To few people's surprise, neither the South Carolina Legislature or Senate were able to pass a bill to correct the stupidity of the SEI requirement for a paper copy. As stupid as it is, it is pretty clearly stated in it that that is the rule. So, even though it was not brought up by Jakie Knotts' lackeys to the SC Supreme Court, the court's job is to rule on the law, not to rule how 'things ought to be'. That is the job of the elected officials, and they are the ones that failed. Twice. First by nor correcting the snafu when it was written, and the second time this week. It is an obvious mistake, and how a few members were unable to fix it is beyond us. Do we think there are some in Columbia that thought 'why should I allow a challenge to my seat, when I can kill it today'? Unfortunately, yes....
Left with little other choice, the 200 plus challengers are left with one choice - to get on the ballot by petition for November. They won't have the Republican or Democratic symbol by their name, but at least they'll be there. However, getting 5% of the registered voters in their area to sign the petition isn't the easiest thing, but it is workable. It takes organization to do it, and a solid plan. One group has set up to do that, but we're not 100% sure it's the right group to be in front on this.
The campaign is called Operation Lost Vote, and it's an effort of the RINO Hunt Group, headed by Harry Kibler from the Upstate area (where else?). Why do we have questions? Well, for starters, we question everything. However, there are other obvious questions we have. First off, in their website mission statement, they incorrectly blame this on the SC Supreme Court. Though Knotts' complaint didn't bring up the paper copy, the Court's job is to interpret the entire law, which it did - and correctly so. Don't hate the court for ruling against you. Hate the politicians for not writing the bill right or fixing it, for the Election Commission for not advising correctly, and for the State Parties for blindly following the wrong directives, in that order. If you can't even interpret the ruling correctly, I'm not sure I want to follow you guys...
Secondly, the RINO Hunt group hits us not as group that wants to get all the challengers back on the ballot - just the ones that they want on it. RINO is a flexible term - too flexible to us. Go in the dictionary or the GOP handbook, and show us a clear definition of what a RINO is. We foresee not every single Republican getting signatures, but a select few. For example, Florence County without a doubt to us will have their GOP challengers taken off the ballot. I've advised Bill Pickle of my opinion of that, and I'm not sure it registered. Is Operation Lost Vote going to help them?
Yeah, we are staunch Republicans, but the fairest way to do this is to get EVERYONE back on the ballot - and by everyone, we mean everyone. Even Democrats. When things went sour in the State House, our first thought was to organize all the county parties together - both Democrats and Republicans - to set up booths at various locations to get these challengers who were unfairly treated, and get them ALL petitioned. Picture Tea Party activists, League Women Voters and the local NAACP chapters lining people up, with the request that they sign the petitions for ALL the challengers? Wouldn't that be something?? A petition signature isn't like a vote, where you can only do one,and it's legal...
I wished it were the SCGOP and SCDP handling this, but no one has come forth to do it, so it's being done by subgroups. Maybe at tomorrow's introduction, they'll put all of this to rest.... However, I'm afraid it's going to be a totally anti-GOP incumbent effort, who's only purpose is to get RINO's like Knotts punched out in November. My advice is this: if you think this rule is unfair, then it is unfair to all the challengers, then apply the remedy to all of them. It's the right thing to do, and it would show the fed up voters that both parties can come together for the good of the people. No, we're not holding our breath either, but all it takes is a phone call to the other party...
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4 comments:
It's amazing how these so-called strict constructionists want to bend the laws when it suits them. So much for no man being above the law.
Be careful when extremists of either party have their way.
Laws are made by man and as such are subject to his whim and change. Many of the candidates that will try get signatures will fail and those that do garner enough will find it difficult to win. The biggest winners out of this are incumbents and democrats. SC wont be a solid red state after this fiasco.
Agreed, Anon.. The challengers will have a tough road ahead. The only question I have is about the Red State status. Since SC has solid majorities in both houses, and many challengers got knocked out, 2012 looks safe for the GOP. Is 2014 what you're referring to? That I could agree with. Like many politicians, they are worrying about today, and not thinking about tomorrow..
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