‘Swindlers,’ ‘Hijacking,’ and ‘Blackmail’
Inside the Kennedy campaign’s Natural Law Party meltdown in Florida.
AMID VOTER DISENCHANTMENT with a Trump-Biden rematch, third-party activist Joseph Wendt believed 2024 could transform American politics. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might be the candidate to do it.
“It seemed this was the Year of the Third Party,” said Wendt, the former chair of Florida’s Reform Party affiliate. “This would be the year where we would be able to make an impact.”
So Wendt started the process of reconstituting the long-defunct Natural Law Party of the United States with the Federal Election Commission and he resurrected its Florida branch. He planned to hold a convention and nominate Kennedy for president so that RFK could appear on the Florida ballot as the Natural Law Party candidate. Kennedy’s campaign loved the idea. And the two sides started talking money. Wendt signed a $10,000-a-month consulting contract with Kennedy’s campaign on February 24.
“I was over the moon,” Wendt said. “We could get him on the ballot. It might have an impact. But it turned into a nightmare.”
Bureaucratic delays and mistakes turned into mistrust. A bitter rift grew. Wendt was ultimately paid nothing. And he lost control of the Natural Law Party of the United States, which was taken over by Kennedy allies.
Now Wendt, a 39-year-old Lyft driver, wants the national Natural Law Party back in his control. He calls the Kennedy campaign unethical “swindlers.” Kennedy campaign officials fired back, accusing Wendt of illegally “hijacking” the national party and trying to “blackmail” the campaign, and suggesting to him that his actions amounted to “extortion.”
Both sides deny wrongdoing. But a close look at the record of the dispute provides a window into the obstacles third-party candidates face and shines a light on the Kennedy campaign’s aggressive efforts to get on the ballot. RFK’s campaign has tapped a constellation of third-party groups in various states, all of which have different rules.
Why? Because states generally provide presidential candidates ballot access if they’re nominated by a verified political party, regardless of its size. Otherwise, campaigns usually have to rely on paid petition-gatherers, which, according to experts familiar with the process, can cost as much as $1.7 million in a state like Florida.
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KENNEDY’S CAMPAIGN AT FIRST TRIED to form its own “We the People Party” so it wouldn’t have to rely on other groups for ballot access, but ultimately it sought existing third-party nominations in states such as California, where he was nominated by the American Independent Party. (This party was founded in 1968 to help the presidential campaign of Alabama’s segregationist governor, George Wallace.) The Natural Law Party was established in 1992 in the United States on a platform centered on transcendental meditation and holistic health. It ceased both federal and Florida operations in 2005, and by 2024 most of its original officers had died or lost interest in it.
Along with the Reform Party, the Natural Law Party was one of two relatively easy ballot-access vehicles for Kennedy in Florida. As relations soured with Wendt, the Kennedy campaign instead got the Reform Party to nominate him on May 23. (The revivified Reform Party has yet to be certified by Florida’s Elections Division.)
At the heart of the dispute between Wendt and the Kennedy campaign is the consulting contract he signed. The contract is complicated: It was drafted by Kennedy’s team, but his campaign is not a party to it. Instead, it’s a written agreement between Wendt and the national Natural Law Party—which he controlled at the time of the signing. The contract only became effective if Wendt gave up control of the national and Florida branches of the party to Kennedy campaign allies. Wendt was then to be paid with donor money secured by the campaign, text messages show.
Wendt relinquished control of the national party quickly, by March 4 (nine days after the contract was presented to him). But he balked at handing over state-party control amid friction with the Kennedy campaign’s ballot-access director, Nick Brana, who did not return calls and emails seeking comment for this article.
Kennedy campaign lawyer Paul Rossi refused to comment on why the campaign disguised its involvement with the contract as it negotiated with Wendt to gain control of the party for ballot access. Before abruptly hanging up the phone in an interview with The Bulwark, Rossi counteraccused Wendt of secretly going behind the Kennedy campaign’s back to reconstitute the national version of the Natural Law Party after he learned that Kennedy allies wanted to use it as a ballot-access pathway.
Rossi, a veteran third-party election-law attorney with a tough-talking reputation that matches his Philly accent, said the Natural Law Party of Michigan, the only branch of the party to be continuously active for decades, should have had a say in the reconstitution of the party at the national level. But Wendt didn’t consult them.
“He can complain all the frick he wants,” Rossi said. “What he did was illegal, and, frankly, he ought to be prosecuted for his conduct. And that’s all I’m gonna say about this. He filed a document with the FEC claiming he was secretary of the Natural Law Party without anybody providing it because he saw an avenue to hijack a national political party for his own economic gain, and was blackmailing people across the country in order to pay him money. . . . He was holding it hostage to the highest bidder. And so we got him out of there. And we’re very proud of protecting our Michigan supporters in this regard.”
Third-party politics tends to attract idealists and some seasoned pros—but there are also niche-issue activists who can make the movement resemble an island of misfit toys populated with minor-league talent.
Wendt and two other activists involved in the discussions over the Florida party say the RFK campaign had never accused Wendt of wrongdoing until now. As evidence, Wendt shared months’ worth of text messages with Brana—including group messages involving Brana, Rossi, and Wendt—and none reflect the claims that Kennedy’s campaign is voicing now that Wendt was breaking the law or acting inappropriately in not involving the Michigan party branch.
For its part, the Natural Law Party of Michigan formally nominated Kennedy on April 17 at a two-person convention. One of the people present was the state party’s leader, Doug Dern. Dern is a veteran third-party activist and also a bankruptcy attorney, stage magician, and former candidate for various state offices. It was to Dern and an attorney named Michael Baum that Wendt was supposed to hand over control of the Natural Law Party of the United States, according to the contract Wendt signed. Dern is now listed with the FEC as the party’s custodian of record and Baum its treasurer. Neither returned calls seeking comment.
IN INTERVIEWS WITH THE BULWARK, four independent election law attorneys who reviewed the contract were divided over the degree to which it violated various campaign-finance laws designed for transparency. Kenneth Gross, former associate general counsel of the Federal Election Commission, called the contract “strange” and “cockamamie” but probably not illegal.
“It’s just confusing,” Gross said. “It’s like a Rubik’s Cube that broke apart.”
Asked why the Kennedy campaign, and not the Michigan branch of the Natural Law Party, drafted the contract, Rossi said “they weren’t in position to do that. We were in a position to try to work with Joe to see if we could get him out of there.”
Why did the Kennedy campaign disguise its involvement in drafting the agreement?
“You don’t have to understand it,” Rossi replied. “He hijacked a national political party. If you want to sanction that what he did was okay, you go ahead and write that story.”
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CONFLICT was Darcy Richardson, who has been involved in third-party politics since 1978. In 2018, he ran for governor of Florida on a Reform Party ticket, and in 2020 he was the vice-presidential nominee of the Reform Party, the Alliance Party, and a few other parties in a handful of states. Wendt had worked to elect him in both campaigns. Richardson and the nation’s top expert on presidential ballot access, Richard Winger of California, told The Bulwark they were the ones who came up with the idea of reconstituting the Natural Law Party—not Wendt and not the Kennedy campaign. Richardson then recruited Wendt for the task and put him in contact with the Kennedy campaign.
After 48 years of being a “die-hard third-party guy,” Richardson said, “I think I’m going to vote for Biden.”
“This has been a very unrewarding experience for Joe. I think he deserved better. I feel guilty because I recruited him . . . they should have put him on the payroll,” Richardson said. Like Wendt, Richardson said, “I’ve soured on the Kennedy campaign. . . . I haven’t been impressed by his campaign or the people he surrounded himself with. His whole campaign staff is made up of neophytes who don’t know the first thing about politics, the mechanics of how it works, what it takes.”
Because there’s less money and less power in it, third-party politics tends to attract idealists and some seasoned pros like Richardson, but there are also niche-issue activists (think Kennedy’s anti-vaxx cred) who can make the movement resemble an island of misfit toys populated with minor-league talent.
After 48 years of being a “die-hard third-party guy,” Richardson said, “I think I’m going to vote for Biden.”
Richardson said Wendt didn’t operate in bad faith, but he did improperly file paperwork in Florida to reconstitute the Natural Law Party. That’s what led the state Elections Division to reject the formation of the party, twice.
Richardson faults Wendt for not clearly communicating with the Kennedy campaign’s Brana and getting into a hostile relationship with him, but he also said the contract that the Kennedy campaign drafted was “kind of shady” and “suspicious.” The other two election-law experts I spoke with, a Democratic lawyer and a Republican lawyer, neither involved in the presidential race, also labeled the contract “shady.”
WENDT, WHO’S REPUBLICAN-LEANING, and Brana, a progressive, clashed on their first call on January 19.
“My concerns are what Kennedy will do for the Natural Law Party. I didn’t hear anything in our last conversation about what Kennedy or his ‘cause’ will do to make the situation better for America,” Wendt said in a text message to Brana memorializing the conversation. “To me, it seems like you want to take over the Party and you view it as disposable. That leaves a nasty taste in my mouth, you want to use and dispose of my work and efforts. I don’t know of anyone who tried to do what I did.”
According to Wendt’s text message, Brana also “insinuated” that Wendt was engaging in “extortion” over the party, a suggestion Wendt labeled “uncalled for. To me, that seems untrustworthy and if we can’t come to a reasonable agreement, then no hard feelings, we will just run our own candidate. If the Kennedy campaign is serious about using the Natural Law Party in Florida, I’d prefer to work with someone else within the campaign’s leadership.”
But the two kept working together and, on January 31, Brana texted Wendt and Richardson to set up a conference call, noting “I shared our last conversation with Bobby [Kennedy].” The three talked about Florida ballot access via the Natural Law Party and discussed getting Kennedy on the ballot in Oregon, text messages show.
On February 15, Wendt sent a text message to Brana to let him know that the Florida Elections Division rejected the filing to reconstitute the Natural Law Party in the state due to a host of omissions. Brana then asked Wendt via text to refile for the party, but wanted Wendt to list Kennedy’s cousin, Anthony Shriver, as the state party chair. The vice chair was to be Becky Hines, a University of Central Florida special education professor who is the sister of Kennedy’s wife, Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines, a Tallahassee native. Former Miami Beach City Commissioner Ricky Arriola was to be listed as the secretary/treasurer.
Wendt ultimately didn’t list their names because, he said, Brana didn’t send him the three Floridians’ voter registration forms he wanted to submit with the new filing.
Still, talks progressed and on February 24, Brana, Wendt and Richardson had a “Contract Review” conference call. At 9:09 p.m., Brana emailed the contract, labeled “Consultant Agreement,” to Wendt, who soon signed it. The contract, between Wendt and the national Natural Law Party, did not mention Kennedy or his campaign and said nothing about ballot access, instead requiring Wendt to help with a host of consulting services such as “convention and event organizing” and “political research.” It was to take effect when the FEC website listed Dern and Baum, instead of Wendt, as “the sole officers and directors” of the national Natural Law Party.
OVER THE NEXT TWO MONTHS, Brana kept checking back in about the status of the state party’s formation. Wendt kept telling him it was stuck in the Elections Division. Brana offered to send a lawyer to Tallahassee to sort out the mess and continued to ping Wendt asking about progress. Wendt got annoyed at one point when he read that Kennedy was courting the Libertarian Party, but Brana texted back to say “that’s not accurate.”
On April 10, Brana texted Wendt to tell him he learned the Natural Law Party had been rejected by the state a second time. Brana asked for the rejection letter. Wendt didn’t reply. Four days later, Brana asked again for the letter and then followed up with an April 23 text and call.
Wendt didn’t respond.
Wendt told The Bulwark that he had come to believe Brana was operating in bad faith because he heard the campaign was talking to the Reform Party about ballot access, and that party had started a petition drive.
On April 29, Brana group-texted Wendt along with Rossi and also sent an email saying that they “need to know by tomorrow at 1 pm ET at the latest if the Natural Law Party of Florida is a viable option. Per our agreement, you were supposed to complete the filing expeditiously. As a result of months of delays and two defective and failed filings, with the same error, Paul and the rest of our campaign leadership have written it off. I’m asking them to give you one more chance.”
“If you meet a member of our team in Tallahassee on Wednesday morning and withdraw the filing with them in person at the Elections Division, clearing the way for us to submit it on site once you withdraw yours, I will attempt to arrange for a donor of ours, whom I know, to pay you the $30,000 you would have received for one month of consulting, including the sign on bonus and severance fee,” Brana wrote.
Wendt didn’t immediately reply and waited until the following morning to respond by text message: “Good news: Florida Natural Law Party is certified. Bad news: your message is considered termination of our agreement. To discuss further, you may let me know, unless you guys still think I’m incompetent. If you don’t wish to discuss, please notify me when you wish to transfer the Natural Law Party of the United States back to me and my associates.”
Brana responded that the Elections Division website wasn’t showing the party as certified. He asked for a copy of the letter. Wendt told him it was in the mail and said that Brana could call the state to verify his claim.
“It’s been too long, Joe, and we didn’t hear from you for weeks. The team found other partners to save on ballot access that they would rather work with,” Brana responded. He said Rossi believed the Natural Law Party could be challenged in court “and we could end up knocked off the ballot. It’s not as secure as other ballot lines.”
Brana didn’t elaborate. In interviews with The Bulwark, neither Richardson nor Winger said they believed Kennedy would have a ballot-access problem in Florida if he had been nominated by the Natural Law Party.
BRANA DID, HOWEVER, OFFER AN OLIVE BRANCH: “Personally, I think it would be useful to have a back up though, and the donor I know already wrote a check for $30K. Let me know tonight if you still want it. If you do, we need to transition the officers tomorrow.”
Wendt wouldn’t take the money. He repeated that he wanted control of the national party returned to him. He said the contract was void and that he would be in contact with a lawyer. He said that the campaign owed him more than $30,000—that in fact, it should pay him $800,000. The contract, he said, was “voided, due to you attempting ballot access through other mean[s].”
Brana pointed out that there was no contractual clause prohibiting the campaign from seeking ballot access elsewhere.
“It wouldn’t have even been necessary to seek ballot access in other ways in the first place if your mistakes in the application hadn’t delayed its acceptance twice,” Brana replied.
“That’s it, return the FEC LOGIN,” Wendt wrote back, “We are done.”
Brana didn’t.
On May 13, Wendt checked back in.
“Do you want to make a deal?” he texted Brana.
No reply.
Ten days later, the Reform Party announced Kennedy was their nominee for Florida’s ballot.
“It seemed this was the Year of the Third Party,” said Wendt, the former chair of Florida’s Reform Party affiliate. “This would be the year where we would be able to make an impact.”
Oh yeah. You can put Trump in office and end democracy. Guess that’s making an impact.
I have to say that I prefer the Biden Administration with all their issues, over the scammy and incompetent Kennedy campaign and the scandal-ridden, scammy yet determined campaign led by a convicted felon, adjucated rapist and fraudster head of a felonious company.