Posted on 07/06/2004 11:50:09 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
WASHINGTON – The United Nations has turned down a controversial request by nine members of the U.S. Congress to assign international observers to the U.S. presidential election in November.
The request came in the form of a letter drafted by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, and signed by eight other members of the House.
"We are deeply concerned that the right of U.S. citizens to vote in free and fair elections is again in jeopardy," the lawmakers wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Besides Johnson, the other representatives signing the letter to Annan – all Democrats – were Julia Carson of Indiana; Jerrold Nadler, Edolphus Towns, Joseph Crowley and Carolyn B. Maloney, all of New York; Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Corrine Brown of Florida, Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, Danny K. Davis of Illinois and Michael M. Honda of California.
Johnson was an early supporter of Sen. John Edwards' campaign for the presidency. Yesterday Edwards was selected as John Kerry's Democratic Party running mate.
"Generally, the United Nations does not intervene in electoral affairs unless the request comes from a national government or an electoral authority – not the legislative branch," said U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe.
Nevertheless, the proposal by Johnson and the other members of the House has raised the hackles of Republicans and others who saw irony in the timing of the announcement – just before America's Independence Day celebrations.
"Let me get this straight," wrote Joe Mariani in GOPUSA.com. "A group of Democrats want to bring some people from countries like North Korea, Iran, Syria, China and Cuba – people that have never seen a democratic election in their lifetimes – to sit in judgment on our elections? What kind of voodoo politics is that? The last time a foreign body had any direct influence over the political process of this country, the situation was corrected by a war for our freedom from British rule. Are these so-called Americans so willing to surrender that hard-won right of self-determination now, and to such a shamelessly scandal-ridden group of anti-American dictatorships and terrorist sympathizers? We may as well dissolve the Union now and save ourselves the pain of watching it done for us."
The Democrats said they feared a repeat of the 2000 election, which was won by George W. Bush, a Republican, through the Electoral College count even though he lost the popular vote.
The Democrats had asked in the letter for "international election monitors" to watch for "questionable practices and voter disenfranchisement on Election Day."
The Democratic Congress members wrote that they did not think sufficient reforms had been implemented to prevent another voting debacle.
"As the next Election Day approaches, there is more cause for alarm rather than less," the letter said.
Because the U.N. Charter bars violations of sovereignty, the State Department, or perhaps the Federal Election Commission, would have to invite observers, said U.N. officials. Monitoring would also have to be approved by the Security Council or the General Assembly.
Since the rule of thumb for vote monitoring is one observer for each 100 polling sites, about 2,000 foreigners would have to be deployed from Key West to Anchorage.
Johnson's letter points to "widespread allegations of voter disenfranchisement" in Florida and other states in 2000, and it cites an April report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that found potential for "significant problems" this time around.
"As lawmakers, we must assure the people of America that our nation will not experience the nightmare of the 2000 presidential election," Johnson wrote. "This is the first step in making sure that history does not repeat itself," she added.
The Nov. 7, 2000, election was decided 36 days later when the U.S. Supreme Court made two rulings that stopped Democratic challenger Al Gore's attempt to recount some of the Florida votes. A number of independent investigations confirmed President Bush won the state's 25 electoral votes, giving him a total of 271 to Gore's 267.
Tom Kilgannon, president of Freedom Alliance, a group dedicated to protecting American sovereignty, admonished Johnson and her colleagues.
"Your appeal to the secretary general is alarming and embarrassing," he said. "As a Member of Congress sworn to uphold the Constitution and represent the people of the United States, it is disturbing, to say the least, that you would entrust the most sacred act of American democracy – our presidential election – to an international institution, which is unaccountable to the American people and mired by scandal and corruption."
Kilgannon said the request "undermines U.S. sovereignty, demoralizes American servicemen who are fighting to build democratic governments abroad and sends the message worldwide that the United States is nothing more than a Third World nation unable to police itself."
Stories about the action by the members of Congress appeared all over the world – from Tehran to Uraguay and to China.
I'm ashamed Eddie Bernice Johnson is from Texas.
It was none of the UN business to monitor our elections in the first place. What's revealing is the Democrats' lack of faith in the American voter.
I can't believe Nadler signed on too. He is a way-out-there liberal, but I thought he was a bigger man than that.
Typical democrats .. trying to usurp the authority of the President.
These people who pretend to defend the Constitution don't even know they didn't have the authority to make such a request from the UN ..?? How pitiful is that!
You can believe the CA congressman is going to hear from me. I may not be in his district, but I'm a Californian and he's an embarrassment to our state.
Wouldn't it be treason to try to get non-Americans to interfere with our elections?
Time to send another "love note" to that freaking lunatic - Mike Honda...
Semper Fi
Volunteer to be a poll watcher. We're gonna need ya!
What a classic response by Mariani!
"Let me get this straight," wrote Joe Mariani in GOPUSA.com. "A group of Democrats want to bring some people from countries like North Korea, Iran, Syria, China and Cuba – people that have never seen a democratic election in their lifetimes – to sit in judgment on our elections? What kind of voodoo politics is that? The last time a foreign body had any direct influence over the political process of this country, the situation was corrected by a war for our freedom from British rule. Are these so-called Americans so willing to surrender that hard-won right of self-determination now, and to such a shamelessly scandal-ridden group of anti-American dictatorships and terrorist sympathizers? We may as well dissolve the Union now and save ourselves the pain of watching it done for us."
These are not congressmen. They're raving lunatics.
disinfranchisment.
what a crock. is it anyones fault that these total mental midgets can't figure out the most simplest instructions.
hanging chad? its morons like the dems who drasticaly need tax accountants to help them cheat er i mean fill out thier tax forms. heck here in st louis the rats are so inept that they cant even tell time! they kept the polls open 2 hours longer than legal until they got busted. i guess they did that to give the dead voter block a little longer to leave the crypt.
heres a hint, if you are too stupid to figure out what it takes to cast a ballot. STAY THE F**K HOME YOU LOSER SCUM!
I'm ashamed that one of these nuts is my representative.
Ironic that it is Dems making this loathsome request. Not ironic at all that they would hand over power to the UN.
Ok bring on the UN monitors and we will put them in EVERY big city around this country.
Dems are infamous for voter fraud in larger urban areas.
Man, they got that right. After the last election, every voter roll in this country should have been dumped and reregistation conducted with each and every voter showing proof of citizenship and residency, with 100% verification. That act alone would have broken the back of the RAT Party.
"These are not congressmen. They're raving lunatics."
Actually they are congressmen that want to be Politburo members.
All he need to do in the debates is ask Kerry if he supports this act of intervention by the UN or not.
If he does then he wishes to give our soverignty to the UN and the President can nail him on it!
If he does not back it then he cannot support all those legal challenges that are waiting to be filed when he loses, and the President can nail him on it!
A WIN/WIN situation!
The UN has no business being in America let alone participate in one of our elections. I think its past time for us to quit the UN and stop catering to them.
I would guess we are going to see more of these inferior representatives in our future. Some people get the idea that one here and one there don't hurt us but, as you can see, collectively they do hurt us because they can exert some power.
They all belong to one or more of the following: Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Progressive Caucus.
Asian Pacific American Caucus is a new one to me but the majority are members, so I suppose I'll have to add it to my list of usual suspects.
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