Author Archives: J Christian Adams

Pennsylvania Senate heading to final vote on Photo ID

The state Senate Wednesday takes up a bill that would require residents to show valid photo identification before voting.  The proposal has the backing of leaders in the Republican-controlled House and of Gov. Tom Corbett, meaning it could be at least partly in place when Pennsylvanians head to the polls for the April 24 primary.

Democrats, organized labor, the NAACP and the AARP oppose it.

link here.

Judge who blocked Wisconsin Voter ID law signed Walker recall petition

and his wife circulated the petition. If Governor Walker is actually a named defendant, this really raises issues of conflict of interest.  And if that isn’t enough, the paragraph from the story raises more eyebrows as the Judge had apparently hired a former advisor of Walker’s recall opponent as his campaign manager.

The Republican Party of Wisconsin said it will file a complaint with the Wisconsin Judicial Commission. The party also said it will look into Flanagan listing Melissa Mulliken, a former adviser to Kathleen Falk, as his campaign manager on his official website. Falk is planning to run against Walker in a possible recall.

link here.

Member Backlash to Philly Bar Opposition to Voter ID

Ooops.  The Phiadelphia Bar Association got involved in something they shouldn’t have – opposition to voter ID.  Members are not happy.  The lobbying email from the Philly Bar to members reads:

“This week, the PA Senate is expected to consider HB 934 – the Voter ID Bill. If enacted, this legislation would require all citizens, except for those with religious objections, to produce a photo identification card in order to vote.

The effect of the legislation would be to keep thousands of otherwise eligible Pennsylvania citizens from voting.

A recent study conducted by the [convicted felon George Soros Funded, ELC addition] Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law shows that 11% of U.S. citizens lack photo ID. Disproportionately, those without photo ID tend to be elderly, minority, indigent or disabled citizens.


The Philadelphia Bar Association urges you to contact your State Senator through the Legislative Action Center to express your opposition to House Bill 934 as an unnecessary impediment to the exercise of a citizen’s right to vote.”

We have obtained one of the emails from angry members to Philadelphia Bar Chancellor John Savoth.

It states the Philadelphia Bar email:


“is absolutely offensive — and the hysterical re line is an insult to the intelligence of the reader.  


 


Pennsylvania needs voter ID laws — as a citizen and a voter — I want to make sure that someone who shows up to vote is the person he claims to be– why not require ID?


 


The lament that minority, elderly, indigent or disabled citizens do not have ID simply is not credible.  
 


If the Philadelphia Bar Association wants to be a front for the Democratic Party’s ideals, so be it.  However, please understand that I am a member of the bar and I do not share the position so cavalierly spread across the email list presuming that every bar member is jumping on this bandwagon. Additionally, please make sure these hyperbolic emails are better edited.  With a re line of “Your Action Needed Now to Preserve the Right to Vote,” I thought maybe there were men in militia uniforms outside of a polling place intimidating voters with billy clubs and the email was a call to arms for the bar to rush to the aid of voters.  Oh wait — that did happen and the Obama Justice Department dismissed the matter.  http://dailycaller.com/2010/09/14/philadelphia-needs-to-get-serious-about-preventing-election-fraud/ “

Howard Simon of FL ACLU Makes Up Laws



Howard Simon of the Florida American Civil Liberties Union has been caught telling fibs.  He told the “Florida Independent,” a web publication funded by the convicted felon George Soros, that the ACLU opposes a law which does not exist:

Howard Simon, the executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement that it is unsurprising that the DOJ has publicly expressed concerns over Florida’s law and is now attempting to intervene.  “No one, including Governor Scott, should be surprised that the Department of Justice has determined that key provisions of the Voter Suppression Act of 2011 can make it harder to register to vote and harder to vote,” Simon said. “The ACLU and others have said that to the Legislature, to the Secretary of State, to the U.S. Senate, to the Justice Department and to three different federal courts.”

The “Voter Suppression Act of 2011″ doesn’t exist.  Howard Simon made up that name.  There is no Florida bill named the “Voter Suppression Act of 2011.”  If Simon was being flip, and expected everyone to get the joke, then consider the actual law being challenged by the ACLU.  The law requires third party registration groups to turn in voter registration forms in a timely fashion so voters who sign them aren’t disenfranchised.  It also changes early voting dates, keeping the same number of aggregate hours.  This is the “voter suppression” that the Florida ACLU and the United States Department of Justice has seen fit to spend thousands of dollars attacking. 

Here’s today’s howler: “He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota in legal and political philosophy and social ethics. Prior to his appointment as Executive Director of the Florida affiliate of the ACLU in 1997, Simon served as Executive Director of the Michigan affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union since 1974.  Prior to his work with the ACLU, he taught philosophy at the University of Minnesota and was a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at DePauw University in Indiana.” 

I suppose it is good thing that one fewer “political philosophy and social ethics professor” who makes things up is no longer teaching college students.




 

DOJ in Cincinnatti (OH) Today

Federal observers are monitoring election is Cincinnatti, Ohio, today.  This account says they are there to “observe voters for irregularities in provisional balloting.”  It is unclear which federal statute is at issue in regards to “irregularities in provisional balloting.”  Hamilton County is not a state where federal observers are automatically allowed, so it is also unclear why Sally Krisel, director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections is allowing them to be there.

One thing is for sure, the observers are there at the request of Rep. Alicia Reece, D-Cincinnati.