A Polk County judge will decide whether Libertarian candidates for governor and lieutenant governor can appear on Iowans’ ballots this fall.
Gubernatorial candidate Nicholas Gluba and lieutenant governor candidate Jules Cutler are seeking to be reinstated on the Nov. 3 ballot after a state panel ruled June 15 that they failed to qualify because Cutler did not submit a signed affidavit of candidacy.
Polk County District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin heard arguments in the case on Tuesday, July 21, and will issue a written decision in the coming days.
Iowa’s open governor’s race this year is rated as highly competitive by election analysts. Gluba’s inclusion or absence from the ballot could affect the dynamics of the race, which includes Democrat Rob Sand and Republican Zach Lahn.
Libertarians, election official disagree whether paperwork was provided
At issue is whether Cutler attempted to submit an affidavit of candidacy, and whether the candidates received incorrect guidance from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office when filing their papers.
Gluba and Cutler say elections specialist Dani Phillips told them when they submitted their paperwork on June 2 that they did not need to provide an affidavit of candidacy for a lieutenant governor candidate.
Phillips testified in court that she does not remember whether Cutler was present when Gluba turned in his paperwork. She said she did not reject any paperwork.
“She did not try to hand me her affidavit,” Phillips said of Cutler, adding that she would have received any paperwork she was given by a candidate for further review.
Cutler testified that she brought an unsigned affidavit of candidacy to the secretary of state’s office, but said when she tried to present it to Phillips, she was told it wasn’t needed.
Cutler said she believed the law must have changed.
“I’ll be honest with you. Republicans change election laws so frequently so that when Dani told me it’s not needed, I thought the rules changed again,” Cutler said.
Libertarians argue Paul Pate should have recused himself from panel
Jacob Heard, an attorney for Gluba and Cutler, also argued Secretary of State Paul Pate should have recused himself from the State Objection Panel’s decision that barred them from the ballot.
The all-Republican panel of Pate, Attorney General Brenna Bird and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig ruled unanimously against Gluba and Cutler.
Heard said the case revolves around Phillips’ training in the secretary of state’s office and the credibility of her testimony. He noted that another employee in the secretary of state’s office helped Phillips write two sworn affidavits in advance of the State Objection Panel’s June 15 hearing and prepared her to testify there.
“I’ll be honest with you, it smells really bad in my opinion,” Seidlin said to Deputy Solicitor General Patrick Valencia of the argument that Pate should have recused himself.
Seidlin said it “gives me some heartburn” but he’s not sure if the issue will figure in his ruling because there are a number of other factors he has to consider in the case.
“I don’t know if we get that far. I haven’t figured that out yet,” he said. “But if we do, doesn’t that strike you as something that’s a little unusual?”
Valencia said it’s not unusual for agency directors to preside over disputes involving their subordinates. And he said the Libertarian candidates failed to provide any evidence that Pate was involved in Phillips’ actions in reviewing Gluba and Cutler’s paperwork or in preparing for the hearing.
“There’s been no evidence that Secretary Pate has any personal bias here,” he said. “There’s been no evidence that he’s prejudiced. There’s been no evidence that he has any direct interest.”
Stephen Gruber-Miller is the Capitol bureau chief for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com, by phone at 515-284-8169 or on X at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa judge to decide if Libertarian governor ticket will be on ballot
Reporting by Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
