Statewide revote for Ag commissioner:
Editorials above, in this thread. (Even the liberal publications are balking at this Dem move.)
Posted on 01/04/2005 6:46:05 AM PST by TaxRelief
RALEIGH- Let me see if I can put this diplomatically: if Britt Cobb, Democratic candidate for agricultural commissioner, has the integrity and character that mutual friends claims he has, then he will end his farce of an election protest immediately.
If not, then I am sad to say that a disgraceful tradition of leadership at the Department of Agriculture will continue.
There is no, absolutely no legitimate argument in favor of what Cobb and his political allies are attempting to do in overturning the results of his 2004 contest with Republican Steve Troxler. Some 4,400 voters in Carteret County showed up to vote according to the law, were the victims of a voting-machine malfunction, and deserve to have their legitimate votes counted in the final result. It is theoretically possible, though highly unlikely, that their votes will erase Troxler's current statewide lead.
That lead exists because millions of North Carolinians have already cast their vote in the race. Under no circumstances do they deserve to have their votes thrown away, their preferences set aside because some cabal in Raleigh feels like it. And yet Cobb's lawyers are trying to do exactly that, with the active connivance of the three Democrats on the North Carolina State Board of Elections, in offering up the absurd notion of holding a new statewide election for the office.
No such election can be held unless four of the five members of the state board agree. That means getting at least one of the Republican appointees to said yes. But both said no. So Cobb's legal Smeagols decided to fake it by claiming that a previous 4-1 vote, supporting a now-discarded option of a special election in Carteret alone, could be "amended" by a simple 3-2 vote to authorizing the statewide election.
I’d say this bit of dishonesty merits more than just being struck down by the Supreme Court. I'd say that it merits a demand for all three Democrats' resignations, so that Gov. Mike Easley can find some honest Democrats (I know there are many) to serve. I'd say that, but perhaps board chairman Larry Leake and his colleagues were secretly crossing their fingers or something, and didn't really mean it. Given their sixth-grade-level antics, it would be in character.
Elections officials can at least hide behind the pretense of trying to follow the law (though make no mistake, it is all about pretending, not about doing what's right). Britt Cobb cannot. There is no law or custom requiring him to pursue his case.
The right thing to do at this point is for Cobb to step forward and end this spectacle the way it should be ended: with a concession to Troxler. There is no other way to save his reputation, accumulated through years of service as a hard-working and effective department employee. If he does not, Cobb will be remember either as a buffoon who cost taxpayers millions of dollars in a fruitless grab for power, or as a miscreant who was tapped to end a culture of state corruption but, in the end, chose to perpetuate it. Neither is an attractive prospect.
The New Observer also has an editorial on this situation:
(excerpted)
[Our] The News & Observer's editorial endorsement in the election went to Cobb, but Troxler could do the job.
And it appears he won the election fair and square, if by a narrow margin. "Fair and square" is something that cannot be used to describe the elections board's ridiculous decision. Now the state will be subject to an expensive replay that will itself not be an accurate reflection of the will of the people, since turnout is liable to be miniscule.
If the leaders of the state Democratic Party feel some sense of victory today, they should not. They ought to be ashamed of a decision that insults common sense and makes them look greedy and manipulative in the eyes of the citizens. Perhaps they would describe this as "hardball" politics. But the people of North Carolina are the ones who got beaned.
North Kakkylakky Ping
the Rats ain't got no shame, they show it in Washington state, they show it in Ohio (no matter how ludicrous their claims), and now in NC as well... sigh. We need some Ratbusters.
Unnecessary Election - Winston-Salem Journal editorial
(excerpted)The State Board of Elections chose its worst option last week when it ordered an unprecedented, statewide re-vote to decide the contested state agriculture commissioner's race. The state's courts should immediately reject the board's order because it is obviously illegal.'bout time...
If a new state wide election is held will our fighting men and women get to vote absentee again? Or will the election date be too close in the future to get ballots to them?
Talk about massive disenfranchisement.
"Some 4,400 voters in Carteret County showed up to vote according to the law, were the victims of a voting-machine malfunction, and deserve to have their legitimate votes counted in the final result"
I thought the guiding mantra of democrats in states like Ohio and Washington was "count every vote"?
How do they now get away without counting these votes?
One need only look back to the Year 2000 to see how much damage Gore's lifelong ambition and disregard for honor, combined with the determination of the Left to dominate the direction of America's future, have corrupted our elections process.
Witness the arrogance of this relatively insignificant Democratic contender Cobb and his willingness to lay a very significant burden on the taxpayers of NC as an example of that damage.
Excellent point, Phantom Lord.
I'll drop that bug in some of the right ears...
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