Bush Team Supporting Ralph Nader in Key States Across the US
Commentary ~ August 2, 2004: George Bush and
his Republican supporters across the United States are mobilizing
to help Ralph Nader in the November election. Though some may call
it dirty politics, the effort may succeed in getting Bush elected.
In Michigan, for example, the Republican Party submitted more than
40,000 signatures last week in a bid to get independent presidential
candidate Ralph Nader on the state's November ballot.
The Michigan Republicans deny they want to help Nader. Matt Davis,
a spokesman for the group, told The Washington Post that
it was “merely concerned about third-party candidates being
left off the ballot.” He could not name another third-party
or independent candidate his party has helped.
Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said the campaign hopes to be on the
Michigan ballet with the state's Reform Party. He said Nader may
have to use the Republican-sponsored signatures: "We have to
get on the ballot somehow," he told the Post.
In its July 12th edition, Newsweek reported that of the
$1 million that Nader has raised for his campaign so far, about
$50,000 is from donors who have also given to President George W.
Bush's campaign. One in 10 of Nader's biggest contributors are longtime
Bush supporters. On that list, for example, is Richard Egan, Bush's
former ambassador to Ireland and source of more than $1 million
in various contributions to Bush’s campaign efforts. Egan,
his son John and his daughter-in-law Pamela each contributed the
maximum $2,000 donation to Nader's effort.
Houston businessman and longtime Bush-family friend Nijad Fares,
the son of Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Issam Fares, also gave
$2,000 to Nader. In 2000 Fares gave $200,000 to the Bush Inaugural
fund. The state Republican committees in Michigan and Florida have
announced efforts to collect signatures to get Nader on the ballot
in those states.
In Arizona, the state's Democratic Party claims that half of the
10,000 registered voters who signed petitions last month to get
Nader on the ballot were Republicans.
And in Iowa, The Associated Press reported that President
Bush’s backers have worked hard to get signatures on petitions
to put Nader’s name on the ballot. AP points out that Nader’s
presence on the ballot could be crucial in deciding where the state’s
seven electoral votes land. According to that article, a group of
Bush supporters, after leaving a Bush campaign rally, were actively
seeking signatures on petitions to get Nader’s name on the
ballot, carefully explaining that Nader’s presence would be
helpful to Bush because the former consumer activist would drain
votes from Kerry. They called the effort “a project to help
the president.”
. The Kansas City Star talked to Gary Thompson, a campaign
worker for Ralph Nader in Kansas. Thompson said his effort to get
signatures from the Democrats solicited a lot of angry comments,
but he found Republicans eager to help him.
"People would say, `Hey, Nader, yeah, I'll sign,'" said
Thompson, who collected more than 300 signatures at the Bush event
and was paid $1 for each one of them.
The Star points out that the Nader campaign is entering its make-or-break
period, where it must get on the ballot in 36 states with deadlines
in August and September. As of Monday, he was on only two state
ballots: in Nevada and New Jersey. According to the Nader website,
he also had met this week’s deadlines in Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Arkansas and West Virginia, and its petitions to be listed are pending
in eight other states.
In Oregon, meanwhile, the efforts of two Republican groups to get
independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot in
the key battleground state has prompted a complaint to the Federal
Election Commission by a watchdog group.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
told CNN that phone banks encouraging Bush supporters to
attend a Nader nominating convention in early July amounted to an
illegal in-kind contribution to the Nader campaign by the Oregon
Family Council and Oregon Citizens for a Sound Economy.
Bush's re-election campaign and the Oregon Republican Party were
also named in the complaint, which alleges the groups worked together
to promote Nader and siphon potential votes away from John Kerry.
To get on the ballot, the Nader campaign needed to get the signatures
of 1,000 registered voters in one day or submit 15,000 signatures
statewide. He failed but is continuing his fight to get on the ballot
through a petition process. Whether Nader gets on the ballot in
Oregon could be critical in deciding which candidate carries the
state and its seven electoral votes.
