Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s marketing campaign paid folks a whopping $90 an hour to gather signatures in New York to get him on the state’s poll for his long-shot unbiased presidential marketing campaign.
The independant hopeful’s marketing campaign – which stated Tuesday it submitted sufficient legitimate signatures to get him on the poll — shelled out a complete of greater than 1,000,000 {dollars} for the hassle, in response to a lawsuit it filed towards the state Board of Elections final week protesting the required name-collecting.
“Plaintiff has been compelled to pay petition circulators $90.00 per hour, costing Plaintiff over $1.1 million {dollars} simply to safe poll entry in New York for the 2024 normal election poll,” Kennedy’s marketing campaign griped within the swimsuit.
ZipRecruiter says the nationwide hourly common for “petition signature jobs” is $35, whereas minimal wage for New York is between about $14 and $16.
Kennedy is suing in federal court docket to try to invalidate New York’s 45,000-signature threshold that such unbiased presidential candidates want to succeed in with a purpose to get onto the poll, in addition to different intricacies concerned in accumulating the signatures.
Main get together candidates – Democrats, Republicans, Working Households and Conservatives in New York — can safe poll entry by their inner get together nomination processes.
Inexperienced Occasion presidential hopeful Dr. Jill Stein, talking to reporters on the state capitol Tuesday, stated her personal marketing campaign supposed to make use of paid petitioners like Kennedy however needed to modify after his camp shortly purchased up lots of the corporations that do the work.
“Our intention was to rent a considerable variety of skilled outfits, however there have been only a few that we will discover as a result of they’ve principally been purchased up by RFK,” Stein stated.
Will Boothby, Kennedy marketing campaign northeast regional discipline director, stated in a press release, “The State of New York has stacked the deck towards unbiased candidates in each means doable, combining the worst points of poll entry restrictions into one amalgamation designed to cease any candidate from reaching what now we have achieved right now.”
Kennedy’s marketing campaign did boast that it submitted simply over 135,000 signatures – roughly 3 times the 45,000 legitimate signatures wanted — although at the least among the John Hancocks are nearly sure to face a typical procedural problem from an opponent questioning their legitimacy.
Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan, who RFK Jr. has tapped as his operating mate, personally injected $8 million into the marketing campaign’s poll fund final month.
Stein didn’t have her precise figures readily available however stated she believes she submitted sufficient signatures to get on the poll in New York as nicely earlier than Tuesday’s deadline.
“The entire system may be very completely different this 12 months throughout the nation as a result of there’s a lot cash now pouring right into a grassroots marketing campaign, drawing on the skilled signature collectors,” Stein stated, pointing to the thousands and thousands of {dollars} RFK Jr.’s donors have donated to his marketing campaign.
New York state Conservative Occasion Chairman Gerald Kassar informed The Put up of Kennedy, “I feel it’s a mirrored image of his lack of grassroots help and reflective of his help from individuals who don’t know who he’s.”
Kassar stated he’s heard of petitioners being paid within the $20 to $30 vary however by no means as excessive as $90 per hour.
Getting on the state poll isn’t the one situation Kennedy has needed to deal with in New York.
As The Put up revealed final week, Kennedy could not stay within the Westchester County house he formally lists on his voter registration. The residence is dealing with foreclosures.
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