PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Kucinich sues Texas Democrats over loyalty pledge he won't sign

Willie Nelson joins presidential candidate as plaintiff; hearing next week.

A federal judge next week plans to hear a lawsuit brought by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich and a famous Texas supporter, Willie Nelson, that questions the legality of a long-standing loyalty pledge required of Democrats running for president in Texas.

Kucinich, of Ohio, is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He applied last week to appear on the state primary ballot March 4 but scratched out a portion of the pledge on the application stating he'd support the party's nominee for president, whoever it is.

Jae C. Hong/ASSOCIATED PRESS (enlarge photo) Dennis Kucinich MORE ON THIS STORY Kucinich's 2004 application Kucinich's 2008 application

Kucinich's campaign told the party Wednesday — the last day for candidates to file for office — that he would pledge to support a nominee who does not employ war as an instrument of foreign policy. The party said that the original pledge could not be amended and that his filing could not be accepted.

Kucinich's campaign, joined by Nelson, then filed a lawsuit noting that the pledge is not written into state law and that the Republican Party of Texas imposes no such requirement. The suit calls the refusal to put Kucinich's name on the ballot a violation of the First and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Nelson called the loyalty oath un-American, describing Kucinich as "the one Democrat who's been the most loyal to this country and to what the Democratic Party should stand for."

Kucinich spokesman Andy Juniewicz conceded Thursday that Kucinich agreed to the loyalty pledge when he ran for president four years ago. Kucinich drew nearly 2 percent of the vote in the state's 2004 primary, placing seventh among Democratic candidates.

Juniewicz said Kucinich "feels more strongly now based on the experience over the last several years" with war lingering as a motif of the Bush administration. "He can't in good conscience make that same loyalty oath to an unnamed Democratic nominee whose policies may be a continuation of the same policies we've been operating under," Juniewicz said.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of Austin set oral arguments on the suit for 9 a.m. Jan. 11. Yeakel said he wants to rule on that day, leaving time for appeals before officials finalize ballots.

"This is an important case that will have ramifications beyond this election," he said.

Election-law expert Buck Wood said such a pledge was required of candidates for all offices running in party primaries by a 1911 state law that had been repealed by 1985.

Wood said Texas courts have held that the pledge is not binding to candidates. "It is meaningless," Wood said.

Boyd Richie, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said the pledge is written into party rules adopted by about 10,000 delegates to the party's state conventions. "I don't get to pick and choose what rules we enforce," Richie said.

Chad Dunn, general counsel for the state party, said parties can operate under their own reasonable rules.

"If you want to get the benefits of the Democratic Party," Dunn said, "you've got to meet a minimum threshold for membership." The pledge is a "baseline membership test."

wgselby@statesman.com; 445-3644

Additional material from staff writer Steven Kreytak.