ModBee

Condit short on signatures to waive ballot fee

December 3, 2001 Posted: 08:30:06 PM PST

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press Writer

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - For the first time in his political career, Rep. Gary Condit faces the possibility of paying money to get his name on the ballot if he decides to run for re-election.

With just five days to go, county election clerks in his district said he had failed to turn in enough signatures to waive a $1,451 fee.

Of 4,667 signatures that campaign workers collected, fewer than half were certified as registered Democrats living in the district.

As election workers continued to gather signatures Monday, Condit had 1,939 of the 3,000 signatures required.

"He never had a problem before," said Sandra Lucas, chairwoman of the Stanislaus County Democratic Central Committee. "They always collected thousands and thousands and thousands that are valid. People would line up to sign them. It's different this time."

Condit's popularity in the district that is centered in Stanislaus County has plunged since he was romantically linked to Chandra Levy, a federal intern who vanished from Washington in May.

While Condit is not a suspect in her disappearance, police sources said the married man admitted having an affair with her.

Condit, a Democrat from Ceres, has until Friday to declare whether he will seek re-election. Calls to Condit's campaign office and a phone message left at his home were not returned Monday.

Until now, the strongest sign that he would run were the petitions his campaign submitted to election clerks a week ago in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced Counties.

Political consultant Richie Ross had said Condit would use the petitions to gauge his support in deciding whether to run.

Nearly 60 percent of those petitions have now been rejected.

In San Joaquin County, which contains about a quarter of the district's registered voters, only one of 31 signatures was approved. That could be partly due to redistricting that split the county into two new congressional districts, said Debby Hench, registrar of voters.

"It's quite a strange situation," Hench said. "People don't know what district they're in now."

In Merced County, where 416 of 831 signatures were approved, most of those rejected by election workers were signed by Republicans, said Deanna Brown, deputy registrar of voters.

Condit's daughter, Cadee, who is working on his campaign, said last week that people were very supportive and volunteers had little trouble collecting signatures.

But Lucas and a Merced County party official disputed that claim.

Lucas said the party only collected a few signatures for Condit at the Riverbank Wine and Cheese Festival in October.

And Mary Ward, vice-chair of the Merced Central Democratic Committee, said she urged Condit to step down after she spent three hours walking precincts without getting one signature. In the past, she said she could gather hundreds of signatures in a couple of hours.

"I was a little surprised that nobody would sign," said Ward, "But more than surprised, I was actually sickened by the thought that we might lose this congressional seat."

Ward and Lucas are now backing former Condit protege Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, for the Democratic nomination in March.

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2001

Answers

Some Republicans are real meanies. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2001

Odds are that no one was asking for party affiliation, just for signatures.

-- Anonymous, December 05, 2001