Perry calls special election for DeLay's unexpired term

[Rose Siding]

AUSTIN — Republican Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday called a Nov. 7 special election to temporarily fill the seat left vacant when former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay resigned.

DeLay, a Republican whose term would have expired in January, resigned in June. The winner of the special election will fill the Houston-area seat until January. Anyone can still file for candidacy in the special election, which happens the same day as the general election.

In the general election, Democrat Nick Lampson is the Democrat candidate, and Republicans have thrown their support behind Houston city councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs as a write-in candidate after the courts refused DeLay's efforts to remove his name from the ballot.

Because both elections are on the same day, there's a chance Lampson and Sekula-Gibbs could appear on both ballots. That means one of them could win both elections, taking over after the election and remaining in office for a two-year term starting in January.

"Because there were a lot of maneuverings in the court on the Delay question on what could happen with that election, that had to play out then we reviewed all the legal requirements and options," said Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_DeLays_Replacement.html

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Isn't that illegal?

Another Rethuglican maneuver to get Sekula-Gibbs to appear as a Rethuglican candidate instead of a write-in?

Hopefully TX Democrats will get the courts to reject the special election call (as it is far too late)

[AlamoDemoc]

7. more like fascism IMO

[merwin]

11. Considering that there's already a regular election for that seat

scheduled on that date, I can't see how this will hold up.

[Javaman]

16. Nothing is beyond helmet head.

Read up on his history and you will see this is more crooked bullshit from the hair club for men poster child.

perry isn't a dick, he's just another temporary disposable water carrier.

once moron* is out of office, they will dump perry and try to get in a real fascist in.

[Thoreau-Ly]

28. Yes, File Federally Immediately

This violates civil and voting rights.

If the Democrats don't, then they are as dumb as we are desperate for them not to be.

[DirtyJersey]

41. No it's not

Corzine did the same thing here in NJ with Menendez's vacated seat.

[Hawkeye-X]

44. Yeah, but SO close to the elections and candidates have been chosen

In this case, it is Lampson and DeLay (withdrew, now have to write in a candidate)

[ISUGRADIA]

2. What Garbage

"Because there were a lot of maneuverings in the court on the Delay question on what could happen with that election, that had to play out then we reviewed all the legal requirements and options,"

Bullshit. There was nothing that prevented them from filling this seat with a special election months ago. Now they want this woman's name on the ballot any way they can.

[rmgarrette64]

22. Well, duh.

Of course they want her name on the ballot, and it appears they've found a way to do it. Assuming it passes legal muster, bully for them.

I hate to say it, but this is one area where I definitely part company with most of this board. I thought New Jersey got it right - the people deserve elections, and we should try to keep to the spirit of the rules on that. If it is at all possible, let both parties run candidates. I'll assume this is just an opening move on their part, and they'll find some way to also put her name in for the regular election.

Honestly, I hope they succeed.

Again, people deserve an election. Even when they choose wrong.

R. Garrett

[KingFlorez]

40. It's not legal

Delay pulled out the wrong way, now they can't get anyone on the ballot, that's the law rather you like it or not.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Changing election law during an election?

Nice try assholes. Where's Jim Baker to scream about the rule of law?

[Warpy]

4. Wow, all 6 months of it?

This is just another attempt to get a Repug into office, if only by forcing a Democrat to spend his campaign budget 2 months before the eclection on a special election that Gov. Goodhair didn't think was a priority a year ago when Delay's troubles started to snowball.

This is bogus.

Besides, it's not like this Congress is interested in doing anything but grandstanding on stupid right wing social issues.

[MaineDem]

17. Isn't it only for 2 months??? n/t

[Warpy]

20. The new congress doesn't take over until January

so there's about 6 months of his official term left.

Calling for a special election 2 months before the general election is just more Texas GOP dirty tricks. My guess is it will be tied up by lawyers by the end of the week.

[MaineDem]

21. But Nov - Jan is 2 months

Am I missing something here? The special election will be in November, right? So it will fill 2 months of the unexpired term.

[ronnykmarshall]

25. The election will take place w/ the general.

So yes, there is only 2 months left in the term.

[Lochloosa]

26. And congress goes home in December. So it will amount

to only 1 month.

[ronnykmarshall]

31. I know, huh?

Isn't this plain stoooooopid??

If they wanted to fill the seat, asshole Perry should have called a special election when Bug Man resigned.

[MaineDem]

37. Thanks, that's what I thought

Still seems crazy to me.

[LiberalFighter]

39. Another way to look at it...

should the Democratic candidate win the special election he would have more seniority than someone newly elected in the general election.

[PATRICK]

5. I'd like to see the clever details of this one

Common sense would dictate that if the Governor desires the special appointment by election, there already IS an election in place that would serve that purpose. What is the special reason to double up and attempt to deny the people's choice for the full term plus the six months if not simply and wholly as an end run on their botched GOP candidacy? This is multiplying, at taxpayers' expense, maneuvers to subvert the current bad situation in order to POSSIBLY scrounge one temporary GOP House vote to stem, temporally albeit, the Dem avalanche. That is a party and national issue, not a burden to be imposed on the state. And it is either that or specious if the Dem wins both GOP screwed over elections.

But then this is Texas and the Code of Delay. Lord spare our state from such slippery miscreants.

BTW, what happens to the vacancy if delay does not make it to January? Does the elected dem for the next term get an automatic fill in job or does the seat just go vacant because there is no time for a full election?

[Pab Sungenis]

6. This won't help Sekula-Gibbs at all.

In fact, it might hurt her.

If Nick's name appears on the ballot twice, and hers appears only once, the Republicans might think they only have to pull the lever for her on the special election, not write her in on the two-year term line.

[alfredo]

10. Here's what the republicans will do.

They will try to confuse voters by saying if you voted for Lampson in the regular, you can't vote for him in the special and vice versa. They may be trying to split his vote between two races. Remember her name will only be on the ballot in one race.

[skids]

12. Lampson needs to do this:

Start placing ads where he says "Vote for me! Twice!"

[merwin]

13. That would be hilarious

[alfredo]

19. Lampson needs to call them on this. They are trying to split

his vote. He's got to make it crystal clear what they are trying to do and how to defeat their underhanded tactics.

[onehandle]

8. GOP = Technical Cheats.

Not to mention Real Cheats.

[aquart]

9. Is somebody gonna tell the Statesman

That Nick Lampson is the Democratic candidate, not the Democrat candidate? Nasty Republican publication, obviously.

[SoCalDem]

14. What a JOKE..

and a huge waste of money.. There is no way this is even necessary.. If you are stupid enough to elect a crook, and he gets busted, you just "play a man-down"..(like hockey or soccer)

[drm604]

15. Major voter confusion.

This will lead to major confusion for voters, but I still don't see how it will help the Repubs. They'll continue to have control of the house for those few months either way and their write-in candidate will still lose in the general election even if she were to win the special election.

How are they going to educate people to vote for her twice - once the normal way and once a write-in? Certainly the confusion could also affect Lampson but even if this splits his vote between the two elections it will also split Sekula-Gibbs and her split will go almost completely to the special election. People who don't understand (most voters) won't even consider writing in someone who's already on the ballot. This seems almost petulant. Maybe they're planning to use this to somehow manipulate the vote count, but I can't imagine how.

Maybe the plan is to try to use voter confusion as an argument in a legal challenge if (I should say when) they lose the general election - after they themselves caused the confusion! I wouldn't put it past them.

One more thing: what genius chose someone named "Shelley Sekula-Gibbs" as a write-in candidate? I can just imagine all the legal wrangling over how correct the spelling has to be.

[MaineDem]

18. BINGO!

"Maybe the plan is to try to use voter confusion as an argument..."

Voter confusion is guarnateed here. Ont he surface it seems like this is the plan and it's what the GOP is counting on.

It's ridiculous!

[drm604]

23. It's an act of desperation.

It's seems like they're grasping at straws.

At least I hope that's the case. I can see one possible plan - do anything they can to throw the results into the courts, then have a friendly (or bought or blackmailed) judge find some convoluted way to rule in their favor. I think the Dems need to be very careful here. After the Busby, Bilbray ruling it's obvious we can't trust the courts to protect us.

[progressoid]

27. Interesting thought about the write-in..

How accurate does your spelling have to be to get your vote counted? I'm guessing anythng with an S or a G will get counted in Delayland.

[yellowcanine]

47. I believe the rule is "voter intent" so there is a lot of room at the inn.

"Shaqueal Gibson" would likely pass muster though "Tom Delay" likely would not.

[bigluckyfeet]

30. I Just Wrote

that snake Perry.It was not nice.

[0007]

38. Captain hair & junior


Looks like love to me!

[Doremus]

52. Capt. Hair? The one on the left or the one with a toupe growing in his ear

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[w4rma]

24. They wanted their naive Republican donors to contribute to DeLay's lawyer

fund. But they didn't want the donors to know this. They tricked the donors into believing it was for DeLay's election.

[McCamy Taylor]

29. Huh? Who is in his seat now? Why not hold the special election now?

[onenote]

34. its vacant

I tried parsing the Texas election law regarding the filling of vacancies in the House of Representatives, but to be honest, its damn near incomprehensible. But basically, I don't think that they could hold the special election before the next general election at this point (whether that was true at the time Delay resigned may be another matter, or maybe not..I couldn't really make sense of the damn law). The one thing that did appear to be clear was that the decision to announce a special election had to be made this week or it would be too late. (The special election has to be announced 90 days in advance, I believe)

[tinrobot]

32. This will ensure that the Repugs show up at the polls

With only a write-in candidate in the general, droves of Repugs will stay home.

Put someone on the special election ballot and at least people will turn out and perhaps write-in the GOP candidate in the general.

[Senator]

33. Perry Admits GOPers Unlikely to Recall "Sekula-Gibbs" at Crunchtime

He's just being practical.

The flying monkey right has been well-trained to show Pavlovian disdain for "those feminazi dash names." And what with the first half sounding at least vaguely "of terrorist lineage," they concluded that spending taxpayer dollars for an official "cheat sheet" is the prudent way to go.

I only wish I were kidding.

--

[grizmaster]

43. That was my guess

The idiot sheeple can't spell so this way they can just copy the name from the ballot onto the write-in line. Talk about lowest common denominator.

[DallasNE]

35. This And Other Election Silliness

This I see as a big boost to TX-22 Republicans. The ballot confusion (needing to vote twice) will be greater for Democrats than Republicans plus it shows the name Republicans need to write in. There is room for hanky-panky as well. Texas law, like most states, specify "voter intent". You can be sure voter intent will be very liberal. Write-in candidates are not counted when the straight party ticket box is market but you can be sure that if somebody marks straight party and writes in a name that the write-in will count anyway. It could even extend to voting straight party on the regular ballot and marking for the Republican on the special election ballot as also a vote for that candidate on the regular ballot.

For the other election silliness you need to check out Bradblog on the Bilray/Busby recount court decision.

<http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3353>

[Recursion]

36. Well played...

Finally, a repuke pulls his tactical head out of his a$$... let's just hope more of them don't.

[DWilliamsamh]

42. I know this is not going to be a popular position but.....

First I agree that this is a naked maneuver to get a Republican name on a ballot for Senator other than the exterminator. But the fact is there will only be Delay and Lampson on the Ballot for the Congressional term starting in January. Even if the Republican wins the interim seat, Lampson takes over in January. There's really no need for hand ringing.

But what could possibly be "illegal" about this? The basic right of the people of the district in question to be represented in Congress doesn't change just because Delay is a scumbag who had to resign his office because he is under criminal indictment. There are a couple months of "business" left to be done in this Congress. I doubt one thing of substance will actually get done but that's beside the point.

Do I think they could and probably should have held the special election earlier? Sure. They are scumbags for waiting and pulling this maneuver, but I can't see why it would be illegal. Democrats in Texas would do well not to set themselves as the party that doesn't want that district to be represented in congress - even if only for a few months. I think THAT would be a blunder.

[yellowcanine]

45. If Lampson appears twice on the ballot it will confuse voters. They

may vote for him once to fill out the unexpired term and not realise they will have to vote for him again for the new term. Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act a covered jurisdiction (and Texas is) must "preclear" voting changes that might result in discrimination against minorities. The covered jurisdiction has the burden of proof to demonstrate that the proposed voting change does not discriminate. Having someone's name appear twice on a ballot for the same office would certainly appear to qualify as a change that might be confusing enough so as to discriminate against a "language minority group."


"Section 5 of the Act requires that the United States Department of Justice "preclear" any attempt to change a voting standard in a "covered jurisdiction." A covered jusidiction that seeks to obtain Section 5 preclearance, either from the Attorney General or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, must demonstrate that a proposed voting change does not have the purpose and will not have the effect of discriminating based on race or color. In some cases, they must also show that the proposed change does not have the purpose or effect of discriminating against a "language minority group." Membership in a language minority group includes “persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives or of Spanish heritage.” The burden of proof under current Section 5 jurisprudence is on the covered jurisdiction to establish that the proposed change does not have a retrogressive purpose.<6>

Covered jurisdictions may not implement voting changes without federal preclearance."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act#Jurisdictions_that_must_be_precleared

[Ravy]

48. Maybe a better issue... How does Lampson's name get on that ballot?

How does one become a candidate for that special two-month vacancy? Perhaps some strategic thinking Democrat from that district will come to a realization that getting hundreds of names supplied on that ballot may be a great move. What happens if no one gets over 50% of the vote for that two month vacancy?

I can think of *many* who would like to tell their grandchildren that they were a US Representative, even for just a few months. I assume whoever gets that seat would get special healthcare benefits for those two months... that should be a draw right there. Are there any other special privlidges that an ex-congressman gets? Government pension?

Personally, I would go after a lot of people with hypenated names, but put as many people on that special ballot as I could.

[DWilliamsamh]

50. LOL ... I LOVE that idea... Wonder if it could happen? (n/t)

[PhilipDC]

49. If Lampson appears twice on the ballot it will confuse voters. They

This isn't a voting change. Perry is following Texas law for special elctions. It may be silly to finally fill the seat for what amounts to about a month (after leaving it vacant since the spring) but there is nothing illegal about it.

[DWilliamsamh]

51. Good point ... but that's just a scummy tactic... Not Illegal

Again I say - I expect scummy tactics from Republican thugs - but it's is a hard ball tactic that needs to be countered. That doesn't make it illegal.

[Supersedeas]

46. a wise investment of taxpayer dollars...hmm...what is the urgency?!?