The January 7 issue of the Bangor, Maine Daily News has this story about Ralph Nader’s most recent lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee, over the party’s tactics against Nader in 2004.
Reply
Nebraska Senator Beau McCoy, a Republican from Omaha in his first term, has introduced LD 777. It would provide that all presidential electors from Nebraska be elected on a statewide basis. Currently, Nebraska lets each U.S. House district elect its own presidential elector. In 2008, the Omaha district chose the Democratic elector, so the Nebraska electoral vote in 2008 was four for John McCain and one for Barack Obama. Thanks to Tony Roza for this news.
Rhode Island Republican Party officials are split over a proposal to close the party’s primaries to voters who have not been registered Republicans for the preceding 90 days, according to this story in the Warwick Beacon. Some decision is likely by the end of the month.
Currently, registered independents in Rhode Island are free to vote in any party’s primary. Rhode Island has three ballot-qualified parties, Democratic, Republican, and Moderate.
On January 5, Georgia held a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 22nd district. Georgia special elections put party labels on the ballot, but parties don’t have nominees. Individuals file by paying a filing fee, but no petition is needed. Three Democrats and one Libertarian appeared on the ballot.
The results: Democrat Hardie Davis 48.42%; Democrat Harold Jones 39.99%; Libertarian Taylor Bryant 9.14%; Democrat Sandra Scott 2.42%. See the Secretary of State’s election results web page here.
The last time this seat was up, in November 2008, the vote had been: Democratic 79.5%, Republican 20.5%.
Article One, Section 6, of the U.S. Constitution says, “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time.”
On December 31, 2009, a foreign service officer asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal in a case that argues that Hillary Clinton may not serve as Secretary of State, because she was in the U.S. Senate when the salary of the Secretary of State was increased by Congress. Clinton was a U.S. Senator from New York from 2001 through early 2009. The case is Rodearmel v Clinton, 09-797. The lower court, a 3-judge U.S. District Court, had ruled that the plaintiff does not have standing. The government’s defense has been that in 2009, when Hillary Clinton was appointed Secretary of State, that Congress had immediately passed a new bill, lowering the salary of the Secretary of State down to what it had been. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news. The government’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court filing is due February 4.
Rodearmel is represented by Judicial Watch. See its web page here for more about this case.