It depends on the atmosphere, and the candidate. Where I reside, the atmosphere is ripe for the picking. A certain segment of the community feel so disenchanted with the political process. They're game for anything, they think might make a change. They want to do something, even if it's wrong. The combination of poor voter turn out, dilution of the voters, and campaign and poll issues. Make for an easy target to say the least. I don't think the Black populus, is prepared to accept the conservative message. To get them to vote for it, will require trickery.
I think this is the reign of the RINO (republican in name only). In order to be elected,you can't claim your conservative views. Once you get in office, you vote as you choose. The Republicans won't point this out, they're not the one loosing. It's the people falling for this tactic. I think Harold Ford Jr., is a victim of this on the opposite end of the spectrum. To those that don't like him, now he's labeled a bluedog democrat. I tend to agree with a lot of his decisions in Washington. Only to have him come back to the voters of the 9th district and twist it around.
The same confusion and dedication, that led to this mess in the first place. Is the same mindset that will allow for an outsider to slip in office. When I say outsider,it has nothing to do with party. I mean someone who doesn't have the constituents best interest in mind. That could be someone calling themselves a Democrat or Republican. They could be male or female, black or white. The major concern should be, are they right.
Not without cheating.
ReplyDeleteHere comes cheating:
ReplyDeleteSenate acts to oust Ford
Vacates 13-vote win as panel, must do it again Thursday to make move effective
By Richard Locker
Contact
January 18, 2006
NASHVILLE -- The state Senate voted 17-14 Tuesday night to void Shelby County's special Senate District 29 election and remove Ophelia Ford from her brother's former seat, but must do so again Thursday before it becomes effective.
If Thursday's vote is the same, Ford would lose the seat immediately and the Shelby County Commission would appoint an interim senator to serve until the Nov. 7 general election.
Both Ford, D-Memphis, and her opponent in the Sept. 15 special election, Millington Republican Terry Roland, said they will ask the county commission, which has seven Republicans and six Democrats, for the interim appointment. And both said they will be candidates in their parties' August primaries for the Senate seat.
Ford, 55, was declared the winner by 13 votes for the seat long held by her brother John Ford until he was arrested in May on federal corruption charges in the Tennessee Waltz sting.
Ophelia Ford, who was "provisionally" seated last week pending the outcome of the election contest that Roland filed, voted against Tuesday's resolution but did not participate in the debate. Afterward, outside the Senate chamber, she charged it was based on "racism and Jim Crowism" by the Republican Party.
She said she will file a federal court suit challenging her removal. A federal court challenge, on civil rights grounds, is seen as the only legal avenue to contest her removal because the Tennessee Constitution gives the Senate sole authority to seat its members, a provision that would likely remove state courts from the process.
"You've got the Republican Party that can't wait until the investigation report comes back. Do you think I was really surprised about that? No. It's about racism. It's about Jim Crowism, and I've been talking to my family and we're going to let the federal courts decide," she said.
The vote followed a partisan, emotional 2-hour, 12-minute debate revolving around a Republican resolution to vacate the election results. Republicans argued that illegal votes -- including votes cast in the name of two dead voters -- so tainted the special election that its results should be set aside.
"This election stunk. We're not disenfranchising anyone; everyone can vote again," declared Sen. Jeff Miller, R-Cleveland.
Democrats countered that the Senate should await the findings of its own special bipartisan committee appointed to investigate the election and that the voters should not be disenfranchised because of either the mistakes or criminal activities of election officials. The GOP had charged that at least 60 people who voted did not sign ballot applications as required by state law, but they did sign other documents at the polls.
The Republican chairman of the investigating committee, Sen. Micheal Williams of Maynardville, said the committee could have a preliminary report to the full Senate on Thursday -- but probably not the results of a separate TBI probe. Williams abstained on the vote because he believed the panel should be given time to complete its work.
Without Williams' vote, Republicans -- who hold a 17-16 edge over Democrats in the Senate -- needed one Democrat to join them to pass the resolution. Sen. Don McLeary, D-Humboldt, provided that vote, joining with Republicans in favor of the resolution sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Ron Ramsey of Blountville. Democrats cast all 14 "no" votes. One Democrat, Sen. Jerry Cooper of McMinnville, wasn't present.
Technically, because of the rules adopted for the special legislative session on ethics reform, Tuesday's vote occurred while the Senate was sitting as a "committee of the whole" reviewing ethics legislation. It must now be voted on by the Senate acting as the Senate, not as a committee.
Roland, 44, who was in Nashville for the debate, was ecstatic after the vote.
"This is exactly what the people of District 29 wanted to happen: to void this election and get back to what the people want -- not what a body wants, but what the people want. I'm shaking about this because there's going to be a whole lot of folks in Shelby County happy tonight."
When Ramsey filed the resolution last week, it appeared a majority of the Senate was willing to wait on the investigating committee's report. But continuing revelations pushed the Senate to quicker action.
The Commercial Appeal reported Sunday that a poll worker in the North Memphis precinct where votes were cast in the names of the two deceased people was in New York on the day of the election but her initials appeared on ballot documents for 13 votes and her signature appeared on the certification of the precinct's results.
DA: No politics on Ford inquiry
ReplyDeleteGibbons, a Roland donor, urged fast vote
By Richard Locker
Contact
January 29, 2006
NASHVILLE -- Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons says he had no partisan motive when he urged a state Senate committee not to wait on the TBI before making its recommendation on a disputed Memphis election.
But a Dec. 28 letter from Gibbons to the committee investigating the election's irregularities has raised eyebrows:
Gibbons, a Republican, contributed $100 to Republican senatorial candidate Terry Roland's campaign against Democrat Ophelia Ford in the Sept. 15 special election. Now Gibbons may prosecute if criminal activity is found.
The timing of the committee's still-delayed report to the full Senate has become both a political issue and a legal issue in Ford's federal court case.
Roland's formal contest of the election, which Ford won by 13 votes, prompted the Senate committee's investigation. The bipartisan committee is to make a recommendation to the full Senate on whether to void the election and remove Ford from the Senate.
But earlier this month, 16 Republicans and one Democrat -- exactly the 17 votes required for passage -- voted to void the election based on irregularities and illegal voting. Republican plans for a final, binding vote were blocked, at least temporarily, by a federal judge.
In the Senate, Democrats have blasted Republicans for moving to void the election before the committee completes its work.
Gibbons earlier had asked the TBI to investigate allegations of crimes in the election, including two votes cast in the names of dead people.
The DA said Friday he wrote to the Senate committee because, "Based on public comments by some senators, it appeared they expected the TBI investigation would be concluded soon and that they thought they would have access to that information."
Gibbons said he discussed the situation with TBI Director Mark Gwyn "and we felt it important to let the committee know that, first, the TBI investigation was going to take a while and second, the investigative file was confidential and the committee should not be in a position of making its recommendation on that."
In his letter, Gibbons urged the committee to "proceed with making its recommendation based upon information already available to it from the Shelby County Election Commission, the state coordinator of elections, and other available sources."
Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle said Friday that while "the letter wasn't inappropriate, I think people believe today that he should have disclosed his political connection to Mr. Roland."
Gibbons said he bought a $100 ticket to a Roland campaign fund-raising reception before the election and there was no connection between it and the letter. "I have been to a lot of political receptions. I've been to receptions for (former Democratic state senator) John Ford before."
He said "the letter in no way recommended what the Senate should do. That's none of my business. They could vote to recommend that Ophelia Ford be seated permanently."
As for the possibility of a conflict of interest, he said, "If in the course of this investigation anything comes up that I feel would warrant a recusal and appointment of a special prosecutor, I would do that."
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