GOP Wants Barr Barred From Pa. Ballot

Pennsylvania Republicans want Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr booted from the state’s ballot, alleging shady dealings by local Libertarians. Meanwhile, the Barr camp blamed Republican presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain for trying to shove him off the ballot and demanded that McCain personally intervene. Cumberland County GOP chairman Victor Stabile, an attorney who filed suit to remove Barr, said he’s fine with third-party candidates, but is crying foul because Libertarians listed Rochelle Etzel of Clarion County as their prospective presidential candidate when gathering petition signatures to put a nominee on the ballot. Stabile acknowledged that state law allows parties to replace a candidate who withdraws, but said Pennsylvania Libertarians never intended for Etzel to run. “The problem we have is that, as we understand it, and based upon the evidence that I’ve seen is that they circulated these petitions with Etzel’s name, never intending her to be the candidate," Stabile said. "They went to the convention, nominated Barr, and then she withdrew.” Stabile said his court filing cites internal Libertarian e-mail indicating that they intended to nominate Barr, not Etzel, and likened it to voter fraud. “We have a horrible problem in this state with voter fraud,” Stabile said. “This is just another variety of that.You can’t go around and, under false pretenses, saying ‘Hey, sign this petition.'” But according to the Barr camp, the lawsuit is nothing more than a ploy to dislodge Barr’s Pennsylvania campaign. Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, runs on a conservative platform that some fear could splinter the McCain vote. "This move by the McCain campaign completely contradicts everything John McCain stood for in 2000 when his competitors were trying to keep him off the ballot," Barr said in a statement issued Thursday. "McCain has become a part of the same corrupted machine he spoke vehemently against only eight years ago." In his statement, Barr accuses McCain of hypocrisy, citing a New York Times report from the 2000 election cycle that detailed McCain’s struggle with George W. Bush to get on the New York ballot. The Times quoted McCain as saying: ''People should be able to get on the ballot in states. I'm sure that if Gov. Bush told them, don't do that, don't remove McCain's name, they would respond. Everybody knows that I am a legitimate candidate. I should be on the ballot.'' McCain spokesman Paul Lindsay defered all questions to the Pennsylvania GOP. "They're the ones who are handling that suit," Lindsay said. Calls to the Pennsylvania Libertarian party were not immediately returned Thursday night.