Here Comes The Judge
I'm neutral in this District 29 senate race. I think Ms. Ford, should have never been the winner to begin with. My opinions are those, of an objective observer. I don't live in the district, so I can't vote. As usual the troublemakers have ran into another snag. I say troublemakers, not because they're speaking out. It's the manner in which they're carrying it out. I don't want them, to just up and give the seat to Terry Roland either. That wouldn't be fair. I get the impression they aren't really concerned with what's best for all. Only what makes them a winner. As this saga continues, real personalities come out. They tell you it's about a fair election, when it's really all about them winning. Even if they have to cheat.
Judge Bernice Donald, has done the only thing possible. You can't rule on a case, without looking at both sides. She didn't pursue the case. It was brought to her. The Judge is in a precarious position. Largely based on questionable decisions, she has made of late. I think the "Madison trial" was an example of "judicial priviledge". That particular case, has nothing to do with this one though. In this case, doing her job only makes her look bad. She's a powerful woman ,that has a powerful position. This thing is going to create a lot of casualties, or collateral damage. Unfortunately for the Roland camp, she knows the Fords.
posted by Common at
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Judge halts Senate vote on Ford
By Richard Locker
Contact
January 19, 2006
NASHVILLE -- A federal judge in Memphis late Wednesday blocked the Tennessee Senate from its planned vote today to overturn the Senate District 29 election and expel Sen. Ophelia Ford.
After a 50-minute telephone hearing, U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald issued a temporary restraining order sought by Ford's lawyers and set a hearing for next Wednesday.
The Senate was all but certain to vote this morning to vacate the Sept. 15 election, which Ford won by 13 votes, on grounds of illegal voting and other questionable activities. Acting as a "committee of the whole," the Senate voted 17-14 Tuesday to vacate the election.
"Obviously I'm disappointed," said Senate Republican Leader Ron Ramsey, "but upon advice of my counsel that's all I can say at this time."
Ford's lawyers filed the federal court suit on behalf of her and three District 29 residents who voted in the special election. They charged that voiding the election would violate their rights under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection clause and the federal Voting Rights Act by throwing out their votes.
The special election was called after Ophelia Ford's brother, John Ford, gave up the Senate seat because of his indictment on federal corruption charges resulting from the Tennessee Waltz sting.
Democrats applauded the late-breaking news of the ruling by Donald, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court 10 years ago after a recommendation from Ophelia Ford's brother, then-Congressman Harold Ford. She later administered the congressional oath to Harold Ford Jr. when he first won the 9th Congressional District seat.
"It's now in the court system. It's a contested case. We need to let the system work. I trust the system," said Senate Democratic Leader Jim Kyle of Memphis.
Kyle said the judge's specific order to allow the special Senate committee appointed to investigate the election to complete its work is vindication of the Democrats' argument that the push to void the election was moving too swiftly.
The refusal of the Senate's majority Republicans to wait on the special committee drew the ire of most Democrats inside and outside the Senate this week.
The committee -- three Republicans and three Democrats, and chaired by a Republican -- was poised to deliver a report on its findings soon, but its chairman, Sen. Michael Williams, R-Maynardville, called off the committee's work after his colleagues' decision Tuesday to move forward with Ford's expulsion.
Williams was the only Republican to abstain from Tuesday's vote.
GOP insiders said the majority of senators wanted to push ahead because they feared the committee was stalling. But Williams and Democrats said the panel's delays were the result of continued requests for more investigation by lawyers for Terry Roland, the Millington Republican who was Ford's opponent.
Ford's lawsuit, filed by Memphis lawyer David Cocke, said that fewer than 13 votes were found to be questionable out of more than 8,000 cast, that the probe unfairly focused on specific voters and there was no evidence of a conspiracy to rig the election.
The complaint says the state election coordinator found six ineligible voters cast votes: three convicted felons, one voter who didn't live in the district and two who used identities of dead voters.
"No allegation was ever made that the plaintiff Ophelia Ford, her family or her campaign organization had anything to do with these voter irregularities," Cocke argues in the complaint.
The telephone hearing was among Cocke; state Atty. Gen. Paul Summers and Asst. Atty. Gen. William Helou for the state, and Roland's attorney Lang Wiseman.
The three voters listed as co-plaintiffs are William Martin Suggs, Paul F. Lowe and Gwendolyn Ellerson, all residents of the Senate district that stretches from Downtown to Millington.
The court move climaxed a day of finger-pointing and rhetoric on both sides.
At the same time the hearing was under way, state Election Coordinator Brook Thompson delivered a report to senators on his comparison of Social Security numbers of voters in the election with a database of 65 million deceased people.
Although there were 38 matches, Thompson concluded there were no new instances of the names of dead people used to cast votes.
His report said 32 of the matches "clearly involve different people" because there were different names, genders and birth dates from the voters.
Of the six others, one was a previously identified dead voter, three died after the Sept. 15 election, one appears to be the wife of a person who died 23 years ago and apparently shared the same Social Security number and one appears to be the son of a man who died eight years ago.
Sen. Don McLeary of Humboldt, the lone Democrat to join the 16 Republicans for the 17 votes required to pass the resolution Tuesday, said he'd vote the same way again.
He said he made up his mind last weekend after more revelations by The Commercial Appeal of illegal activity in the election.
"I voted my conscience and my heart. There were too many discrepancies in this election and it should be redone to erase any cloud of suspicion over the Ford family. I believe Ophelia Ford can win the election (this November) and I will offer my support in any way."
No rush to judgment
On Ophelia Ford vote, judge gives herself another week to consider who has jurisdiction
By Chris Conley
Contact
January 26, 2006
A federal judge considering state Sen. Ophelia Ford's efforts to prevent the Senate from ousting her gave herself another week to decide if the ball is rightly in her court.
U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald Wednesday extended the life of a temporary order she issued last week, barring the Senate from taking final action to remove Ford.
She extended the order until Wednesday.
The crowded courtroom was packed with Ford's supporters and political opponents -- as well as 15 senators -- who listened to a day's worth of mostly technical testimony on election laws and procedures.
Because the courtroom was so crowded, 14 senators sat in the jury box. All were white, and all but three were men.
Ford complained after her fellow senators voted to oust her that she was the victim of "racism and Jim Crowism."
Ford, a Democrat, had a 13-vote victory in the Sept. 15 election to fill the seat of her brother John Ford, who stepped down after being indicted on corruption charges in the Tennessee Waltz investigation.
Her Republican opponent, Terry Roland, challenged the election, showing that two dead people, at least three felons, and people who didn't live in District 29 voted. He's compiled a list of dozens of voters who may not live in the district, or who failed to sign poll sheets or voter applications.
On Jan. 16, senators voted 17-14 to void the election. They were to take a final vote Jan. 19.
That vote, Ford argued, violated voters' rights. She got the restraining order Jan. 18.
State Sen. Steve Cohen of Memphis testified that the resolution recommending Ford be stripped of her seat was rushed.
The resolution was passed without a report from a Senate group looking into irregularities or from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is conducting a criminal investigation.
There was little debate, Cohen said.
"There was a rush to judgment," he said after the hearing. "They wanted to have another Republican in the Senate."
Cohen's testimony was one of the day's few light spots.
He frequently poked at the 14 senators listening to testimony from the jury box, the majority who voted to oust Ford.
Attorneys for the senators pointed out that the Jan. 19 vote could have gone in Ford's favor, that positions often change between committee and final vote.
Donald issued the restraining order Jan. 18, before that final vote could be taken.
"You have no idea what the Senate was going to do," said Janet Kleinfelter, a lawyer with the state Attorney General's office.
"Other than Nostradamus, I don't think anyone could have known," Cohen said.
The Attorney General's office and Memphis attorney John Ryder argued that the federal court had no business interfering in the Senate's vote, since the Senate has authority to weigh the validity of its elections.
Ryder called the restraining order a "gross interference" in the delicate balance between federal rights and state powers.
"It stopped the Senate in mid-stream," he argued.
Donald said she would take up to a week to research the law and determine if the federal court has jurisdiction, and if the restraining order was premature.
"Sometimes, things don't happen as quickly as you like," she said. "It's better to be thorough than quick."
If she rules she has jurisdiction, she will then rule on whether voters' rights were violated.
Then she could issue an injunction that blocks the Senate from unseating Ford.
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