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TribBlog: Conservation Voters vs. Green Party

The typically Green-friendly Texas League of Conservation Voters has joined the chorus of those who don't think the Green Party of Texas should be on the November ballot.

Green Party officials drop off about 93,000 signatures to the Texas Secretary of State.

State District Judge John Dietz isn’t the only one who doesn't think Green Party candidates should be on the November ballot. The traditionally Green-friendly Texas League of Conservation Voters doesn't either.

The Green Party of Texas collected enough signatures to be on the ballot, but they did it with help from GOP operatives and significant anonymous donations from outside Texas. 

Today, David Weinberg, the league's executive director, fired off an open letter to his Green Party counterpart, Kat Swift, expressing his “profound disappointment” in their signature-gathering strategy.

In his letter (available on the right), Weinberg explains:

Unfortunately, the League cannot support Green Party candidates in Texas at this time as it appears the Green Party used corporate money directed from out-of-state partisan sources whose positions on environmental policy are antithetical to those of the Green Party. The League believes the use of corporate, out-of-state money directed from partisan operatives for a petition drive corrupts and manipulates the electoral process.

Dietz recently issued a verdict preventing the Green Party from appearing on the ballot because its signature drive was funded with corporate money. That ruling is being appealed.

Reference

TLCV Letters

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2010 elections