Ballot Access News on a controversy involving Professor Brad Smith (who served as the “hearing officer) referred to below:

On August 31, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed this brief in Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, southern district, 2:13cv-953. It summarizes the most significant findings from the party’s discovery conducted over the last month, discovery which reveals that the hearing officer who removed the party’s gubernatorial candidate from the party’s primary ballot had originally ruled in favor of keeping the candidate on the primary ballot.

The brief also shows that the hearing officer was simultaneously acting as an attorney for the Ohio Attorney General. It also reveals that the man who paid the attorney for the individual who challenged the party’s primary petition is a civil servant for the state. His annual salary is $70,000 and he has no other significant income. Yet, he paid over $100,000 to the attorneys for the challenger. Even if you don’t normally read legal briefs, consider reading this one; it is only 19 pages.