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Three-way candidate feud for Council 8th District seat

City Council's 8th District is familiar territory for political drama, with various factions vying for support and normally crowded primary election ballots. The drama rolls on into the Nov. 8 general election now with three different court challenges filed to knock two candidates off the ballot.

City Council's 8th District is familiar territory for political drama, with various factions vying for support and normally crowded primary election ballots.  The drama rolls on into the Nov. 8 general election now with three different court challenges filed to knock two candidates off the ballot.

Brian Rudnick, who ran for the seat on the Green Party ticket four years ago, filed a challenge Friday against Jim Foster, a newspaper publisher from Germantown who is running as an independent, as he did in 2007.  Foster responded by filing a challenge against Rudnick.  Then Cindy Bass, the winner of the Democratic primary election, also challenged Foster.  There is no Republican candidate.

All of the challenges make all of the usual claims: People who circulated or signed nominating petitions were not eligible to do so.  A candidate needs 750 legitimate signatures to stay on the a ballot.  A judge will decide if Rudnick and Foster pass muster.

Foster raises another issue: Rudnick is calling himself the Green Party candidate this year but he is not endorsed by that party.  The Green Party yesterday put out a news release that said Rudnick "circumvented" the endorsement process.  Rudnick says the Green Party has refused to let him address its members at a meeting to seek their endorsement.

"If you don't put me on the agenda, the members never have a chance to vote on me," Rudnick said.

Foster is surprised to find himself challenged by Rudnick and Bass. He said Rudnick seemed happy to have a crowded ballot to spur debate in 2007.  And Foster noted that he received less than 600 votes that year, making him question why the "Democratic city machine" is after him.

"It must be real important to them to make sure there is no conversation before the coronation," he said. "They don't want one minute of debate."