Lawsuit seeks to get Gingrich on Va. 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.

Perry campaign sues to get on Virginia ballot

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.

[stn_sage]

Look! Gingrich wasn't 'born yesterday'!
He's a veteran politician!
It's HIS responsibility to see to it, that
he meets the qualifications to get on each states' ballots!
If he personally doesn't do it, then someone from his campaign
team does!
It appears 'team Gingrich' dropped the ball!
So, if you can't play by the rules, now he thinks he can sue
his way onto the ballot?!
This is a perfect example of why he shouldn't be elected POTUS!

[bobnjersey]

[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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so ... he's not going to be on the ballot in the state in which he lives?

as much of a clown that he is ... it seems the rules in virginia are a bit ridiculous if someone who's been in the running all along ... been in all the debates ... and at least for a while was at the top of all the polling ... is not eligible for 'their' primary.

if he's a viable candidate to the voters of virginia ... shouldn't they have the opportunity to cast their vote for him?

if he's not a viable candidate to the voters of virginia ... then nobody will cast their vote for him ... and it won't matter how many signatures he did or didn't have.

these rules appear to be in place to protect well established political organizations ... and create barriers to those who are not as established .. and not as organized. i wonder who put these rules in place?

[obwan222]

Gingrich's flailing about for an excuse to his incompetence is exposing his weakness as a campaigner.

Everybody who submits voter petitions knows that you need MORE signatures than required because some will be disqualified. He claims to have turned in 11,100 signatures. But he had 1,500 disqualified due to fraud. So he missed by 400 votes.

But come on, Newt only got 11000 people to sign his petition? Is his campaign that weak that they didn't have more? If he's a front-runner shouldn't he have thousands of additional voters lining up to get him on the ballot?

Instead of being a high hurdle 10,000 signatures seems like a small task from over 8 million citizens.

[nancy_naive]

In the case of Perry and Newt, these men and their organizations were too stupid to read and understand 1 paragraph instructions, to wit:

10,000 signatures,
at least 400 from each of 11 districts,
signature gathers/certifiers must be registered Va voters

Perry used a firm from out of state,
one of Newt's people made up 1,500 signatures.

These men are TOO stupid to be let anywhere NEAR the Oval Office.

[NinthSt78]

Lobster dinner for two this Thursday evening at Rockefeller's Restaurant in Virginia Beach would be more enjoyable and less expensive than another lawsuit.

[Suq-Madiq]

Short version of the article.

Another Republican committed election fraud.

[Suq-Madiq]

Aren't these the jerks who want everyone *else* to jump through hoops to VOTE because of a bunch of imaginary fraud allegations?

Now that THEIR papers come up short, would you expect them to take responsibility for their actions... or blame someone else and sue.

These people are *worthless*

Can anyone name ONE thing the Republican Party has accomplished in the last 100 years that actually BENEFITED you or your family>

They sure as hell don't have any trouble busting budgets and spending my money-- I just never see anything in return.

[Satharian]

Republicans go figure..But these guys on both sides are lawyers with money and we know what lawyers do best..Frank Zappa summed it up best when he said bend it over grease it down here comes that crazy screaming sound

[dreamy_miss]

This is just a way for them to stay in the race...it has nothing to do with truth; just providing hope so some supporters don't switch sides so their votes matter. Come on now, if you think Newt has nothing to do with that lawsuit, you're crazy. The man was practically rabid about getting on the ballot.

[lucifersshadow]

This is stupidity, and will accomplish nothing, Gingrich will be dead before the lawsuit makes it thru the pipes.

[Ben37221]

Still, this is an unjust law. A law that locks out some candidates, and deprive the citizens the right to choose whatever candidate they want to, should be dumpt. This is the law tea party needs to repel instead of their hatred driven repel attempt of the Obama care.