Iraq is holding local and regional elections on March 7. On February 3, an Iraq appeals court restored approximately 500 candidates to the ballot. They had been removed from the ballot earlier because the elections administrators had thought they were too closely associated with Saddam Hussein’s government in the years before 1991. See this story. Some of these candidates might still be barred from taking office, if they win and are judged to be too closely associated with the old regime, but at least the voters will now have a free choice. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

The Connecticut Constitution, Article 15, section 3, says, “Every elector who has attained the age of 18 years shall be eligible to any office in the state.” But a Connecticut statute, sec. 3-124, says, “The Attorney General shall be an attorney of law of at least ten years’ active practice at the bar of this state.”

To the extent that these two conflict, the Constitution takes precedence. This apparent discrepancy has received publicity because Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz is a candidate this year for Attorney General. She became an attorney in Connecticut in 1986, but she served in the legislature between 1992 and 1998, and then in 1998 she became Secretary of State. Some believe that since she wasn’t “actively” practicing law during those years, she doesn’t meet the statutory definition. But, even if she doesn’t, the statute appears to violate the State Constitution. In any event, staff in both the Secretary of State’s office, and the Attorney General’s office, say that “active practice at the bar of this state” is fulfilled for anyone who was a member of the bar, whether that attorney was actually participating as an attorney or not.

Theresa Amato has this op-ed in the February 3 issue of the Kansas City Star, calling for Federal Election Commissioners chosen for their neutrality and expertise, rather than their fealty to either the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party. President Obama is free to choose independent commissioners; no law change is required. Ever since the FEC was established in 1974, presidents have always chosen FEC Commissioners from the ranks of the two major parties.