Merger may put United Party on ballot

BOISE – A newly formed political party, the United Party, may appear on Idaho’s November ballot – even though the group hasn’t gathered the nearly 12,000 signatures it takes to get a new party on the Idaho ballot.

The reason: The United Party is merging with the Natural Law Party, which has had ballot access in Idaho since 1996.

“Coming together with our friends in the Natural Law Party assures us legal access to the ballot in November,” said Andy Hedden-Nicely, a Boise businessman and founder of the new party, and its candidate for the 1st District congressional seat.

Hedden-Nicely considers the Transcendental Meditation movement – with which the Natural Law Party was affiliated – “a little kooky for politics stuff.” But, he said, “when you look at their statements on politics, they’re so right where we are, middle of the road.”

The Natural Law Party, which pushed for “conflict-free politics” and “the reduction of individual and social stress,” was rooted in the TM movement and led by physicist and Maharishi University professor John Hagelin, its presidential candidate in 1992, 1996 and 2000. The party shut down its national headquarters in 2004.

Ann Vegors of Pocatello, the state chairwoman of the Natural Law Party, sent a letter to Secretary of State Ben Ysursa in April saying the state party’s six members voted unanimously to elect Hedden-Nicely as their chairman and to change the party’s name to “United Party.”

Ysursa hasn’t acted on the name-change request yet, but “there’s precedent – we’ve allowed name changes before.”

The U.S. Taxpayers Party qualified for the Idaho ballot in 1996, then changed its name to the American Heritage Party in 1998, then changed again in 2000 to the Constitution Party, its current name.

But Ysursa noted that the Green Party famously failed to gather enough signatures to achieve Idaho ballot access in 2000 when its presidential nominee was Ralph Nader. Nader then sued to get on the ballot as an independent, but lost because he also hadn’t gathered enough signatures for an independent candidate filing.

“This is not going to be a vehicle for that,” Ysursa said. “We are ever cognizant and vigilant that certain parties don’t try to use name change to get their own status by bypassing the way you get on the ballot in Idaho.”

The Natural Law Party turned in 10,209 valid Idaho voter signatures in 1996 to qualify for ballot status, which exceeded the required 2 percent of the votes cast in the previous presidential election. Qualifying a new party today would take 11,970 signatures.

After qualifying for the ballot, a party can maintain its ballot access by running at least three candidates for state or national office in each election. This year, the Natural Law Party has three candidates running – Hedden-Nicely for Congress, and two legislative candidates in Pocatello and Shelley.

Hedden-Nicely announced the formation of the United Party in 2005, calling for term limits, supporting small businesses and farmers, and a political “middle ground.”

On his party Web site, www.unitedparty.net, Hedden-Nicely calls for “retaking the middle ground” and says he’s “tired of the partisan bickering.”

He also lists an extensive party platform – much of which echoes the Natural Law Party’s positions.

“I was very comfortable with their take on life and their sort of world view,” Hedden-Nicely said. “The more we talked, the more they said, ‘We’d like to work with you.’ So we joined the Natural Law Party, and now we’ve changed the name to the United Party.”

Hedden-Nicely, 51, founded the alternative “Boise Weekly” newspaper and operates a marketing firm. He said he decided to form a new political party after becoming disillusioned with the two major parties – he’d been an active Democrat – and after doing a three-year, point-counterpoint TV segment on a Boise station in which he debated a religious conservative activist, Dennis Mansfield.

Hedden-Nicely said he discovered that while he and Mansfield disagreed on some issues, like abortion and gay rights, they agreed on everything else, including values and education. “That’s what got me thinking,” Hedden-Nicely said.

“The trouble is these two big political parties, their whole reason to exist is to fight each other, and I want to represent people in the middle. … On a lot of stuff we’re going to agree with each other.”