De La Fuente, Richardson tapped for Alliance Party presidential, VP ticket
(Heartland Newsfeed) — Rocky De La Fuente and Darcy Richardson became the Alliance Party presidential ticket via a 24-2 vote Saturday during their virtual convention.
De La Fuente was on the ballot for some presidential primaries this year. In Missouri’s Democratic primary, he received 66 votes. He would later receive 21,833 votes against President Donald Trump in Illinois’ Republican primary.
“Rocky checks a lot of the boxes,” states Dan Schaefer, Alliance Party Missouri chairman, in an email response.
“He’s well educated in the sciences, [and] he has a lot of experience building several businesses,” Schaefer adds. “He has spent the past few years learning all about politics by taking action.”
Schaefer states that Richardson “has a deep understanding of history”, being a long-time political activist.
“He’s ‘learned the ropes’ not by reading about it, but by jumping into the political arena and taking action,” Schaefer continues. “Both these candidates are people of action.”
What is The Alliance Party?
The Alliance Party is a consortium of independent parties that was founded in 2018. The party’s creation came from a merger of the American Moderates and Modern Whig parties, as well as the American Party of South Carolina. Their membership includes the Minnesota Independence and American Alliance parties and the Connecticut Independent Party.
The party’s positions are centrist, combining liberal and conservative issue viewpoints. They include net neutrality, campaign finance reform and ranked-choice voting among others.
There are also four basic principles the party abides to. Firstly, they believe in restoring ethics, civility, and fairness to the government. Secondly, they want to end the stagnation and corruption within the government. Thirdly, they want to take responsibility for the future of the United States. Finally, their goal is to hold candidates and elected officials accountable.
Ballot access will not be easy
The Alliance Party currently has ballot access statewide in South Carolina and potentially Connecticut.
“Missourians should have a better choice than just the two main parties,” Schaefer mentions. “We need new ideas and new ways of thinking.”
Schaefer states he’s happy to have two candidates who can lead the way.
When asked about ballot access in Missouri, Schaefer mentions that they will need at least 10,000 valid signatures. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, petitioning could prove to be difficult.
“I’ve asked my state legislators for help in reducing the requirements in light of circumstances,” Schaefer said. “They actually replied quite promptly.
“My state representative recommended I contact the Missouri Secretary of State,” Schaefer adds.
Unfortunately, his state senator wasn’t willing to help, and attempts to contact Gov. Mike Parson have proven unfruitful.
Following up on advice from his state representative, Schaefer contacted Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. However, Ashcroft referred him back to his legislators.
“I was smart enough to stop at that point,” Schaefer adds. “Finally, I reached out to the Missouri ACLU, but received no response. It’s an ongoing issue at my end.”
Other ballot access thresholds
In Illinois, the Alliance Party will have to collect 10% of the original threshold. 2,500 valid signatures will now be the requirement, per the outcome of Libertarian Party of Illinois v. Pritzker.
Prior to the order Thursday from Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, the minimum statewide threshold was 25,000 valid signatures.
However, automatic ballot access for statewide races was only allowed for previously ballot-qualified parties. Moreover, the Libertarian and Green parties are the only active alternative parties to qualify.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy enacted an order allowing for electronic petition signature collection. Gov. Andrew Cuomo enacted similar actions in New York, reducing ballot access requirements by 70%.
Illinois chair Adam Oppenheimer did not return a request for comment prior to publication.
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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.
