Huge Election Scandal Brewing in Mississippi - Page 3

RightOfCenter · 09-18-08, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danarhea

El wrongo, special election ballot breath.

That is not what the article or the judges said. The ballot was illegal but Barbour was not ordered to change it. Not that it makes a difference since he did it anyway. This is just silly nitpicking now.

aps · 09-18-08, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightOfCenter

Understand I'm explaining and not giving you a hard time. It was ruled illegal but they did not order Barbour to change the ballot. He did to avoid the scandal that Dana was talking about. It was illegal but they could not force him to change it.

Isn't that what I said?

RightOfCenter · 09-18-08, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aps

Isn't that what I said?

Maybe it was, but not the way I read it. My mistake if that's what you meant.

danarhea · 09-18-08, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightOfCenter

That is not what the article or the judges said. The ballot was illegal but Barbour was not ordered to change it. Not that it makes a difference since he did it anyway. This is just silly nitpicking now.

Please read my last post (#19). The lower court had already ruled that the race must go to the top of the ballot. The Mississippi Supreme Court, while granting the power to Barbour to do his job, at the same time, upheld the lower court ruling. That is why Barbour is now putting the race at the top, where it belongs, and in compliance with the law.

RightinNYC · 09-19-08, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danarhea

El wrongo, special election ballot breath.

From the court decision:

This is the part that upheld the decision of the lower court to force the Wicker-Musgrove race to the top of the ballot, where it belongs, and in compliance with the law that Barbour violated.

No, that's not what the court decision says. Before you start attacking other people for not reading it, you may want to do so yourself.

1) Page 5, "Based on the record in this case...vacate the mandamus and injunction" is reversing the lower court's order to revise the ballot.

2) Page 7, "Continue to follow the prior practice...benefit of judicial review" is saying that this exact same procedure was used in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.

Now, if you're alleging that this is some Republican conspiracy to reorder the ballot, want to explain why the exact same procedure has been used in every special election in the past 8 years, including 2 elections under a Democratic governor?

American · 09-19-08, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danarhea

To mods: No reliable link yet, but will have one as soon as it comes in. Only link so far is from Daily Kos, which I am reluctant to use. Am posting link to the actual decision instead. Will use a mainstream link when one becomes available, which should be within the next few hours.

The Mississippi Supreme Court has just ruled that Governor Haley Barbour has broken the law by attempting to hide a Senate race at the bottom of the ballot, where most don't vote. Interestingly enough, the other Senate race, in which the Republican incumbent is expected to blow away his Democratic opponent, was at the top of the ballot, where it belonged.

This attempt to circumvent election laws is going to backfire on the GOP in a big way. I am sure that Roger Wicker, the Democrat, with help from the national Democratic party, is going to play this in ads until the cows come home.

The Mississippi Supreme Court decision is here.

I see you were already thanked by your bretheren liberals aps and summerwind for an unsourced claim. Liberals doing what liberals do.

American · 09-19-08, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aps

Great order! I love reading this kind of thing, particularly when the judge delves into the meaning of rules.

Anyway, I love that Haley Barbour got a kick in the pants regarding the ballot. He is a total asswipe.

Really, but yet he handled emergency procedures correctly during Katrina, unlike your Uncle Nagin.

GottaHurt · 09-19-08, 09:03 AM

I'm going out on a limb here, this thread is bigger than the scandal.

prrriiide · 09-19-08, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightinNYC

No, that's not what the court decision says. Before you start attacking other people for not reading it, you may want to do so yourself.

1) Page 5, "Based on the record in this case...vacate the mandamus and injunction" is reversing the lower court's order to revise the ballot.

2) Page 7, "Continue to follow the prior practice...benefit of judicial review" is saying that this exact same procedure was used in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.

Now, if you're alleging that this is some Republican conspiracy to reorder the ballot, want to explain why the exact same procedure has been used in every special election in the past 8 years, including 2 elections under a Democratic governor?

You should have kept reading. On p. 9 the ruling says:

Quote:

We find that the special election for United States Senator must be listed in the first category of the ballot, along with all other national elections, and the law assumes the Governor and Secretary of State will follow the law

MUST. Not should. Not ought to. Not pretty please with sugar on top. MUST. That is a directive.

Now, what you great legal minds are failing to do is look at the ramifications of a failure to comply with the law. Should the ballot be allowed to stand with the special election listed separately from the rest of the national election races, in direct contravention of plain-english statute, then the election could be declared null and void on those grounds.

The legal hair that was split by the MSSC was that the governor must uphold and adhere to the law, but by precedent and inclination they they cannot tell him how he must go about upholding and adhering to the law. So long as the statutes are followed, the governor is free to act as he wishes. However, the court did find that in placing the special election separate from the rest of the national elections that the governor was in violation of the law.

RightOfCenter · 09-19-08, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GottaHurt

I'm going out on a limb here, this thread is bigger than the scandal.

Heh, you're right about that.