BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Supreme Court was asked Wednesday to knock a congressman off the Nov. 2 ballot for switching at the last minute to the Republican Party.
The appeal was filed by Jock Scott (search), who was the Republican candidate for Congress until he was abandoned by the GOP when Rep. Rodney Alexander (search) suddenly switched from the Democratic Party.
"Rodney Alexander should be denied the benefit of his cynical actions that violated the letter and spirit of the Louisiana election code," Scott's lawyer, Michael Johnson, argued in court papers.
The turmoil began Aug. 6, when Alexander filed to run for re-election as a Republican 15 minutes before filing deadline — and two days after he had filed as a Democrat. Furious Democrats sued to keep him off the ballot.
A judge refused to do so, though he reopened the sign-up period for candidates. On Monday, however, an appeals court struck down the new qualifying period.
Alexander, attending the Republican National Convention in New York, said of Scott's appeal: "The appeals court has made the decision that we can stay on the ballot as a Republican. Whether he files a writ, it's his legal right to do."
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