GOP lawmakers pay dearly to get Bush on ballot (Illinois)

SPRINGFIELD--In a delicious political irony, House Republicans were forced to go to great lengths Thursday to ensure that President Bush's name gets on the Illinois ballot next year -- and Mayor Daley's early- retirement package hung in the balance.

The price the House GOP paid to benefit Bush meant voting to spare Democrat Secretary of State Jesse White steep election fines. Plus, they had to agree to Democratic demands to permit the same type of flawed paper ballots to be counted in Illinois that Republicans fought against in Florida to hand Bush the 2000 presidency.

...

State law requires Bush be certified as a candidate in late August. But that is in doubt because his likely nomination comes Sept. 2 at the GOP convention in New York City, something national Republicans failed to consider when setting the convention date.

...

To waive the certification requirement for Bush, the House GOP pinched its nose and joined Democrats to pass an election package 84-21. Now in the Senate, the package would wipe away more than $900,000 in election fines to White and other officeholders and permit paper ballots with hanging or dimpled "chads" to be counted.

more: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-leg21.html


No BBV in Illinois!!! Hooray for paper ballots!!!

On edit: I just noticed that Bev Harris has a thread in GD about paper ballots possibly becoming mandated nationally... upon rereading the above article, it looks like the IL Dems knew that, and pushed for the hanging chads to be counted with this knowledge...
Bev's thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=748670&mesg_id=748670

for personal gain, Bush would not be on the ballot and therefore would have lost the state for sure. Instead, they traded for a handful of beans and we are the losers.

that he would have stayed off the ballot...all the reichwingers in Illinois would have rioted...trust me, paper ballots with bush on them is better than diebold anyday

Although I personally would have loved to see Bush off the ballot, the political system we have would not let that happen, sellout Dems or not. There's no way that most people would let a sitting president stay off the ballot. Sooner or later, someone was going to make a deal-- it was only a matter of how much the Dems could extort out of the Rethugs...

They wouldn't have screwed up the date in the first place.

:D

violated election law in several states in their attempt to further exploit 9/11 and EVERY one of them allowed it and actually made exceptions to allow chimp on the ballot.

courts. Don't be so hard on the Dems on this one.

"handful of beans" is a MOST appropriate term.
In fact, after reading the article I think the headline should've read "Out Of Power Republicans Best Dems".
This is the best they could do? They control both houses and the governor's office yet they roll over to make a $900,000 fine go away? To allow the counting of dimpled and hanging chads?
This is a joke, and I think this quote sums it up:

"I'm happy as a bipartisan person, as a leader on the Democratic side of the aisle, to make sure we have a fair election and let the president on the ballot," said Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), the election bill's House sponsor.

Disgusting!

It would have played badly to try to keep bush off the ballot. It also would look like we have something to fear by him being on the ballot and we don't. Without the Diebold machines, bush cannot take Illinois! Illinois will have a fair and free election! Bush on the Illinois ballot is not a threat. He will not win this state.

This should however be played by us, that we are generous when it comes to elections and human error and give people the benefit of the doubt. Bush was treated better by Illinois Democrats than he treated democratic voters in Florida! I will not hesitate to remind people of that.

On Edit: Can we refer to team bush as stupid like they did to Florida seniors?

As for the rest, whatever the Dems gained by being magnanomous (?) they gave away with their back-room style greed. The chads seemed like an afterthought to removing the $900,000 fine from Jesse White's office.
Typical Illinois back-scratching, and disgusting when Springpatch is controlled by Dems.

I seem to recall reading in DU.. Mississippi, Missouri, California is what I am thinking??????

And sadly, I think the Dems here are going to just roll over on it.

13 states set hard, late August and early September deadlines for candidate nominations, in part because election officials need time to print ballots, according to a review of the relevant election laws.

Those states are Alabama, Alaska, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa Louisanna, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
>snip<

Also, it's not clear what late convention might do to upend the presidential debate schedule. Bush tried to cut the Commission on Presidential Debates out of the process last time, and is known to still harbor no particular fondness for the bipartisan group.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/Conventions_020510.html


Republicans have scheduled their national convention for Aug. 30 to Sept. 2, 2004, in New York City. The timing, close to the Sept. 11 anniversary, is reportedly a key element of the president's re-election strategy, which Republicans have said will emphasize national security and Bush's efforts to thwart terrorism.
>snip<

Republican Party officials said they aren't worried. "We expect the Republican nominee to be on the ballot in all 50 states," said Jim Dyke, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

Carbaugh said Shelley has not received any calls from Republicans on the matter. The Aug. 26 deadline is important because that's the day the secretary of state certifies the candidates. Until that time, California's 58 counties must hold off on printing roughly 15 million ballots.

That is followed by a Sept. 3 deadline to mail absentee ballots to California residents serving in the military or living outside the country.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/5741443.htm

The convention, to be held in New York City, will be the latest since the Republican Party was founded in 1856, and Mr. Bush's advisers said they chose the date so the event would flow into the commemorations of the third anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.

The back-to-back events would complete the framework for a general election campaign that is being built around national security and Mr. Bush's role in combatting terrorism, Republicans said. Not incidentally, they said they hoped it would deprive the Democratic nominee of critical news coverage during the opening weeks of the general election campaign.
>snip<

Under campaign spending laws, candidates who accept public financing will have about $75 million to spend between the nominating conventions and Election Day. Because the Democrats scheduled their convention for late July, the party's candidate will have to stretch out the same allocation over a longer period. The nominees of both parties are expected to accept public financing.

Even though Mr. Bush will not begin his formal campaign until after the convention, his political team is preparing to begin broadcasting television advertisements as early as next spring. By that point, the White House expects the Democratic candidate to be settled, but battered and sapped of money from the primaries, and thus unable to counter a Republican advertising assault.
registration required:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/22/politics/22BUSH.html?ex=1069563600&en=5d79394a2259914f&ei=5070

:grr:

The Democrats caved in Illinois. The GOP fucked up and the Dems saved them. GW should NOT have been back on the ballot no matter what.

We've had more than one candidate "ineligible" to be put on the ballot by state election law able to get on the ballot after a cutoff. The courts affirm the principle that the voters are shortchanged if a technicality (particularly timing that doesn't affect ballot preparation, etc) leaves them with only one major candidate. (Remember NJ?). So he would have ended up on the ballot in any case - might as well get something for it.

Of course, it might have been usefull to force Bush into court to GET on the ballot - since they took the opposite view in the other races.

It will be the same result next year. Illinois Dems know this.

Don

I agree that srhub is going to lose in Illinois. I don't doubt it at all. I do feel Illinois Dems got sold down the river on this deal. If this came down to Daley getting his retirement package or not I can't say I'm shocked that Richie got what he wanted. Let's be frank about who has the most pull here in Illinois...

This was a classic move for the GOP to block Daley's early retirement package at the Senate level. Senate leader Jones IS Daley's man. He had to deliver up the goods for Chicago and the only way he could do it was by cutting a deal with Madigan and the House.

I'd sure like to see that bill because there has got to be more than just the ballot issue and the fines dismissal for White. I can't say for sure what the actual relationship is between Madigan and White, but this is a pretty big favor. I have seen Madigan go to bat for White before--but this is beyond any of the previous stuff. What did Madigan get for it? I have NEVER seen Madigan do anything that didn't benefit him.

They gave the GOP something they were probably gonna get anyway--Shrub on the ballot--and in return they managed to get White's fines waived and they managed to keep some small guarantee that the Illinois vote would get counted (kind of.) Not a terrible move from the perspective of Daley and Jones and Madigan.

What did the Illinos Dems get out of it, however? We just lost some credibility and they just sold out what few election laws we do have to protect the credibility of the future Illinois ballots.

Laura

He takes the heat off his daughter, the State's Atty Gen, from having to make a decision on Bush/ballot. Now she won't piss anyone off on either side!
:-)

good move on the dems part, although it's too bad Pinky & the Brain weren't forced to run as write ins.. as legally, they should have been. They should be glad the dems took pitty on them.