cripplecreek: I'm a former felon.......
Mrs Mark meet cripplecreek.
cripplecreek, Mrs Mark.
Posted on 10/18/2005 4:19:17 PM PDT by linkinpunk
Jack Kemp Says Ex-Felons Should Be Able to Vote
By JEFFREY McMURRAY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - Jack Kemp, the former Republican vice presidential candidate and HUD secretary, urged Congress on Tuesday to require states to restore voting rights for felons once they complete their sentences.
Kemp, who was Bob Dole's running mate in 1996, made the recommendation during the first in a series of hearings about the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits literacy tests, poll taxes and other infringements on minority voting.
Some key provisions of the 40-year-old law expire in 2007. One requires areas with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before changing their election laws.
Congress is expected to extend that provision for 25 years, but the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution is trying to determine whether the law should be tweaked.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., stirred the lone moment of dissent among witnesses with his suggestion that Congress should amend the act to guarantee voting rights for ex-felons.
"It's important, if we're going to call ourselves a democracy, that everybody more or less have the right to vote," Nadler said.
Kemp quickly endorsed the idea, pointing out that minorities are disproportionately charged with felonies.
"My answer is unambiguously yes," said Kemp, a former congressman from New York, one of a handful of states that restores voting rights to criminals once they complete their prison term or probation. "It is a restriction that needs to be modified."
Former Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Rogers, a member of a national commission on the Voting Rights Act, disagreed. He said states should be able to set their own requirements and argued that the number of felons isn't high enough to influence elections.
Besides the section requiring federal clearance for some states and localities to change their voting laws, two other key provisions are expiring in 2007. One requires foreign language assistance at the polls, and another allows for federal election observers to be used to deter intimidation of minority voters.
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Words fail me. This is right up there with DeLay's saying that there was not a dime that could be cut from the Federal budget on the "What are they smoking?" scale.
Sounds wonderful in theory, until you realize that there are literally MILLIONS of convicted felons in the USA just dying to vote for the party promising to give them freebies and to tighten restrictions on the law's ability to deal with felons.
What do you mean by "active felon"?
I agree with you, but I think the "nightmare" is Democrats paying recent parolees to vote.
At the risk of sounding insensitive, here are my opinions:
1. Convicted felons should not be allowed to vote.
2. Ballots should be printed only in English.
3. Valid I.D. should be required to register and to vote.
Kemp should talk about enterprise zones. Period.
Ack! Washed up ex-vice presidential candidate warning! From either party, they're usually best forgotten.
Jack Kemp is no...uh...Geraldine Ferraro? I mean does anyone even remember who Sargent Shriver even was?
Please, Jack, your 15 minutes are over. Thank you.
Goldwater was a libertarian...not a conservative. Since social issues like gay 'rights' and abortion were not issues in the '64 campaign, Goldwater never had to distinguish himself from the conservative movement. Roe wasn't decided until about 9 years later...and the pro-homo movement became a big issue in the '90s.
cripplecreek: I'm a former felon.......
Mrs Mark meet cripplecreek.
cripplecreek, Mrs Mark.
Too many helmet-rattling sacks back "in the day".
By dying? But at least you still get to vote for Rats.
How many felons who have not learned the concept of personal responsibility manage to complete their parole without re-offending? How many felons who have managed to learn the concept of personal responsibility are going to vote Democrat?
Mr. Hemp.
Mr. Jack Hemp.
Please pick up a white courtesy phone.
Mr. Hemp. Telephone please.
I worked for Jack Kemp briefly in 1994 when he was considering another White House run. This is not the man I worked for.
Are you saying you never committed the felony?
Seems to me two things happen when one is convicted, one is an immediate punishment, second is the conviction goes on your "Permanent Record".
I've always thought it was a mark of the respect we held for citizenship that if you serioulsy broke the rules of society you were no longer allowed to have the highest privilege a citizen can have, the vote.
Guess I was wrong.
There's something to be said for refusing to argue with stupidity.
If you're a felon who's been granted a pardon, does that make you an ex-felon?
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