AZ Green Party sues over `sham' candidates

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Arizona Green Party is asking a judge to kick more than half of the group's nominees off the November ballot.

The unusual request, filed in federal court Monday, follows the nomination of 11 candidates allegedly recruited by Republican operatives to siphon votes from Democratic candidates.

Unless the judge intervenes, Arizona voters will be able to vote for a tarot card reader to be state treasurer or a street performer to regulate utilities.

it's all thanks to a little-known provision in state law that allows Green Party candidates to get the party's nomination with just one write-in vote. They don't even have to collect petition signatures. The candidates say they're serious about changing government and energized to make their voices heard. Democrats claim they're being used as a dirty trick.

In legal filings that sought a swift hearing, the Green Party has labeled the group ``sham candidates'' and is asking a federal judge to oust them from the November ballot and strike down the obscure law that put them there with so little effort. Democrats have called for a criminal investigation.

``We in the Arizona Green Party want our team to play by the same rules as other teams, and not have somebody in the stands deciding to be a player on our team,'' party co-chair Claudia Ellquist said in a statement Tuesday.

Democrats and Greens say the 11 disputed candidates don't represent the Green Party and are being used as pawns.

``They're playing games with the voters,'' said Jennifer Johnson, an Arizona Democratic Party spokeswoman.

Democrats say Green Party candidates attract left-leaning voters, making it tougher for Democrats to get elected.

ABC-15 talked with some of the people involved in the litigation:

Steve May, a former Republican state lawmaker running for the Arizona House, acknowledges he helped some of the disputed candidates get on the ballot. He insists he's just trying to help them get their voices heard.

"I live on Tempe Town Lake right on Mill Avenue. We all kind of hang out together, so I'm helping them learn what it is to run for office. These guys deserve to be heard, they want a voice and running for office gives them a voice. Democrats don't own those votes or any other votes. If they want those votes, they need to earn them.

The candidates include Anthony Goshorn, who pilots a pedicab and drives a taxi for a living. The 53-year-old is known as "Grandpa" to the young drifters he mentors. He says May is not responsible for his candidacy.

"He was probably the straw that broke the camel's back, but he didn't start this," Goshorn said.

He told ABC-15 his qualifications for public office are "life experiences."

State treasurer candidate Thomas Meadows, a 27-year-old who reads tarot cards on Mill Avenue and investigates sightings of ghosts and UFOs, said he isn't sure why his own party is so upset about his decision to run.

``I'm not sure why they're so dead set against me,'' he said. ``Probably because they didn't think of it.''

Admitting he has ``a snowball's chance in Phoenix'' of winning, Meadows said he hopes his candidacy inspires other political upstarts to run for office and helps the Greens become a stronger alternative to the Republicans and Democrats.

The dispute was first reported by The Arizona Republic.