Posted on 10/02/2002 4:59:02 AM PDT by Peach
There is no provision for "appointing" a Representative. The vacancy must be filled by special election. Votes for a deceased Representative should be thrown out.
This morning at 7:55 a.m. EST, Linda CHAVEZ was being interviewed by E.D. and group about the three DNC traitors in Iraq and about the New Jersey matter. She was asked about the nanny issue that precluded her appointment to the Bush cabinet.
For example, could they order that the election be pushed back a month to allow new ballots to be printed? I could imagine them saying something to the effect that everything just needs to be done by the time the next congress begins so there will be no harm / no foul.
Heres to hoping I'm wrong (again)
Oh yeah! Never any falsehoods on the Internet or talk radio? I think we had two good examples of hoaxes on the Internet yesterday.
Sounds right - give the appearance of impartially reviewing the law and all will be right in the land. Appearance is everything today.
Wednesday, 2 October, 2002, 04:48 GMT 05:48 UK US court accepts Senate case
The New Jersey State Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments from Democrat politicians who want to replace their candidate for the US Senate.
Scandal-hit Senator Robert Torricelli abruptly pulled out of the November election on Monday - after the deadline for candidates to submit their names for the ballot paper.
Mr Torricelli missed the deadline for changing candidates
His Republican opponents argue that he may not be replaced, saying ballot papers have been printed and distributed and some postal votes have already been received.
But the Democrats - who hold a one-seat majority in the US Senate - are keen to offer voters a replacement for Mr Torricelli.
The court issued an order saying it would hear the case directly instead of waiting for a lower court to act, accepting a Democratic submission which stressed the urgency of the matter.
The high court hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
New candidate named
The Democrats picked a former Senator, Frank Lautenberg, to replace Mr Torricelli, who ended his campaign in an emotional speech.
Correspondents say Democrats were concerned for Mr Torricelli's re-election chances after allegations from businessman David Chang who said he gave the senator gifts in return for his intervention in business deals in North and South Korea.
The people of New Jersey have had enough of playing politics with the fundamental tenets of democracy.
Mr Torricelli - who was elected in 1996 - has denied any illegality but was admonished over the summer by the Senate ethics committee.
Mr Lautenberg, who feuded openly with Mr Torricelli who was his Senate colleague until he retired at the elections two years ago, said he was hoping to get his name on the ballot paper.
"I look forward to this campaign, in some ways rather perversely, it will be the shortest campaign I've ever been engaged in, but I sort of like the prospects," he said.
'Potential for chaos'
The Republican candidate for the Senate, Doug Forrester, said: "In 36 days, decency, fairness and the rule of the law will trump this desperate attempt to retain power.
"The people of New Jersey have had enough of playing politics with the fundamental tenets of democracy."
It's all about ensuring that the voters of this state have the opportunity to exercise a choice in a competitive race .
Democrat campaign lawyer Angelo Genova His campaign's lawyer, Bill Baroni, said the case created "a potential for chaos".
"Ballots have been printed in many counties," he said.
"Absentee ballots have been sent, and even more troubling, federal oversees military ballots have been mailed. Votes have been received."
Printing of ballots has now been halted with some analysts saying the case could end up before the US Supreme Court in circumstances reminiscent of the controversial 2000 presidential election in Florida.
'Technicality'
A lawyer for the Democratic Party in New Jersey, Angelo Genova, said the deadline for candidates pulling out was merely a technicality, adding that there was a 1952 precedent for changing names, allowed when a candidate died.
"It's all about ensuring that the voters of this state have the opportunity to exercise a choice in a competitive race," he said.
"The two-party system that affords people such a choice should not be compromised by any legal niceties or other administrative technicalities in our law."
The Democrats currently hold 50 Senate seats, with Republicans controlling 49 Senate seats and Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont, formerly a Republican, declared as an independent.
That proposition was in the NRO article Rush cited yesterday.
here is what CBS is reporting:The Republicans want a state supreme court to stick to the narrow letter of the law and enforce a technicality. The Democrats want a State Supreme Court to look at the dispute within the broader context of New Jersey's statutory election scheme and age-old voting rights cases. The dispute could end up at the United States Supreme Court. The political balance in Washington could be at stake. Is there a law somewhere that says that every second autumn the nation has to go through one of these nearly farcical juris-political skirmishes?
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