Jeff Jacoby, well-known conservative columnist for the Boston Globe, has this column in favor of a large increase in the number of members of the U.S. House. It ran on November 8. Thanks to Michael Warnken for the link.
7
The November 8 issue of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has this article about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The focus of the article is Orie Melvin, the new justice who was elected by the voters last week. The article suggests that she is a different breed of judge than the other members of that Court, and refers back to some of the reasons that neutral observers have a low opinion of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The article doesn’t mention the treatment that that Court has given to minor party and independent candidates ever since 2004, nor does it mention that in 2008, the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters had filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the justices made a corrupt deal with the legislature. Nor does the article mention that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had turned a blind eye to the scandal in Wilkes-Barre when local state judges accepted bribes from the owner of a juvenile detention home in return for exorbitantly long sentences for juveniles (this is featured in Michael Moore’s movie “Capitalism: A Love Story”). Thanks to Howard Bashman’s How Appealing blog for the link.
In June 2010, California voters will be voting on a proposal, passed by the Legislature, that would create public funding for candidate for Secretary of State in 2014 and 2018. A state court in Sacramento will hear arguments on November 20, 2009, in Institute of Government Advocates v Bowen, 2009-80000305, in which the plaintiffs are trying to have the measure removed from the ballot.
The bill provides that funds for public funding would be obtained from fees levied on individuals and groups who are paid to lobby legislators. The lawsuit was filed by lobbyist groups who argue that this method of raising money violates the First Amendment. See this story in the Sacramento Bee about the lawsuit.
On November 5, the U.S.Senate rejected an amendment by Senator Robert Bennett (R-Utah) that would have provided that seats be apportioned in the U.S. House on the basis of how many citizens live in each state, instead of how many persons live in each state. See this story.
It is dismaying that 39 U.S. Senators can support such a proposal, when the 14th amendment, section 2, says “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.” It is also disappointing that newspaper reporters write fairly lengthy stories about this issue and don’t mention the constitutional language.
The Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States, held its gubernatorial election on November 7, 2009. The results are: Fitial Benigno (Covenant Party) 4,892 votes; Heinz Hofschneider (Republican Party) 4,900 votes; Juan Guerrero (independent) 2,643 votes; Ramon DeLeon Guerrero (independent), 1,075 votes.
For the first time, the Northern Mariana Islands election law provides for a run-off if no one gets 50%. Since no one has even as much as 37% in this first round, there will be a run-off. The law says the run-off must be held within 2 weeks after the results of the first round are certified. Results must be certified within 10 days of an election, so the run-off will probably be on November 28. For the election returns, see www.votecnmi.gov.mp. UPDATE: here is a newspaper story about the run-off.