In 2000, Patricia LaMarche was a top member of the Green Party.

BANGOR (AP) – A former Green Party gubernatorial candidate seemed likely to be Ralph Nader’s running mate in 2000 before a drunken driving arrest derailed her chances, a party activist testified Tuesday in a federal civil trial.

Patricia LaMarche had been at the top of the Green Party’s list for vice president until her arrest on March 10, 1999, testified Nancy Allen, the national party’s media coordinator.

LaMarche is suing Daniel Costain, the former Brewer police officer who stopped her, alleging he did not have probable cause to arrest her. Her lawsuit seeks lost wages, punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

LaMarche gained attention from leaders in the national Green Party when she won 7 percent of the vote in Maine’s 1998 gubernatorial election. That was the highest percentage garnered by any Green Party candidate running in a statewide race in the nation, Allen testified.

“The party had great plans for Pat LaMarche,” Allen told a jury in U.S. District Court. “She was the rising star in the Green Party.”

Following LaMarche’s arrest, party leaders no longer considered her a suitable vice presidential candidate, Allen testified. Winona LaDuke, an American Indian activist, ran alongside Nader on the Green Party ticket.

In 1999, a district court judge effectively threw out the drunken driving charge against LaMarche. Prosecutors dismissed the charge shortly after the judge’s ruling.

The jury will not hear specific information about the case’s outcome but has been told it was resolved in LaMarche’s favor, according to Thomas Connolly, her lawyer.

Connolly was the Democratic gubernatorial candidate who ran against LaMarche in 1998.

AP-ES-06-18-03 1013EDT

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