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Nader to ask Pa. court to reopen presidential nomination case

HARRISBURG - Ralph Nader said yesterday that he would ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reopen a case connected with the Democrats' successful challenge to his 2004 presidential nomination petition.

HARRISBURG - Ralph Nader said yesterday that he would ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reopen a case connected with the Democrats' successful challenge to his 2004 presidential nomination petition.

Nader, who ran as an independent, said he wanted the court to reconsider its order that he pay $81,000 in court costs, in light of new evidence resulting from a state grand jury investigation that led to the indictment of 12 people, including a current House lawmaker and a former House Democratic leader.

"According to the grand jury, millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, resources and state employees were illegally used for political campaign purposes - including to remove the Nader-Camejo ticket from the ballot," Nader said at a news conference here.

The Supreme Court in 2006 upheld a lower court order for Nader and his running mate, Peter Miguel Camejo, to pay the court costs.

In announcing the indictments of Rep. Sean Ramaley (D., Beaver), former House Minority Whip Mike Veon, and 10 former and current House Democratic staffers on July 10, Attorney General Tom Corbett described a "massive" effort by Democrats to oust Nader in order to help Democratic candidate John Kerry win Pennsylvania.

As many as 50 House staff members worked on a challenge to Nader's ballot petition, and more than half received state-funded bonuses, in part for their "Nader efforts," according to the grand jury report.

The grand jury report also cited Democratic efforts to bounce former Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, who in 2006 challenged Democrat Bob Casey for a U.S. Senate seat, from the ballot. Last week, Romanelli asked the Supreme Court to reopen his ballot-access case on similar grounds.

House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene), who in 2004 boasted of his efforts to remove Nader as a "spoiler," said last week that the Nader case was a matter "for the U.S. attorney and courts to decide."

A spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh-based law firm of Reed Smith L.L.P. - the lead counsel representing the plaintiffs in the ballot lawsuit against Nader - said the firm had no comment because it "had not yet been able to review any papers Mr. Nader intends to file."

The Pennsylvania State Democratic Party declined to comment yesterday, but a spokesman said last week that the grand jury findings do not change the fact that a majority of Nader's ballot petition signatures were invalid.

Nader disputes the results of the signature count and yesterday suggested that his petitions were "sabotaged."

Nader also is asking the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission to investigate the ballot challenge.