State District Judge John Dietz isnโ€™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.ย 

Today, David Weinberg, the league’s executive director, fired off an open letter to his Green Party counterpart, Kat Swift, expressing his โ€œprofound disappointmentโ€ 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.

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Reeve Hamilton worked at the Tribune from 2009 to 2015, covering higher education and politics and hosting the Tribune's weekly podcast. His writing has also appeared in Texas Monthly and The Texas Observer....