A faction of the Green Party of Utah is battling with other party members and the state over printing a presidential candidate's name on the November ballot.

Five Utah Greens have sued fellow party member Jerry Parsons, Lt. Gov. Gayle McKeachnie and Utah Elections Director Amy Naccarato, according to a petition for a temporary restraining order and a temporary injunction filed last week in Utah's 3rd District Court.

The faction hopes a state judge will halt printing of ballots for the 2004 general election, pending decisions over whether the party will have a presidential candidate on the ballot and who in the party has the authority to tell the election officials what to print on the ballot, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit highlights problems in the Green Party of Utah that could lead to a schism. In March 2003, nearly all state and Salt Lake County "leaders" of the Green Party of Utah resigned because of in-fighting. That group joined the Utah Democratic Party, forming a "progressive" caucus.

"There's not that many of us" left in the local Green Party, said Patrick Diehl, a lawsuit plaintiff and 2nd Congressional District Green candidate." All we need is another split."

The faction requests a judge order Parsons — whom the state has recognized as the Greens' liaison — to acknowledge that he has been replaced. The faction maintains Shane Cutler is now the party's liaison to the state, the suit states.

The faction also requests that a judge order Parsons to acknowledge David Cobb and Patricia LaMarche as the presidential and vice presidential candidates for the Green Party of Utah, the suit states. No Green presidential candidate is to be printed on the November ballot, although Cobb and LaMarche are the official candidates for the Green Party of the United States.

The parties were in court over the matter Sept. 8, but a judge dismissed the case. The plaintiffs re-filed the case later in the day to include Parsons as a defendant, said Cutler, one of the five plaintiffs.

Problems escalated after Utah delegates returned in June from the Green Party's national nominating convention in Milwaukee, Wis.

The delegates left Utah intending to nominate Cobb-LaMarche. But they returned disgusted with the process — which they felt was undemocratic — and were against Cobb-LaMarche and naming them on the ballot.

Other Greens felt it was necessary to name Cobb-LaMarche on the ballot because the state party could lose its affiliation with the national party if it does not support the convention.

"We had a total of four meetings between the national convention and the most recent meeting," said Cutler.

In those meetings, more than two-thirds of members recalled Parsons as the liaison. More than half elected Cutler as the new liaison, Cutler said.

But Parsons said such decisions must be made by consensus, not majority vote.

The state has recognized Parsons' announcement that the Green Party of Utah has no presidential candidate for the ballot because he is the historic liaison.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com