Submitted by Matt Sawyer, Oct 17, 2007 12:16

Messrs. Barkley and MacKay should be aware that their new Independence Party of America is going to have brand identification problems given that some states prohibit the use of the word independent and its variants in the name of a political party. This is the very reason the Ross Perot effort, under the leadership of Russell Verney, chose the name Reform Party rather than Independence Party. Of course, if the new party's funding is unlimited it can always challenge these laws as it begins its long journey towards nationwide ballot access legal compliance, but it makes much more sense to comply with these laws than to defy them. Or at least that was my experience as the attorney who researched ballot access laws in all 50 states and led nationwide ballot access compliance for Ross Perot in 1996, the Reform Party 1996 through 2000 and Pat Buchanan in 2000

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