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meant to influence the outcome of the election, not to guard against election fraud.
• "It seems clear that her case was brought to influence voters not to vote for Representative Gosch, and influence House legislators not to vote him into a leadership position. Strong's conduct in this case indicates that she did not bring her lawsuit in

an attempt to obtain an actual judicial adjudication on the merits of her case," Trandahl wrote.
• When Trandahl dismissed the lawsuit in December, she said she could not order Gosch's name struck from the ballot because the general election was over. The judge also noted that nothing in law prohibited Gosch from notarizing his own verification signature as being the person who circulated the nominating petition. The Legislature passed a law this year closing that loophole.
• The judge noted that Strong never proposed how another candidate could be substituted for Gosch if his name had been removed from the ballot. She said Strong may have been seeking to strike Gosch from the ballot to leave other candidates unopposed.
• "Such a goal defies the will of the voters, is destructive to democracy, and is brought for an improper and therefore malicious purpose," Trandahl wrote.
• Strong did not immediately return a phone call to The Associated Press seeking comment Wednesday.
• Gosch, a lawyer for an organization that helps people with disabilities, said Wednesday he was pleased with the ruling. He said he has continued to focus on doing his job as a state legislator while leaving the legal case in the hands of his lawyer.
• "There's nothing I can do to stop people from bringing a frivolous lawsuit. It's unfortunate when it happens, but when it happens you just deal with it and trust the court system will deal with it accordingly," Gosch said.
• The judge said Strong did not file her lawsuit until after Gosch had made it through the June 12 primary, even though previous Supreme Court decisions have found a challenge to a nominating petition must be filed before a primary election. When Strong filed her lawsuit in August, the deadline for putting another candidate on the ballot to replace Gosch had already passed, and Strong then took actions delaying the court proceedings until after the November election, the judge said.
• Trandahl said Strong cannot blame the delays she caused on that fact that she acted as her own lawyer. Strong learned about court procedures when she filed a separate lawsuit earlier last year contending that election officials had improperly rejected her petition seeking to get on the June primary ballot as a Republican candi

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