Denise Giardina for Governor of West Virginia

July 2000

WE'RE ON!!!!! MOUNTAIN PARTY GETS BALLOT ACCESS
The Secretary of State's office has verified that the Giardina for Governor campaign has passed the required number of signatures needed to qualify for ballot status. That means Denise Giardina and the Mountain Party will be on the ballot on November 8.

The campaign turned in nearly 19,000 signatures. Traditionally petition drives in West Virginia have achieved an acceptance rate for signatures of 50% or less. So we were thrilled to learn we had 13,487 valid signatures, with two counties representing 280 signatures yet to report. This represents an extraordinary acceptance rate of 74%.

The Mountain Party thus becomes one of just a few statewise independent parties in the country. It's an historic achievement, one all petitioners and supporters should be proud of. Now it's on to November. We'll try to run the most exciting campaign in the history of the state! Join us by e-mailing gregg@mtparty.org.

June 2000

Waiting For The Count
The Secretary of State's office is nearly finished counting our petition signatures. On May 8, the day before the primary election, the Denise Giardina campaign turned in nearly 19,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of State's office. We need 12,562 valid signatures of registered voters to gain ballot access in November.

This was a heroic effort by campaign volunteers in the face of great obstacles. Special mention goes to Vince George and Gregg and Missy Anthony who coordinated the campaign and worked tirelessly. Many volunteers helped with the effort, and the top two signature gatherers were Rosalie Blaul of Kanawha County and Elinor Taylor of Cabell County. Also special mention to Roane County, with the largest number of petitioners from a rural county.

Stay Tuned For The Final Word!

May 2000

Denise Giardina Candidacy Announcement
I would first like to thank that host of volunteers who made it possible for me to stand here today. People across the state have been collecting signatures on petitions to put my name on the ballot in November. My petitioners have been college students at Marshall, WVU, West Virginia State, West Virginia Wesleyan, Fairmont State. They have been retired college professors, community activists, working people giving up their lunchtimes, schoolteachers working through precious spring breaks, and shy people forcing themselves to accost strangers on the street. continued

Campaign Contribution Tithes: As announced earlier, our campaign is tithing 10% of all campaign contributions to the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and other charities yet to be named. So far, Governor Underwood has not responded to our request for charitable donations. Jim Lees and Bob Wise have said they give to charities as individuals.

According to Mr. Wise, in a letter dated March 23, "I do not and will not make it a practice to solicit any more funds than is necessary for a successful campaign. I believe charitable donations for West Virginia must be made by the people of West Virginia on an individual, personal basis."

So far, Mr. Wise has raised $900,000 for his campaign. Does it really take that much to become governor? Only if you have nothing to say and have to pay for packaging your candidacy. And by the way, Wise saw no problem with donating thousands of dollars of excess congressional campaign money to county Democratic committees. Why the excess if only the amount necessary to win is raised?

The point, of course, it that horribly large sums of money are being paid to consultants, pollsters, and media outlets while West Virginians struggle to make a living. What's wrong with this picture? What could be done with $90,000 from Mr. Wise's campaign and a tithe from Mr. Underwood's?

April 2000

The Scoop on Ballot Access: In late March we asked the State Supreme Court to expedite our appeal on ballot access issues. The court responded immediately by voting 3-2 to not even grant us a hearing. But stay tuned -- we'll be back in court soon. Meanwhile, don't tell anyone, but we're getting very close to our signature goal!

March 2000

CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION TITHES: As announced earlier, our campaign is tithing 10% of all campaign contributions to several state charities. The first announced recipient
was the Salvation Army. We are pleased to announce that the second recipient will be Habitat for Humanity. This is a wonderful housing program which allows low-income families to build and own their own home with the help of local volunteers.

We are challenging each gubernatorial candidate to set aside ten percent of funds raised for charity. That would ensure that the massive amounts of money spent on political campaigns would not be a total waste.

Denise has written a personal letter to Misters Underwood, Wise, and Lees,
asking them to join her in the tithe effort. Watch for their response (or lack of it)!

February 2000

Ballot Access: The fight over ballot access continues. Because Judge Canady's ruling did not address our concerns over the irregularities in West Virginia's ballot access, we will be trying a different approach. Our lawyers are now preparing to go to federal court to challenge the constitutionality of state law. We believe the current situation violates our constitutional guarantees to petition the government and to vote. Stay tuned.

January 2000

Ballot Access Challenge: On Jan. 3, Judge Herman Canady issued a ruling which did nothing to clarify the ballot access questions raised by our campaign and which repeated a warning to petition signers not to vote in the primary election.

Judge Canady called the current ballot access law "flawed" and admitted that the different sections of the law were in conflict. But he ruled these sections were also clear, and therefore he decided petition signers should not vote. Judge Canady failed to address the question of forced speech on the part of petition gatherers, and also failed to explain how such a law could be enforced. The Mountain Party has announced its intention to appeal.

On Jan. 6, Denise called a press conference to challenge the current situation. She responded in part to threats by Democratic officials to keep people from voting, and to their continued claims that people cannot sign petitions and vote.

Denise announced that she will temporarily switch her registration to the Democratic Party. She announced her intention to vote in the primary election on May 9 and challenged Democratic co-chairs Pat Maroney and Steve White do deny her right to vote.

"I believe I have a God-given constitutionally-guaranteed right to petitio my government," she said. "I have a God-given constitutionally-guaranteed right to vote and no one can deny me those rights. On May 9, I will go to the polls and I will vote in the Democratic primary for every office except governor.

"Mr. Maroney, and Mr. White, and that Democratic faction you represent -- no one tells me I can't vote. I dare you to arrest me for voting."

Denise also dared the Democratic Party to challenge her ballot, and suggested that White and Maroney resign their party positions.

Granny D, who is walking across the country to promote campaign finance reform, celebrated the first anniversary of her walk on Jan. 1 in Clarksburg. Denise walked with Granny D on that day, and invites others to join her for the remainder of her time in West Virginia. Granny D will be walking to Morgantown and then across to Cumberland, Maryland. For more information, see Granny D's web site at http://grannyd.com.

Check out the new section on Fundraising Charity, and see how political campaigns can give back to the community.

International Literary Prize: As we announced last month, Denise Giardina's novel Saints and Villains is a semi-finalist for the richest literary prize in the world, the Impact 2000 Dublin Literary Prize, worth $150,000. All the semifinalists are now featured on the web site of the Dublin, Ireland, Public Library. For the complete list, check out http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/2000titles.htm.

International Literary Prize Denise Giardina's novel Saints and Villains is a semi-finalist for the richest literary prize in the world. The Impact 2000 Dublin Literary Prize has announced the selection of 101 novels from around the world, including 41 American novels, as semi-finalists. InMarch, 2000 a panel of judges will narrow the list to 10 finalists. The finalists will be flown to Dublin, Ireland, for a gala banquet in June where the winner will be announced. The prize is $130,000.

The CNN television show "Newsstand" recently sent a crew to West Virginia to film the Giardina campaign and to focus on the mountaintop removal issue. This follows previous publicity in The Economist magazine and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"Newsstand" is a TV magazine news show that airs nightly from 10 to 11 p.m. CNN has tentatively scheduled the segment to air on Dec. 12, but that date may change. We'll try to keep you posted.