[EL] Should a Court order ballot pamphlet inclusion of late-Candidate's statement during the public review period?

[Thomas J. Cares]

I'm wondering if those on this list have insightful thoughts on this
question...

I had not really advanced my personal decision on whether I would run for
Governor of California until this Monday, at which time I paid the filing
fee, though still have not filed the declaration of candidacy, without
which, the State can't put me on the ballot. The deadline for that is 5pm
today (I intend to submit that on time and had submitted sufficient
nomination signatures on Wednesday, which have been verified as valid).

However, the Secretary of State had set a deadline of 2/14/18 for
submission of a candidate statement to be included in the voter information
guide.

I have petitioned the Court to order the SoS to include my statement, and
was granted a hearing 10am Monday 3/12.

Though I'm still exploring if I have better statutory arguments, and tried
to make one in my petition, I'm thinking my strongest argument is that it
perverts the free speech clauses of the State and Federal constitution to
disparage a candidate's political speech for not existing prior to their
decision to be a candidate, as well as to pressure someone considering
candidacy to author political speech under a hypothetical context. And that
further, excluding my statement, among that of my fellow candidates who
accepted the expenditure limit, misrepresents to the voter that I had no
statement to make.

While my statement would not have been subjected to the public review
period, like those submitted by the normal deadline, the Court can
certainly examine my (innocent) statement for falsehoods, and allow the SoS
to disclaim that my statement was not subjected to the normal public review
period, denying opportunity to be challenged for falsehoods or other
reasons.

*Links*
Writ Petition:
http://thomascares.com/vigpetition.pdf
Opposition reply:
http://thomascares.com/vigopposition.pdf


Your interest is appreciated,
Thomas Cares
310-421-VOTE
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