CCD frequently submits letters to the editor that are published in major news media. See here, here, here and here. When they are not published, we post the letters here for the record.
The New York Times recently published a story incorrectly suggesting that Republicans helped Ralph Nader get on Ohio's ballot in 2004. Here, CCD Advisory Board member Mark Brown responds to correct the record.
Re: Maggie Haberman, Danny Hakim and Nick Corasaniti, How Republicans Are Trying to Use the Green Party to Their Advantage, New York Times (September 22, 2020)
To the Editor:
In their Times September 22, 2020 piece, "How Republicans Are Trying to Use the Green Party to Their Advantage," Maggie Haberman, Danny Hakim and Nick Corasaniti, allege that Republican operatives, specifically Tim Mooney and Larry Laws "were both reportedly involved in a 2004 effort to get Ralph Nader on the ballot as an independent candidate" in Ohio. In support the authors hyperlink a Court of Appeals' decision stating that Mr. Nader was unconstitutionally removed from Ohio's ballot in 2004.
I was Mr. Nader's attorney in that case and can confidently and categorically say that neither Mooney, Laws, or any other Republican operatives had any involvement with Mr. Nader's ballot access efforts in Ohio in 2004.
Far from supporting the charge that Republicans "reportedly" assisted Mr. Nader, the cited case establishes that Ohio law was unconstitutionally used by Democrats to remove Mr. Nader from Ohio's 2004 presidential ballot.
Mark R. Brown
Newton D. Baker/Baker & Hostetler Chair
Capital University Law School