This whole using taxpayer funds to pay for campaign activity is in itself a fabulous story – lots of meat and fun angle.  But when you add Ralph Nader to it, you can view this whole mess from a totally different angle.  It becomes even more interesting to watch, and it generates a different headline, for another impression, and a fresh take away for voters to increase their level of disgust.  Ain’t it cool? From the Central Penn Business Journal:

Ralph Nader stopped by the state Capitol this afternoon to announce he will ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reopen its 2006 decision against him.

Nader today filed a lengthy complaint with the Federal Election Commission and plans to file another with the U.S. Department of Justice, he said.

The decision forces Nader to pay litigation fees amassed in a challenge to keep him off the presidential ballot in the commonwealth in 2004. Nader and Peter Miguel Camejo submitted nomination papers as independent candidates for president and vice president, respectively,in 2004.

The Supreme Court upheld a 2005 decision by Commonwealth Court James Gardner Colins. Colins ruled Nader had to pay $81,102 in attorney fees tallied in a challenge to his inclusion on the ballot. Attorneys purportedly filed the challenge on behalf of eight Pennsylvania voters, Nader said.

State Attorney General Tom Corbett’s recent indictment of 12 state Democrats in the so-called “Bonusgate” scandal — and a grand jury’s presentation that accompanied Corbett’s charges — show that 50 or more state employees helped put together the 2004 challenge, Nader said.

There is no precedent in any case in U.S. history that should force a candidate to pay the litigation fees of ballot challengers, said Oliver Hall, Nader’s attorney.

“This is an enlightened month in Pennsylvania,” Nader said of the recent indictment. “It shocks the conscious.”

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