in support of ballot access reform at an Oklahoma City rally on Wednesday, September 8, 2010, from 7 pm to 9 pm. The event will be hosted in the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom at 3233 Northwest Expressway. Representatives of Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform, the Green Party [...]

Pennsylvania Political Insiders Intimidate Third Party and Independent Candidates to Drop Out of Races on Threat of Extensive Challenge Fees

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Every third party or independent candidate who filed for statewide office this year has been removed from the ballot in a blatant display of intimidation. Organizers from several political parties and voter rights organizations held a press conference, August 23, to explain what happened and why. Attending were: state Sen. Mike Folmer; [...]

Richard Winger and Christina Tobin to Host Sacramento Press Conference on Election Reforms

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Richard Winger, plaintiff in the lawsuit against Senate Bill 6, and Christina Tobin, CEO and founder of Free and Equal Elections Foundation and StopTopTwo.org creator, will give a press conference on the south steps of the California State Capitol, Tuesday, August 17, 10:30 a.m. Richard Winger is publisher and editor of Ballot [...]

Christina Tobin to Speak at 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy

Important information about the 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy from the Christina Tobin for California Secretary of State website. Free and Equal Elections Foundation is one of the sponsors of this awesome event and we encourage everyone to check it out. The logo and link for this event is also at the top [...]

More Articles

Ralph Nader: California Enshrines the Duopoly

Carl Romanelli Fights Pennsylvania Democrats with a Federal Lawsuit Related to “Bonus-gate” Convictions.

Free and Equal Elections Congratulates Green Party of Texas, Scolds Democratic Party

StopTopTwo.Org and Ralph Nader Release Statements on the Passing of Proposition 14