Founding
Bevan Morris, president of Maharishi University of Management (then called "Maharishi International University"), was the founding chairman of the party, which was founded April 22, 1992, in Fairfield, Iowa.
The party said it had no direction connection to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi or to TM. Hagelin said, "It's not a transcendental meditation party", and denied any connection between the Maharishi University of Management and his campaign. Tompkins said that more than half of its founders were connected to the TM movement. One critic said that it was "just another front group for the TM movement". By one report, almost all of the 92 candidates who ran on the NLP slate in California in 1996 were TM practitioners.
The Natural Law Party had to qualify separately in each state to nominate a presidential candidate. It used 300 signature gatherers, both paid and volunteer, in California alone. The party submitted 5,724 signatures in Iowa, as the party announced at a press conference attended by Mike Love, a member of The Beach Boys and a TM supporter. Nevada required 9,392 signatures. The NLP joined the another small party in suing the state over their early deadline, and they succeeded in getting a court to order a second chance to qualify. The NLP qualified after submitting 11,000 valid signatures. The party submitted the required 250,000 signatures in California too late to qualify for the ballot there. By the time of the election, Hagelin was on the ballot in 31 states plus the District of Columbia.
It was certified as a national party by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in September 1992, making it eligible for federal campaign funds.
Read more about this topic: Natural Law Party (United States)
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