Lawsuit seeks to get Gingrich on Va. ballot

[December 30, 2011]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Virginia attorney and tea party activist is seeking to have Newt Gingrich's name placed on the state's Super Tuesday primary ballot.

Attorney Jonathon Moseley of Reston, Va., says he filed the suit Thursday in the Circuit Court of Richmond County. It contends that Gingrich met the requirement of filing 10,000 signatures and that many of those were improperly excluded. The suit also takes issue with how the Republican Party of Virginia determined that not enough signatures were valid.

Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have been found eligible for the Virginia primary ballot. The campaign of Rick Perry is challenging his exclusion in court.

Moseley says he is acting independently of the Gingrich campaign but is encouraging the former House speaker to join his suit.

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said the campaign has not decided how to proceed in Virginia.

Gingrich believes that he was kept off the ballot in the state -- where he now lives -- because a paid campaign worker committed fraud by turning in false signatures, according to Hammond.

[Associated Press]

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