how does this work? (senator select burris)

[TrophyHusband 0]

i am unclear on what is going on with senator select burris and hopefully someone more familiar with illinois and federal law can explain it to me. reguardless of the allegations against blago, so far he ha been convicted of nothing nor has he been impeached. he still has the power to pick the senator right? if i have this right, some one in illinois (the attorny general?) has to certify this, but does that person have the authority to deny certification for any other reason than the selectee not being constitutionally eligable?

and the on to the senate. they have to confirm the appointment, but how can they just decide not to confirm? if i understand things correctly, the supreme court has already ruled in another case that the senate can only decide whether or not a person is constitutionally eligable.

on meet the press yesterday, harry reid had this to say, " We determine who sits in the Senate, and the House determines who sits in the House. So there's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to. This goes back for generations." is this really true? how can anyone but a state pick who sits in representation of that state? however this is handled, the person should be chosen by the state of illinois according to their laws, and definately not by the representatives of other states.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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i am unclear on what is going on with senator select burris and hopefully someone more familiar with illinois and federal law can explain it to me. reguardless of the allegations against blago, so far he ha been convicted of nothing nor has he been impeached. he still has the power to pick the senator right? if i have this right, some one in illinois (the attorny general?) has to certify this, but does that person have the authority to deny certification for any other reason than the selectee not being constitutionally eligable?

and the on to the senate. they have to confirm the appointment, but how can they just decide not to confirm? if i understand things correctly, the supreme court has already ruled in another case that the senate can only decide whether or not a person is constitutionally eligable.

on meet the press yesterday, harry reid had this to say, " We determine who sits in the Senate, and the House determines who sits in the House. So there's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to. This goes back for generations." is this really true? how can anyone but a state pick who sits in representation of that state? however this is handled, the person should be chosen by the state of illinois according to their laws, and definately not by the representatives of other states.

Yes, it seems that if Reid's view was true to the extreme they would simply vote not to seat any Republicans.

[micro 0]

i don't see how reid et al could possibly stop the legal seating of burris in the senate. according to some constitutional lawyers whose opinions i've read, reid et al may not like it, but they really can't do anything to stop it. however, they can make burris' life in the senate hell and rather impotent as a senator. that will continue to disenfranchise the people of illinois, who have already been paying for having retarded leadership for a long time.

my question is why would burris WANT this? why would you want this to be your legacy? I mean the man is old! this will likely be his last hurrah!

and one other thing... bobby rush just needs to shut the f*ck up. This is NOT a racial issue. him pulling the race card all the time about this just makes me see red. argh!

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[NWFlyer 2]

At the moment, the Senate is using its own rules to refuse to seat him, though the reason they can enforce that rule is that the Illinois Secretary of State has sided with Senate Democrats:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/05/burris/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

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Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson has rejected Roland Burris' appointment to the Senate, an aide to the secretary told CNN.

Erickson rejected Burris' appointment because his certificate of appointment was missing the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, the aide said Monday.

Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate states that the secretary of state must sign the certificate of election along with the governor.

White has declined to sign the certificate, siding with some Senate Democrats who say Burris should not be seated because of the cloud over Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[micro 0]

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At the moment, the Senate is using its own rules to refuse to seat him, though the reason they can enforce that rule is that the Illinois Secretary of State has sided with Senate Democrats:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/05/burris/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

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Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson has rejected Roland Burris' appointment to the Senate, an aide to the secretary told CNN.

Erickson rejected Burris' appointment because his certificate of appointment was missing the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, the aide said Monday.

Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate states that the secretary of state must sign the certificate of election along with the governor.

White has declined to sign the certificate, siding with some Senate Democrats who say Burris should not be seated because of the cloud over Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat.

So White won't sign the form, Buriss will file suit and the battle begins... lord have mercy. Here we go. SCOTUS, get ready, here they come!

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[billvon 3,120]

>the person should be chosen by the state of illinois . . .

I agree, and would extend that to Minnesota as well.

[kelpdiver 2]

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So White won't sign the form, Buriss will file suit and the battle begins... lord have mercy. Here we go. SCOTUS, get ready, here they come!

This is why each state needs clear rules and processes, either for appointments, or for removal of their governor.

[TrophyHusband 0]

so does white have the authority to refuse to sign? if all these people who have to sign off on it just refuse to do so until an appointee that they approve of comes along, doesn't that effectively remove appointment authority from the governor? i'm just trying to find out of there's any legal standing here or if everyone is just grandstanding. the "you can't be in our club" mentallity from the senate is just disgusting.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[TrophyHusband 0]

is someone outside of minnesota getting involved there as well?

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[billvon 3,120]

>is someone outside of minnesota getting involved there as well?

Yes. Minnesota announced that they will certify the election for Franken today. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he will not accept that, and will push for a filibuster if the Senate tries to seat Franken.

[TrophyHusband 0]

that's bullshit. these guys in the senate need to be knocked down a peg. they seem to have long forgotten why they are there. outside of that, it still isn't over for minnesota either. there's still another lawsuit to be filed.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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so does white have the authority to refuse to sign? if all these people who have to sign off on it just refuse to do so until an appointee that they approve of comes along, doesn't that effectively remove appointment authority from the governor? i'm just trying to find out of there's any legal standing here or if everyone is just grandstanding. the "you can't be in our club" mentallity from the senate is just disgusting.

If the Secretary of State's signature is required there is an assumption that there is a purpose to that requirement. Either that they have a political veto (unlikely) or that they are certifying that the appointment is legal (more likely). If the latter is so then by withholding it she is asserting that the appointment is not legal. My guess is that the presumptive appointee (not the appointee until the signature is present) has no standing to challenge her decision, the governor would have to. The courts are in fact the right place for this to go as it is a political turf war.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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>is someone outside of minnesota getting involved there as well?

Yes. Minnesota announced that they will certify the election for Franken today. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he will not accept that, and will push for a filibuster if the Senate tries to seat Franken.

My guess is that he will not get support from his GOP colleagues. This is not a vote getter.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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outside of that, it still isn't over for minnesota either. there's still another lawsuit to be filed.

And that is the correct place for that fight.

[micro 0]

As old as it is, your sig line continues to make me laugh (yes I remember "the scrotum episode")

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[lawrocket 3]

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>is someone outside of minnesota getting involved there as well?

Yes. Minnesota announced that they will certify the election for Franken today. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he will not accept that, and will push for a filibuster if the Senate tries to seat Franken.

For mor eon the story - apparently, under Minnesota law, it takes seven days to certify the election and get the Sec of State's signature. Here's the kicker - Reid in planning on swearing in Franken tomorrow.

So, Reid says, "We aren't swearing Burris in - there's no Sec of State signature. But we're swearing in Franken - we don't need a signature."

Things are subject to change, of course.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[lawrocket 3]

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>is someone outside of minnesota getting involved there as well?

Yes. Minnesota announced that they will certify the election for Franken today. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he will not accept that, and will push for a filibuster if the Senate tries to seat Franken.

Not quite the whole story. It'll take 7 days to get the election certified by the Sec of State in Minnesota. But Reid has stated his intention to seat Franken tomorrow, anyway. He's talking out of both sides of his mouth.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[billvon 3,120]

>apparently, under Minnesota law, it takes seven days to certify the
>election and get the Sec of State's signature. Here's the kicker - Reid in
>planning on swearing in Franken tomorrow.

Why is that a kicker? It takes at least seven days, but this time it took over two months. They finally certified it today. Which is fine; they get to decide how long it takes, how to do the recount and when to certify the results. It's their state.

[billvon 3,120]

>It'll take 7 days to get the election certified by the Sec of State in Minnesota.

The results of the election have been certified. The final counts, per the Minnesota Canvassing Board, are Franken 1,212,431 and Coleman 1,212,206.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

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>It'll take 7 days to get the election certified by the Sec of State in Minnesota.

The results of the election have been certified. The final counts, per the Minnesota Canvassing Board, are Franken 1,212,431 and Coleman 1,212,206.

So the question is, is the Sec o' State's signature present on the document or not?

[rushmc 23]

For what it is worth......

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Among the many assertions in the RNLA report:


The canvas — a process to resubmit the vote totals from election night from local precincts to a central location -- found errors favoring Franken so statistically improbable that statisticians are questioning the officials in several counties.


During the recount an election official said that an error resulted in Franken losing votes when a precinct double counted some votes on election night. But after pressure from Democrats led the official to change her story, the Mark Ritchie-led Canvassing Board decided that the recount would instead use the Election Day total, which was more favorable to Franken.


A Ramsey County precinct ended up with 177 more ballots than there were recorded votes on Election Night. In that case, the board decided to go with the extra ballots, rather than the Election Night total, even though the county is now showing more ballots than voters in the precinct. This gave Mr. Franken a net gain of 37 votes.


Double votes were counted for Franken. Damaged ballots couldn't be fed through optical scanners, and under Minnesota law, election judges must copy such ballots, mark the copies as duplicates and count them, and keep the originals. Coleman argued that both originals and duplicates made it into the recount, and his attorneys went to court when the Canvassing Board ruled against him on those ballots.


On rejected absentee ballots, Franken refused “to meaningfully participate in the process to review them,” according to the RNLA, while the Secretary of State’s office sought to “disenfranchise military voters.”


Incoming National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Texas Senator John Cornyn declared: "Al Franken is falsely declaring victory based on an artificial lead created on the back of the double counting of ballots. His campaign's actions in the last several days on the issues of rejected absentee ballots are creating additional chaos and disorder in the Minnesota recount.”


Senate Rules Chair Charles Schumer of New York was quoted as saying: "With the Minnesota recount complete, it is now clear that Al Franken won the election … and while there are still possible legal issues that will run their course, there is no longer any doubt who will be the next Senator from Minnesota." The RNLA asserts that Schumer “should recuse himself from any Senate Rules Committee hearings on the race.”

The RNLA quotes a Minnesota-based Republican blogger: “The bottom line is that the recount has shown how flawed the election process is in Minnesota and a legal challenge to the recount process will provide further important analysis on how we can strengthen the integrity of our elections.

“Team Franken is filled with east-coast transplants and Washington D.C. staffers who parachuted into Minnesota to work on Franken’s campaign. I don’t believe they have any credible connection to Minnesotan and therefore won’t concern themselves with Minnesota voters being disenfranchised. They will trample the rights of voters without any hesitation to get Franken seated in the U.S. Senate.”

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[TrophyHusband 0]

i decided a long time ago that i would change it if either something better came along or i went to florida and skymama bribed me with beer. so far neither has happened.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[rehmwa 2]

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>the person should be chosen by the state of illinois . . .

I agree, and would extend that to Minnesota as well.

I don't want the state of Illiois selecting a Minnesota Senator either. I like it how it is, right now, where the people of California and New York and Illinois and D.C. select our Minnesota senator.

This particular recount is very dirty. Minnesota is a joke, an ex-wrestler and a (whatever the hell Franken is).

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[lawrocket 3]

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>It'll take 7 days to get the election certified by the Sec of State in Minnesota.

The results of the election have been certified. The final counts, per the Minnesota Canvassing Board, are Franken 1,212,431 and Coleman 1,212,206.

I stand corrected, bill. I thought it would take an ADDITIONAL seven days.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Andy9o8 2]

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Minnesota is a joke, an ex-wrestler and a (whatever the hell Franken is).

And the president most revered by the GOP since Ike (hell, since Abe) was a grade-B actor who, like Jesse the Body, as well as Ah-nold, pretty much moved from show biz to the Governor's mansion.