Thursday, February 14, 2008

Wow! What a Firestorm!

I just recieved and posted this comment...I felt as though it needed it's own space:

It's not about the individual candidates said...

It's not about the candidates -- it's about the system.

The problem is, Ken Davis' Monday night meeting at the T.K. Club was the only endorsement convention for the 17th District Senate Seat. Anything held after that night would be nothing but a sham.

There are important constitutional and statutory rights involved here.

Ken Davis deliberately excluded one third of the Committee people from the only 17th District Senate Seat endorsement convention. Even more importantly, a female candidate was not allowed to attend and was not placed on the only ballot for the 17th District Senate Seat GOP endorsement. Do the math -- approximately 50 female Committee people were excluded by Ken Davis when he excluded the DelCo committee people as half of the DelCo Committee people are women.

If a woman was on the 17th District Senate Seat ballot, there was a chance she would have garnered many votes from the women of the Montgomery County GOP Committee. Half of the MontCo GOP committee are women, after all. If she wasn't such a threat, then why did Ken Davis consider her a problem.

Well, we'll never know how a legitimate vote would have turned out. Ken Davis made sure of it, as his phone message posted on www.writemarsh.com makes clear.

(Listen carefully to how he refers to Lisa Paolino in that phone message)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is doubtful that Ken Davis is intellegent enough to perceive anyone as a threat - can it be said he just likes to get his own way?

As for Lisa being a threat to anyone, does she have that much play in her? Can it be said she just wants to get her own way too? Has anyone interviewed her on this? Or the endorsed candidate, Lance Rogers? Why is it we only hear from John Durante? Or Ken Davis whom we are all tired of hearing from? (it would probably be helpful to hear from ALL parties concerned, don't you think?)

Is it or is it not true that the way Delco chooses endorsements is slightly different than Montco? Something about committee people vs. area leaders vs. municipal leaders?

Look, didn't the people in Delco decide to do it this way? That's what people are saying.

Maybe you know if Delco Committee people have come to these things before and voted? When the meetings were over in PW?

In your message on your blog, Davis refers to her as a "problem" or "Judge's problem" - is it fair to say that is open to interpretation? As in defining problem? Has anyone from Delco endorsed her on any level?

What you are bringing to light is very important, so in any event you should be thanked for opening Pandora's Box. It takes courage.

Have a great night.

Anonymous said...

Listen to Ken Davis' phone message at:

http://writemarsh.blogspot.com/2008/02/process-doesnt-seem-legitimate.html

Anonymous said...

The question is not whether Lisa Paolino would have won.

The question is whether she had the right to be on the ballot for the 17th District Senate seat and whether her rights and the rights of all of the women on the Delaware County and Montgomery County GOP Committees were violated when Ken Davis deliberately excluded the only female candidate from the ballot and from the convention.

Ken Davis referred to Lisa Paolino as a "problem" and as "that... woman" in his phone message. (check out the phone message at http://writemarsh.blogspot.com/2008/02/process-doesnt-seem-legitimate.html)

Ken Davis made it clear that Lisa Paolino was deliberately excluded from the ballot and that he did not want Lisa Paolino to attend the 17th District Endorsement Convention. He also made it clear that he would throw out any Delaware County Committee People who showed up at the 17th District Senate Seat endorsement convention.

He had no right to do this. Let's look at the law:

The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are state actors under U.S. law. Neither party may issue rules designed to exclude a female candidate or a minority candidate in the nomination process. Such discrimination violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the United States Constitution.

The United States Supreme Court has rejected the argument that a “political party is not a ‘State or political subdivision’ within the meaning of Section 5” of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia, 517 U.S. 186 (1996).

The Supreme Court likewise stated that “We have previously recognized that Section 5 extends to changes affecting nomination processes other than the primary.” Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia, 517 U.S. 186 (1996).

A copy of the High Court’s Morse opinion can be viewed at Cornell Law School’s website at: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-203.ZO.html

Ken Davis should have allowed ALL of the 17th District Committee People decide who is the best candidate for the 17th District Senate Seat. He usurped the authority of the Committee People, and he once again has made the GOP look bad.

Let's remember -- Ken Davis did this in the name of the Republican Party, claiming to be acting on behalf of all Republicans.

Now it's time for all of the the Republican voters to let Ken Davis know that the party are its people and that WE decide.

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