Posted on 07/06/2006 9:28:20 AM PDT by AntiGuv
I guess Austin is as anti-Repub as New Jersey.
It is because the Rats think DeLay would lose the election and they want that victory. If that happened then the Rats could use DeLay as their whipping boy much the way they did Newt Gingrich.
Sam Sparks has a reputation as a liberal Judge, at least in my book. The Dems go to him to get favorable rulings.
Appointed by a Republican? So was Souter!
Sparks, Sam
http://air.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2245
Born 1939 in Austin, TX
Federal Judicial Service:
U. S. District Court, Western District of Texas
Nominated by George H.W. Bush on October 1, 1991
It is not unreasonable to have a 7 week deadline. A 7 month deadline is unreasonable.
"Texas law was clearly intended to keep anyone from pulling a Lautenberg-type stunt "
Actually, *New Jersey* law clearly intended to keep anyone from pulling a Lautenberg-type stunt but it didnt stop them.
In this case, your reasoning is invalid. It's not an 'end run' of a law to fulfill the requirements of the law, that makes no sense. If they wanted off the ballot so bad they were willing to move out of state, why stop them? It's *fulfilling* the legal requirements.
"judge is a law-and-order type who seems to have taken strong offense at someone transparently mocking the law with this clever approach."
Wrong. The Judge is anti-law-and-order in other cases, so that cant be his modus operandi.
Let's get real here. Terry Keel successfully showed in January that other candidates to the office he was seeking failed to meet the letter of the election. Yet, in the interest of moving elections forward, the judges let the candidates stay on the ballot, arguing that the interests of open election overcame the technical deficiencies of their submissions to be on the ballot.
In this case, the letter of the law allows for candidates to withdraw if they are ineligible for the office. To use your argumentation, if a 17-year-old accidently (or on purpose) won a primary race, we would be required to keep that person on the ballot, even in cases where it was uncovered well before the election. That doesnt make sense.
"No one believes that Delay established a residence in Virginia for any reason but to get himself booted from the ballot. "
I dont believe that. I believe Delay wants to stay plugged into politics, hence his north Virginia residency.
But, it doesnt matter what his *reasons* for making himself ineligible to be a candidate, the plain fact is that we have a Judge forcing an ineligible person to be the candidate for a party who wishes to replace him.
"If Delay hadn't made this all about himself,"
Blech. He gave up his political career, and the only people who want DeLay on the ballot now are ... Democrats.
This is about Democrats that, after years of trying to do him in, are so desperate to run against Delay that they are insisting he remain on ballots. Oh, the irony!
PS. If you cared about 'the greater good of the party' you wouldn't whine about DeLay.
"Sam Sparks has a reputation as a liberal Judge, at least in my book. The Dems go to him to get favorable rulings."
The GOP moved the case to Federal Court, not the Dems.
DeLay wanted out of the race, so he claimed he moved to VA. The problem is his residency only matters *on election day*.
--R.
Yes, nominees can be replaced if they die or become disabled prior to a general election. But they cannot be replaced (under the old rules, which may or may not apply here) if they merely withdraw from the race, which is what DeLay did. He did not research thoroughly what could happen if he bailed out prematurely.
You are exactly right. I am offended by the posts that state because New Jersey is corrupt and has justice for sale, Texas should,too. Two wrongs don't make a right.
What many of these drive-by posters don't realize is that the NJ law was stricter and more rational (see my #85). There was a very specific reason for NJ to have the deadline they did. And certainly some deadline is necessary.
"DeLay can get off the ballot if he wants by withdrawing. He won't do that."
This may mean that for all practical purposes Lampson is opposed only by the "ghost" of Tom DeLay!
:I asume Delay offered such "facts" from "another public record".
"only the House can declare him ineligible due to residency"
No, they just have the final word, if they wish, after the election.
"Sec. 141.001. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC OFFICE... (c)Subsection (a) does not apply to an office for which the federal or state constitution or a statute outside this code prescribes exclusive eligibility requirements."
:By construction- any part of the Texas Election law without this disclaimer does apply to such offices.
The appellate ruling(s) will be informative.
Of course he does. You haven't paid attention to SSS for very long, have you?
Since when do Democratic Party spokeswomen "confirm" Federal rulings? ;)
"New Jersey's election laws are likely different, or possibly the situation was different as well. "
New Jersey law was crystal clear - the replacement of Torricelli violated the election law, the deadline for replacing a candidate had long-since passed. It was far more drastic than this case, since it was in October, and here we are talking about June when the decision was finalized.
What was different was that it was deemed a higher calling to have the 'right' candidates in an election, by the NJ kangaroo justices. That interest overrode the meaningless deadlines and election-law specfics.
In this case, the judge has *forbidden* the GOP to state that DeLay is 'ineligible to serve'... Well, the only problem with that is ... that Delay *is* in fact 'ineligible to serve'. He just voted in the Virginia primary and is a Virginia legal resident at this point.
"Sparks barred Texas GOP chairwoman Tina Benkiser from certifying to the Texas Secretary of State any candidate other than Tom DeLay to appear on the ballot in the 2006 general election as the Republican nominee for the United States House of Representatives from Texas District 22."
YET SPARKS ADMIST DELAY MAY ACTUALLY *BE* INELIGIBLE! ...
""There is evidence DeLay is not going to be eligible to be elected to the United States House of Representatives in the upcoming general election, Sparks wrote in his order. "DeLay himself testified that he does not know what will happen in his life in November, stating only that he plans to live in Virginia indefinitely.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/14979384.htm
Sparks is handing the Democrats an election on a silver platter. Likely, Sparks will rule - After the GOP votes vote for DeLay anyway - that since DeLay cant serve, Lampson wins ... or some such nonsense.
Like I said, Dems and Repubs are subject to different standards.
Good arguments--I can only wonder why the judge who heard them and compared it to the law found differently.
Delay has been a great contributor to conservative strength at a federal level, and we owe him a lot. He's had some great victories. But his time was up and he has made his exit immeasurably worse by dithering until after the primary and trying to exploit a loophole to violate the spirit of the law. Yes, Lautenberg was worse, but they're both wrong, and that's what the judge found.
I'll "whine" as much as I like, secure in the knowledge it's not going to make an ounce of difference in the election outcome in TX-22.
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