Election of Alabama lesbian overturned by committee

[WA98296]

http://pageoneq.com/news/2006/alabama_082406.html


The Democratic primary victory of Alabama lesbian Patricia Todd for a seat in the statehouse was overturned by a party committee tonight.The committee vote was 5-0. Had the committee not reversed the election, which Todd won by 59 votes, she would have become the first openly gay elected official in the state's history. No Republican has entered the race in the overwhelmingly Democratic district. Todd's race was to determine who would represent District 54 in Birmingham in the statehouse.

The committee disqualified Todd and her opponent, Gaynell Hendricks, because they had not filed a required campaign finance report on time. The same rule has been ignored by all candidates since 1988 and the Associated Press has reported that this year's party nominees for Governor and Lieutenant Governor have not filed the reports as well.

[AngryAmish]

1. geez, Alabama...

[mike_c]

2. this is shameful....

Utterly shameful.

[Pab Sungenis]

3. And yet there are people

who want to coddle and kowtow to this wing of our party. I can't stand it any longer.

[WA98296]

4. I hope that this is not the end of this matter. Clearly is discrimination.

[RethugAssKicker]

5. Fucking Alabaman racists !

[Ganja Ninja]

6. That would be the Democratic Party of Alabama.

:wtf: :eyes:

[htuttle]

12. Okay

Fucking Homophobic Alabama Democrats!

[Mnemosyne]

7. Not surprising, just sickening. They are probably afraid she's

friends with Hillary. The names I heard her called when I lived there in the 90's almost always reflected homophobic issues.

Beautiful state, but too much chosen ignorance to continue living there.

[obreaslan]

8. Alabama, find yourself another country to be part of!!!

Sorry for the bastardization to Phil Ochs, but this is ridiculous.

I hope they fight this all the way to the top. If anyone in this country's government had any cajones, they wouldn't let this stand. :grr:

[leesa]

9. Sounds like she can challenge it, there is precedence.

"Todd did turn in the finance report prior to the election. In a previous election, the state's highest court ruled that an election could not be overturned if the forms were turned in prior to election day, even if they were late."

[trof]

10. There's more to it than that.

I'm told the district is heavily black.
She is white.
Her opponent was a black woman.
Joe Reed, possibly the most powerful black Democrat in the state, has been pulling the strings on this one.

I still think it stinks, but I don't think is entirely a sexual preference thing. I believe her sexual orientation was known during the campaign.
Stay tuned for more on this.

You may now return to the regularly scheduled Alabama bashing.
Thank you.
:-)

[mike_c]

11. nonetheless, the voters in that district affirmed her as their choice....

One can argue that her opponent was perhaps more representative of the district in a demographic sense, but if that's the basis for choosing candidates, why bother with elections? In fact, she WAS the electorate's choice.

[trof]

14. I agree.

She won and she deserves to be on the ballot.
It's just there's there's more to this than her being lesbian.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

15. Well said.

From Huntsville

[enfield collector]

17. fucking alabama racists!

[trof]

13. update

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/115658383186160.xml&coll=2

A state Democratic Party panel may have decided to disqualify both runoff candidates for the House District 54 nomination, but more than a few party activists think the outcome was the design of party Vice Chairman Joe Reed.

For nearly 40 years, Reed has been one of the most formidable power brokers in Alabama, a driving force behind court cases and redistricting plans, raw power plays that have given Alabama among the nation's highest numbers of black elected officials. In the District 54 contest, he wrote a letter before the runoff urging black voters to support Gaynelle Hendricks and continue the district's black representation in Montgomery. Patricia Todd received 59 more votes in the July 18 runoff, but Hendricks' mother-in-law challenged the outcome.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. Sounds like the Dubya version of "democracy".

Democracy is a grand thing as long as the winner is the one the bosses like.