By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.
When Dr. Michael Pakko testified against a bill making it harder for third parties to compete Tuesday, he didn’t use the four words that would have been the most persuasive to lawmakers.
Pakko, the Libertarian Party of Arkansas chairman, spoke against Senate Bill 163 by Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado. Garner’s bill would increase the number of signatures third parties must collect to qualify for the ballot. It’s currently 10,000. Garner’s bill would increase it to 3 percent of the total votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. In 2020, that would be about 26,746.
Under current law, any political party not attaining 3 percent of the vote in a presidential or gubernatorial election is a “new” party and must collect signatures the next time. Pakko’s Libertarians have been inching toward that percentage in recent elections. Last November, their candidate for governor, Mark West, won 2.9 percent of the vote.
On Tuesday, the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee met earlier than expected and dispensed with the bill on a voice vote before Pakko arrived.
Given a chance to speak at the meeting’s end, Pakko called it a “clear effort to suppress competition in Arkansas’ political process.” He pointed out that more than half the state legislative candidates in 2018 were unopposed, so it’s not like Arkansans have too many ballot choices.
“The fact that it includes an emergency clause makes it even more evident that it’s intended to stifle competition in the 2020 election to the benefit of current incumbent politicians and their entrenched political parties,” he said.
It also runs afoul of a 2006 case, Green Party of Arkansas v. Daniels. There, a judge ruled that a previous 3 percent limit was unconstitutional and required the state to give the Green Party a spot on the ballot. In fact, that ruling led the Legislature to adopt the 10,000-signature threshold, Pakko said.
And that’s when he didn’t use the four words that would be most effective with lawmakers as the bill moves through the House. Continue reading The four words Dr. Pakko forgot
