Posted on 04/30/2010 6:12:46 AM PDT by ConjunctionJunction
Birther measure dies from lack of support
Barack Obama won’t be required to produce his birth certificate for Arizona officials if he decides to run for reelection.
Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, said Thursday not enough of the 18 Republicans in the state Senate support the House-approved measure. And with all 12 Democrats opposed, Harper said it makes no sense to force the issue to a vote.
But Harper defended the merits of the change, rebuffing claims by critics that the measure is silly.
Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, introduced the measure in the wake of controversy on whether the president is a “natural born citizen” of the United States, as required by the U.S. Constitution.
Burges said the measure is not necessarily about Obama. But she admitted she doubts he was born in Hawaii as he claims, or that he can show he is a U.S. citizen.
“With what’s happening throughout the world, we need to make sure that our candidates are certifiable,” she said. Burges said she wants a president’s citizenship — and, as she sees it, loyalty — to be clear. “We want to make sure that we have candidates that are going to stand up for the United States of America.”
As approved by the House, the language, stripped by Burges into a related Harper bill, would have required political parties to submit to the Arizona secretary of state “documents that prove that the candidate is a natural born citizen, prove the candidate’s age and prove that the candidate meets the residency requirements for President of the United States.”
More to the point, it would have given the secretary of state the unilateral power to keep a candidate off the Arizona ballot if he or she has “reasonable cause” to believe the candidate is not qualified.
Harper supported the change and lobbied his GOP colleagues to approve the House version. He said, though, it’s not a partisan thing.
“It’s not about Barack Obama,” Harper said. “He has shown his birth certificates and birth announcements, from the time he was born, in Hawaii newspapers.”
What it is about, Harper said, is “states’ rights.”
“It’s our ballot,” he said. “We have the right to ask somebody to prove that they constitutionally have the ability to hold office.”
That, however, may not be true.
Matthew Benson, press aide to Secretary of State Ken Bennett, said his boss believes the measure would have violated the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution by having states set eligibility requirements for candidates for federal office.
How the h*ll can they not approve this????
With our SB 1070 publicity, leaders correctly realized this was not the year to push this. Next year. It would have passed, but for the immigration kerfuffle.
How can anyone disagree with this? The Republican Party is going to let us down a lot in the next couple of years - it is made up of mostly opportunistic cowards. I'm afraid we're spinning our wheels in mud, thinking that the GOP is finally seeing the light. Not going to happen.
Annoying is right. States have every right to enforce the law with regard to an election for that state’s presidential and vice-presidential electors.
My heart was broken yesterday when comedian Paul Rodriguez canceled his show in Arizona. I wonder whom attends his shows? Hispanics maybe?...just askin'.
Unfortunately it was framed by media as being all about Obama. Supporters should refrain from even mentioning Obama in relation to the issue.
Besides, Obama was going to be grandfathered in whether we like it or not.
Too much time spent trying to remove Obama takes away from fixing the problem that got him there. Lord knows there are 1001 other issues that could take him down.
Vote them ALL out of office.
Why was your heart crushed?
There’s no reason for Obama or any other 2012 candidate to be “grandfathered in.” Concerning the politics, it’s a shame that the Dems have been able to conflate AZ immigration reform and this proposal concerning election law.
Obama will be the death of America as we know it. There is no one who can stop him and his agenda. The Republicans certainly won’t.
I was not being snippy. I was asking an honest question. I’m curious why someone would be crushed that an entertainer cancelled their appearance.
Why are you policing my posts, verity?
They should talk about Róger Calero instead (although it’s better if they don’t talk about specific individuals). Calero was the Socialist Workers Party candidate and was born in Nicaragua. He isn’t even a U.S. citizen.
The argument that needs to be made is that Arizona controls who gets on its ballot, because it’s a states rights issue. Arizona was not imposing its own additional criteria onto the eligibility for POTUS, they were imposing a ministerial requirement that any candidate should be happy and able to comply with.
His COLB forgery and the newspaper announcements all show is is NOT a Natural Born Citizen.
Roger Calero is the example I like to use.
How a formerly deported resident alien makes it on the ballot as a presidential candidate would be pretty hard to explain away.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.