This is… endlessly fascinating.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers, No. 2 in seniority in the House, lost his appeal Friday to get on the August primary ballot after Michigan election officials found problems with the Democrat’s nominating petitions.
The Secretary of State’s office affirmed a decision by Detroit-area election officials to keep Conyers off the ballot.
But the decision does not necessarily end Conyers’ 50-year career in Congress as his campaign manager has said Conyers would mount a write-in effort if necessary in the heavily Democratic district.
But I have a serious question: John Conyers is 85 years old. He’s been doing this for fifty years. His district will almost undoubtedly elect another Democrat. Why doesn’t he just… go home and sit in the sun?
Via Hot Air Headlines.
Q: “Why doesn’t he just… go home and sit in the sun?”
A: “Because he wants to usurp John McCain as the poster boy for term limits?”
Conyers is being retired against his will.
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That’s why, despite Conyers being a Dem and a Civil Rights Veteran, the usual “dogs” aren’t “barking”, eh?
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If I had to *guess*, given some of the history, this is because Conyers was not given as much of a choice over who’s next in line as he would like….
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Mew
That’s what I figured when I first heard about it. The guy’s been doing this for 50 years and all of a sudden his organization hired ineligible canvassers? Doesn’t seem likely.
Although quite frankly I’m surprised he didn’t have enough poll workers out there to get 2-3x the number of signatures, just in case. Then again, that lack could be caused by the same thing.
He got something like twice the required number, but .. not enough survived the challenge.
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The existence of the challenge, from another Dem, is why I am calling this a “forced retirement”. Any resemblance to how Barack Obama got elected to the statehouse is purely coincidental …
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Mew
I read he needed 1000 and had about 1400. My point was I would have had that 2x or more: 2000+, not 1400.
BTW, the latest news–which I have been expecting all along–is who cares about the law.
As Insty (where I saw this) pointed out, a Republican in Michigan was kept off the ballot in 2012 for the same reason.
At any rate, whatever the numbers were, the article I linked said more than half his signatures were invalidated. Maybe I misread it and 1400 were invalidated, not that he had 1400? Anyway, he’s a Democrat, and he apparently either didn’t piss someone off, or he managed to bribe enough people to get back in someone’s good graces, and he’s now going to be allowed to ignore the law.
Laws are for the little people.
Not for the likes of congresscritters, judges, AGs, or Presidents.
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Tar. Feathers. Rail. Some assembly required.
Luke, laws are for Congresscritters when they’re Republicans.
“Why doesn’t he just… go home and sit in the sun?”
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Because he’s got nowhere else to go.
BTW, Conyers got some other judge to override the first judge. Apparently, he’s back on the ballot.
For the record, the opinion allowing Conyers on the ballot was issued by Detroit federal Judge Matthew Leitman. Leitman was appointed by Obama two months ago and confirmed totally without any opposition, 98-0. One has to wonder what the price of that appointment was.
The opinion was that 1) for the state to require voter registration [and therefore confirmed addresses and ID for petition circulators] was a violation of their free speech rights, and 2) that as long as there was a “good faith intent” to collect valid signatures, strict adherence to the letter of the law was not required.
In passing, I mention former long time Republican Representative Thad McCotter of Michigan. In 2012, he was held to the strict letter of the law on his petitions by the courts, and he is a former Representative. Funny how that works.
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