Clinton Camp Calls for Explanation of Obama's Negative Politics
Posted: 25 Mar 2008 04:00 AM CDT
The Hill
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Ridgway gets the boot again in court
'Automatic delegates' win a round
A judge on Tuesday blocked an attempt by a Republican to force his party to follow party rules.
Judge Glenn Iwasaki of the 3rd District Court denied Mike Ridgway a temporary restraining order to stop the state and Salt Lake County Republican Party from appointing so-called "automatic delegates" to vote at the county and state conventions.
Delegates wield a lot of political power, because they decide which two candidates in a race advance to the primary or, if 60 percent or more support one candidate, make that person the party nominee in the general election.
But Ridgway isn't giving up yet.
"I have no choice in my mind but to continue to press forward," Ridgway said shortly after the denial. He said he believes the judge was sympathetic to his cause.
He said he will continue to push the court to stop the state and county Republican parties from "consistently" violating party rules against appointed delegates. Ridgway has challenged the practice at both state and party conventions for years.
Party leaders believe they aren't breaking any rules. However, they admit there is some "ambiguity" to the party's delegate appointment rules, State GOP Vice Chairman Todd Weiler said.
Weiler said the state party constitution leaves delegate allocation up to the county parties.
Appointed delegates are typically Republican elected officials, like the county surveyor and GOP legislators. Other appointed delegates include the county party officers and executive committee members.
In the past, Ridgway said, Republican party leaders and elected officials did not get automatic delegate status, and it shouldn't be any different now.
"When you start giving perks to high-level important people you corrupt the process," Ridgway said. "If you can't even choose your own representative to the state Legislature, because that choice is already made for you by party leaders ... then why do we live in America?"
Ridgway is already preparing for a future win. Tuesday night he urged all Republicans attending caucuses to vote on an extra state and county delegate, so everything is cleared up before state and county GOP conventions in May.
If a judge eventually rules in his favor, 58 precincts would get to vote for one more county and state delegate, he said.
Ridgway said the local automatic delegates are worse than the "travesty" the Democratic Party has with superdelegates, who can vote for any presidential candidate no matter who Average Joe Democrats vote for at the polls.
"In the Republican Party, it's not just a travesty, it's unethical because the bylaws don't let them do it," Ridgway said.
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
Monday, March 24, 2008
Attorney Peter Stirba on KSL's Nightside Project
US Supreme Court to hear Utah case.
Here is the link
http://nightside.ksl.com/?nid=29&sid=2927395
The Captain
Bayh Points to Electoral College Votes as New Measure
Posted: 23 Mar 2008 10:26 PM CDT
New York Times
Stirba and Associates to argue before the US Supreme Court
Supreme Court agrees to hear Utah case involving searches
The case from Utah also will test whether the officers who conducted the warrantless search may be sued by the person they arrest.
Six years ago, an informant contacted police to tell them he had arranged to purchase drugs from Afton Callahan at Callahan's trailer home. Wearing a microphone provided by police, the informant entered the trailer, made the deal and signaled police. They entered the trailer without a warrant and arrested Callahan for possession of methamphetamines.
Utah courts ruled that the evidence that was seized from Callahan's home could not be used against him. Other courts have allowed prosecutions to go forward under similar circumstances.
Callahan then sued the officers for violating his constitutional rights. A federal judge ruled the officers could not be sued because there is disagreement in the courts over whether the search is illegal.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver said the lawsuit could proceed because the officers should have known that people have a right in their home to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Even Billionaires like Mitt Romney have honey-do’s!
The Park City Home Depot crew and I just spent the last half hour or so helping Mitt Romney with some home repair projects. It’s not unusual for me to meet and help celebrity customers up at the Park City Home Depot, but because I’m a political junkie today was a special day. Mitt came in dressed in casual jeans and work shirt and needed some power tools to address some projects at his Park City Retreat. I guess the Romney's are celebrating Easter in Park City. We hooked him up with some Ryobi power tools and necessary hardware accessories. I left work around 4pm and walked out to the parking lot and we talked about the current situation in the presidential race. We shook hands and saw him get into a Black Jeep Cherokee. I have a white Cherokee and he followed me out of the parking lot. His car was not a new model, just like any other car. As I looked in my review mirror I was thinking to myself, man this guy was a serious candidate for President of the United States. In any event, all I can say was he was very nice and just a normal guy. Well this for sure made my day.
The Captain
Friday, March 21, 2008
Obama's Explanation Won't Fly in Long Run
Posted: 21 Mar 2008 01:44 AM CDT
In his hour of political need, Barack Obama went to his base -- the media. He delivered a speech about the nation's racial divisions that couldn't possibly get anything but lavish praise from the...
The Crapshoot of Presidential Politics
Posted: 20 Mar 2008 05:00 PM CDT
This week's detour into the murk of racial politics underlines that it's going to be a long, hard slog on the Democratic side. The next opportunity for Democrats to resolve their deadlock will come...
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