Newt Gingrich Virginia Ballot Ineligibility: Tea Party Activist Files Suit To Have Gingrich's Name Placed On State's Ballot

WASHINGTON -- A Virginia attorney and tea party activist is seeking to have Newt Gingrich's name placed on the state's Super Tuesday primary ballot.

Attorney Jonathon Moseley of Reston, Va., says he filed the suit Thursday in the Circuit Court of Richmond County. It contends that Gingrich met the requirement of filing 10,000 signatures and that many of those were improperly excluded. The suit also takes issue with how the Republican Party of Virginia determined that not enough signatures were valid.

Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have been found eligible for the Virginia primary ballot. The campaign of Rick Perry is challenging his exclusion in court.

Moseley says he is acting independently of the Gingrich campaign but is encouraging the former House speaker to join his suit.

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said the campaign has not decided how to proceed in Virginia.

Gingrich believes that he was kept off the ballot in the state – where he now lives – because a paid campaign worker committed fraud by turning in false signatures, according to Hammond.

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Comments

[Ty Price]

12:02 AM on 01/02/2012

Tea Party, what, really, this guy is a socialist! Has the Tea Party been taken over by neocon socialists???

[ramsha]

01:57 PM on 12/31/2011

I suspect that Newt was really crying because he is down in the polls and is excluded from participating in Virginia’s Super Tuesday primary ballot.

[Redsunriseman]

11:51 AM on 12/31/2011

What hqappen to their stance on wasteful law suits?

[Grumpy Old Dude]

09:18 AM on 01/01/2012

Law suits are only wasteful when the other side is bringing them...just ask any TP!

[Randi Grogan]

02:26 PM on 12/30/2011

GIve me a break, he doesn't stand a snowballs chance in ..., give up now Mr. Man.

[too young but old enough]

02:09 PM on 12/30/2011

Newt is looking for some activist judge to override the 'law of the land' for his benefit? I wonder if this is some sort of complex sting, and he'll be sending U.S.Marshals in to arrest anyone who tries to help him.

[syhersch]

01:10 PM on 12/30/2011

In the last presidential election ACORN and a host of other groups were alleged by conservatives to be promoting fraud by having ineligible people vote. Thanks Fox News for the coverage. And as we all know Fox is diligently following the fraudulent signatures in the Virginia Gingrich fiasco. I believe they sent a pair of Canadian Eskimo trapeeze artists to see if they would be allowed to be on the signature list. It was all part of the conservative community action group called NROCA, which is ACORN spelled backwards. I know someone is laughing somewhere at the irony.

[LiberalScoop]

12:56 PM on 12/30/2011

Okay, Tea Party people, here's the thing; If you don't do the work, you get an "F" on the assignment. There are no "do-overs." You can't run on the idea that we need to clean up government corruption and waste, then gripe because your boy didn't take advantage of his Constitutionally guaranteed right to be put on a state's ballot in exchange for doing a simple thing that qualifies him to do so. He didn't do it so he's toast in VA. Of course, you could write him in if you wanted to.

[eddw88]

04:26 PM on 12/30/2011

And these would be the same people that insisted that they are the only ones that work. Yet, they NEVER get anything of value done.

[LiberalScoop]

07:13 PM on 12/30/2011

Isn't that the truth! And no matter what it is, if it's good, they did it. If it isn't specifically good for Conservatives, they complain that Liberals are somehow twisting the Constitution.

[rgilley]

12:12 PM on 12/30/2011

Gingrich is the perfect Tea party candidate! and here is why!

3. “The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument.”
~Newt Gingrich, arguing that it’s okay for politicians to be bought and paid for.

4. “Give the park police more ammo.” ~Newt Gingrich, responding to a reporter who asked what to do about the homeless a few days after the police shot a homeless man in front of the White House.

5. “The problem isn’t too little money in political campaigns, but not enough.”
~Newt Gingrich on campaign finance reform.

"A look back: Newt’s most outlandish positions
Gingrich once called for children of welfare mothers to be shipped off to orphanages"
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/02/a_look_back_newts_most_outlandish_positions/singleton/
Is this Fascist ideolouge crazy for real?

18 Newt Gingrich Quotes That Disqualify Him From Ever Being President
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/26/18-newt-gingrich-quotes-that-disqualify-him-from-ever-being-president/

Gingrich is a natural Teabagger

[njborne]

12:06 PM on 12/30/2011

State's Rights? Not when it effects them. Voting fraud as touted by the GOP, non-existence with it effects them. What to the present-day GOP/TP have in common with rats? They eat their own.

[99er2049er]

12:05 PM on 12/30/2011

Let Newt be included in Virginia, the more clowns this party has to offer, the more popcorn shows we the democrats can enjoy.

[CathrynAC]

11:48 AM on 12/30/2011

Newt knew the rules for VA.It is his home state. If you are going to run you sure as heck make sure you know the rules for everyplace you want to be on the ballot and then have responsible people working on it. He didn't. He Failed..Move On. We can't change the rules just because he doesn't like them.

[Gestas]

11:47 AM on 12/30/2011

Newts real problem is that he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room....therfore he needs no advice or help from anyone....Newt is the classic "One Man Band" ...

[Seven Teenatheart]

11:44 AM on 12/30/2011

In 2008 Virginia had approx. 5,021,993 registered voters.
Source: http://www2.wsls.com/news/2008/oct/15/virginia_sets_record_for_new_registered_voters-ar-393204/

Since Virginia doesn't register voters by party, a breakdown by party affiliation has eluded me.
But it is a swing state. So I'm guessing that 45-50% of the voters could be Republican.

So the population of Virginia is easily enough to support getting signatures for all of the GOP candidates, if they made a diligent effort to get signatures and had decent support from the voters of this state.

Mr. Gingrich and his campaign have only themselves to blame for not getting enough valid signatures....

[toddag]

11:40 AM on 12/30/2011

Newt thought ACORN should have faced a criminal investigation for hiring people that collected false signatures. Now Newt has done the same thing. In ACORN's case the fraud had no impact whatsoever on election results because Mickey Mouse wasn't going to show up to vote. In Newt's case, its clear there is a real world impact the ballot, with Newt in a position to personally reap a substantial benefit had the fraud not been caught.

Obviously, if Newt had any consistency or character, he would call for a criminal investigation of his own campaign.

[jac355]

11:38 AM on 12/30/2011

As per the norm in the GOP- all laws apply to everyone...... else. Once again, the right wing can't see the forest for the trees. They rail against "career politicians", yet that is exactly what they have. Gingrich, Perry, Paul, Bachmann, Santorum.... they are not above the law... oops! Sorry- make that the laws are not above them...