Road-Testing Americans Elect's Declared Candidates: Try Before You Buy

Inspired by a brief Twitter exchange yesterday with AECorp declared candidate TJ O'Hara, we have laid down (via Twitter and email, and herewith) this sensible challenge to all of Americans Elect's leading declared candidates: What will you do, as individual candidates or (better) collectively, to demand and actually achieve immediate reform of Americans Elect Corporation?

Specifically, how will you address:

• The ballot irregularities evidenced by last week's AECorp gambit to move an insider favorite's personal goal-posts?
• Evidence of vote-buying by a leading AECorp declared candidate?
• The deep involvement of high-powered DC lobbyists, politics-as-usual tricksters, folks associated with millionaires gaming the government, billionaire financiers with questionable histories, and good old-fashioned partisan political operatives at the heart of today's Americans Elect Corporation?
• The secret shadowy money bankrolling Americans Elect...to what ends we simply don't know.

It's simple, really. If you can't...or can't be bothered to...clean up your own house first -- to fix Americans Elect first...how on earth can we believe that you would be able to tackle the much harder task of fixing America itself? And if you're unwilling to bite the hand that feeds you at Americans Elect, why should we believe that you're fundamentally different from All The Usual Suspects -- the conventional political candidates who go along and get along and sleep with the devil in order to advance their personal political careers?

Consider this a road-test. Let's take these babies out for a spin, open 'em up, and see what they can really do. Try before you buy (or, in this case, before you click). And don't settle for hollow "I have demanded that..." explanations. First off, Buddy Roemer has already tied up that gambit. Secondly, real leaders don't just 'demand' and then move on. Real leaders roll up their sleeves and get the job done. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

We encourage our readers, followers, well-wishers, and fellow caucus members...heck, even our detractors... to contact the following candidates and ask them yourselves, "What will you do to fix Americans Elect first to demonstrate you deserve my vote?" And be sure to link to this article so they know what the heck you're talking about.

You don't have to already be an Americans Elect member to send these folks a message. Remember, the whole strategy behind Americans Elect is that a candidate draws his or her potential supporters to join. So even if you're not a member...even if, right now, you wouldn't even dream of ever becoming a member...you still have a say: send 'em a message. While you're at it, encourage them to sign the AE Reform Petition. Heck, why not sign it yourself?

In alphabetical order, the leading declared candidates at Americans Elect Corporation are:

• Rocky Anderson (@RockyAnderson, Facebook, web site)
• Blake Ashby (via web-mail here)
• Mike Ballantine (@MikeBallantine, web site)
• Rj Harris (@rjharris2012, Facebook, web site)
• Laurence Kotlikoff (@Kotlikoff, Facebook, web site)
• TJ O'Hara (@tjohara2012, Facebook, web site)
• Michealene Risley (@MCRisley)
• Buddy Roemer (@BuddyRoemer, Facebook, web site)

(This list does not constitute an endorsement of any of the above candidates. We acknowledge that there are other minor declared candidates in the Americans Elect derby as well, but the above list constitutes the top declared candidate vote-getters as of today; we just had to draw the line somewhere).

ATTENTION CANDIDATES: We will be happy to publish (without editorial comment) your personal statements regarding how you intend to fight to fix Americans Elect. Submit them to aetransparency(at)gmail(dot)com.