Green Party At Odds With Would-Be U.S. Senate Candidate

MooreIn his latest attempt to run for the U.S. Senate, Buddy Moore is finding it's not easy being Green.

Two months after being declared ineligible to run in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Moore is now being told he can't run for Senate on the Green Party ticket, either.

Colorado Green Party officials say Moore is ineligible to run under party bylaws and state law; Moore says they're misinterpreting the law and will sue if Green Party officials continue to exclude him from their party's primary ballot.

Moore, a a 52-year-old former police officer and ski patrolman from Wheat Ridge, is running for Senate mainly to advance a few key issues, including a constitutional amendment banning the import or export of weapons abroad, impeaching President Bush and other administration officials, and seeking a new investigation into the 9/11 attacks.

Moore admits he is only seeking the Green Party nomination so he only has to collect 1,000 signatures to make the primary ballot - a far more achievable number than the 10,000 signatures needed to run for Senate as an independent in Colorado.

"I haven't hidden that that's my intent, although I do embrace the Green Party's philosophy and their Ten Key Values," Moore said.

Moore first tried to run for Senate as a Democrat in January. But state Democratic Party leaders rejected him, pointing to a state law requiring that a party candidate must be a member of that party for at least a year before the date of nomination (in this case, the Democratic state assembly on May 17). Moore had only switched his registration from "Independent" to "Democrat" in November 2007.

The day after the Feb. 5 Colorado caucuses, Moore again changed parties - this time, to the Green Party - and applied to enter the Green Senate primary against former teacher Bob Kinsey.

But two weeks ago, Moore was rejected as a candidate by the Adams County/Jeffco Green Party chapter (the state Green Party is too small to hold caucuses or assemblies, so all Green candidates must pass their local party chapter in order to advance to the state party convention).

Green officials cited state election law, which states that minor party candidates can't be a member of a major party for a year prior to the minor party's nominating convention - in other words, they said, Moore's three months as a registered Democrat disqualified him from the 2008 Green Senate race.

They also initially pointed to the same law as the Democrats, saying Moore hadn't been a Green Party member long enough to run as a party candidate. However, the Greens later dropped this argument, as party bylaws - which supersede state law in this case - say candidates must be registered Greens for only six months before the general election.

Legal arguments aside, many Green leaders were wary of allowing on their ballot a stranger who talked of 9/11 conspiracy theories and appeared to be joining their party solely for ballot access, said Dave Chandler, the state Green Party co-chair and a member of the Adams/JeffCo chapter panel that denied Moore's candidacy.

Moore introduced himself to the Greens by showing up at Kinsey's Senate announcement rally in Denver on Feb. 7 holding a large "Buddy Moore For Senate" sign.

"That was the first day, I think, any of us had ever heard of this guy," Chandler said. "It sure looks to us like he's ballot shopping."

Plus, Chandler said many Greens at the Adams/JeffCo meeting "weren't too pleased with the way he stormed out" following his rejection.

Moore holds, though, that only "one small group of Greens" oppose his right to be on the ballot and are doing so out of "loyalty" to Kinsey.

And as for that group's stance that two different provisions of state law prevent him from running as a Green, Moore said those arguments don't hold water.

"I don't think all resources have been exhausted in terms of finding case law and clarifying what the law means," Moore said. "They have their interpretation of the law, and I have mine."

Both sides asked the Colorado Secretary of State's office for clarification on the issue earlier this month. But in his reply e-mailed to both Moore and Chandler on March 6, Deputy Director of Elections Wayne Munster essentially said it was up to Moore and the state Green Party to work things out on their own.

"Since this is a matter concerning party bylaws any questions should be referred to the political party," Munster said in the e-mail. "Therefore, the secretary of state's office is no longer able to opine on this issue."

Moore said he's trying to resolve the conflict harmoniously, but he warned that if Green Party leaders continue to prevent him from running, he'll seek a declaratory judgment from a district court.

"If they're going to block freedom of speech like this, that opens them to possible legal action," Moore said. "If you can't read the state law and understand it, then obviously these things go to court."

But Green leaders show no sign of budging. When the Summit Daily News published an article on Monday stating there was a two-way race between Kinsey and Moore for the Green Senate nomination, Chandler immediately called the newspaper to complain.

Moore also said that when a Code Pink chapter invited him to speak at their organizational meeting earlier this month, several Green Party members called the chapter in an unsuccessful attempt to convince them to cancel the invitation.

"We might have a primary in the Green Party someday," Chandler said. "But this year isn't the year for a Green Senate primary."

Meanwhile, Moore is continuing to campaign around the state to try and rally Green Party members to his side.

"This is just politics down in the trenches," Moore said. "They're really making it quite challenging to have my voice heard."