Deschire Supreme Court: It's Too Late For Schiffer To Run

Special Election For Governor Turning Into A Mess Of Scandal And Litigation

NORTH BERIVIAN, DES--The Deschire Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that it is too late for current interim Governor Jim Schiffer (NAT) to get his name on the ballot for the November special gubernatorial election.

Schiffer took over as interim governor following the impeachment of former governor Jane Sonda (NAT). While Sonda was governor, Schiffer was the Majority Leader in the Deschire State House of Delegates, constitutionally making him next in line to the governorship, but only temporarily until a special election could be held.

Secretary of State Mary Jo Richardson chose November 4th as the scheduled date for the special election. The last day to file to run was October 14th.

That's where the problem with Governor Schiffer started. Back in June, upon taking over as governor, Schiffer said he would not run in the special election. Instead, he said at a news conference he would "only serve as governor until someone else can serve permanently."

With Schiffer out of the running, Lieutenant Governor Jake Kemp (NAT) announced he would run. Conservative Sharon Kelley also threw her hat into the ring. And in August, DR candidate Grant Riley said he too will run, making it a three-way race.

Governor Schiffer remained silent on any plans for candidacy, even though in September, a group of his supporters started two groups to draft him to run. "Deschireans for Schiffer" and "Friends of Jim Schiffer" both urged the governor to run, and began raising money to promote his unofficial or non-existent candidacy. As of October 27th, Deschireans For Schiffer had raised $60,000 and Friends of Jim Schiffer had raised over $350,000. The two groups had even purchased advertisement slots on billboards, TV commercials, and signs in an effort to draft the governor.

Immediately, the Kemp and Riley campaigns filed a joint-lawsuit, alleging that Schiffer was having his supporters campaign for him to give him name recognition without officially filing for office and going through the normal candidacy procedures. Initially, Governor Schiffer denied rumors he might decide to run at the last minute. But, on Friday October 26th, he announced he would seek to run in the special election after all.

According to court records, Schiffer attemped to file to run, and at first, Secretary of State Richardson accepted his registration and told him that he could still run despite being passed the registration deadline. Following news of Richardson's approval, conservative lawmakers filed a lawsuit and publicly attacked Richardson for election fraud.

"It appears Secretary of State Richardson thinks she can just skirt past the laws and only apply them when she feels like it," State Rep. Richard DeLongo (C-West Berivian) said.

After learning of a lawsuit against her, Richardson withdrew her approval of Schiffer's registration, and denied his request to be on the ballot. Schiffer then filed a lawsuit against Richardson for misleading him and causing irrevocable damage to his campaign.

"If I was ineligible to run, why did Secretary Richardson tell me I was eligible?" Schiffer asked at a news conference Monday. "She misled me; she lied to me, actually, to my face. She told me I could run. She told me it was legally acceptable for me to run. And then, a few days later, she comes back and tells us she made a mistake, we were not eligible to run."

Conservatives are skeptical.

"I think, personally, that Jim Schiffer and Mary Jo Richardson were in on this together. At first, Jim Schiffer wasn't interested in running. But at the last minute, he changed his mind. By then, it was too late, but he still wanted to run, and Richardson, being the good friend and fellow NAT that she is, tried to quietly get him on the ballot; hoping no one would notice. But we did notice, and when we caught her red-handed, she lied and said she made a mistake, and then she back-tracked and pretended to be tough and deny Schiffer's candidacy," said State Representative Mary Robbins (C-Sanderson).

Richardson denied any purposeful wrong doing, while conservatives attacked both her and Schiffer.

After the fallout, the lawsuits were taken before the Supreme Court. Schiffer's campaign argued that their candidate should still be allowed on the ballot because he was misled by the Secretary of State's office. The Kemp and Riley campaigns argued against that, saying that Schiffer was simply to late to file.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court denied Schiffer's request; agreeing with the other campaigns that Schiffer was past the deadline and no exceptions should be made.

"Mr. Schiffer and his campaign might indeed have been misled by Secretary of State Richardon's office, but that does not change the fact that he was still too late to file," wrote Justice Judy Parwinkle on behalf of the majority. "Allowing him to enter the race now would not be fair the other candidates in the race, the political parties, nor the voters of Deschire."

But in dissent, Justice Maria De Parnova said, "Mr. Schiffer, regardless of any politics, should be allowed to enter the race because it is clear that, if he wasn't misled by the Secretary of State's office, he was certainly misinformed. He and his campaign should not be penalized simply because the Secretary of State made a mistake."

The ruling means Governor Schiffer will not be able to have his name placed on the ballot. He also cannot officially declare his candidacy or fundraise. However, his supporters can run a write-in campaign, in which his name would not appear on the ballot but voters could write him in instead.

In a separate ruling, the court dismissed the lawsuit from the Kemp and Riley campaigns that alleged Mr. Schiffer was allowing his supporters to run a campaign on his behalf without officially declaring candidacy. The court also dismissed a lawsuit from conservative lawmakers against Secretary of State Richardson, saying there was not sufficient evidence. However, the court did refer the case to the Deschire Provincial Police (DPP) and the House and Assembly ethics committees for further review.

In response to the court's ruling, Governor Schiffer said he was "disappointed" and "displeased" but respected their ruling. Jake Kemp's campaign said it was "happy the court upheld election law." The Riley campaign did not return comment.

Schiffer did not say if he would abandon his bid for the governorship, or if he would continue with a write-in campaign.