Sen. Richard Lugar: Indiana wants me, but I don’t have to live there
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
You will recall that earlier this month Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White was found guilty of felony voter fraud charges, and Governor Mitch Daniels appointed Jerry Bonnet as interim secretary of state. Secretary of State Charlie White convicted of felony charges:
The charges centered around allegations that White was registered at his ex-wife's home when he voted in the May primary even though he lived at a new townhouse on the other side of Fishers, making him ineligible to run for office. He admits the mistake but denies an effort to deceive calling the incident “an honest mistake.”
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A guilty verdict means that Charlie White can no longer serve as secretary of state, but there will be a fight over his replacement and who picks that replacement.
The normal chain of events would call for Gov. Mitch Daniels to fill the vacancy, and Daniels, a Republican, would almost certainly choose another Republican.
However, it's likely Democrats will turn to the courts in an effort to prevent a Daniels selection. That's because a Democratic Party challenge to White's election has already produced a ruling from Judge Louis Rosenberg that calls for the Republican White to be removed and replaced by the second place finisher in the 2010 election, Democrat Vop Osili, who now serves on the Indianapolis City County Council.
Rosenberg's ruling is on hold by order of the state Supreme Court. And it is the Supreme Court that will likely decide how White's replacement will be chosen.
In addition, White's attorneys said they would attempt to get the original felony criminal charges reduced to misdemeanors, in which case a guilty verdict would not mean automatic removal from office for White.
OK, so our baseline legal ruling is that if you don't reside where you claim to reside in Indiana, you are ineligible to hold public office. Or is it?
Recall Michael Hicks campaign gears up
by David Safier
This Sunday, a group of people interested in recalling TUSD Board member Michael Hicks will be meeting with Randy Parraz. If anyone knows anything about running a recall, it's Parraz who spearheaded the successful effort to take down Russell Pearce.
The question is, why recall Hicks? [You don't need a reason, by the way, only the required number of signatures.] By me, it shouldn't be for his votes alone. Hicks was elected to vote as he sees fit. The real question should be, is Hicks unfit to be on a board whose purpose is to oversee the education of Tucson's children? My tentative answer is yes, he is unfit. I say "tentative" because I'm basically a cautious guy who tries not to rush to judgement. I need to give it more thought. But here is my reason for saying Hicks is unfit to serve on the board.
In a radio interview Hicks gave and in a phone conversation with me, Hicks showed he was willing to hurl unwarranted accusations with racist overtones at people connected with the Mexican-American Studies program. On the radio show, he implied TUSD middle school students could have been subject to sexual abuse, similar to what allegedly occurred at Penn State, when they went into a UA Mexican-American Studies classroom. Hicks' implication was, not only are these MAS people animals, but they are so vile, it's possible a group of them — a prof and his students — could physically abuse the TUSD students with everyone in the classroom participating or watching, then keep silent about what happened.
(You can read the rest of the post below the fold.)
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