Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Blogger's Fifteen Minutes Up

The fifteen minutes of fame for a paid Democratic blogger who filed a frivolous complaint with the Indiana Election Commission alleging that Sen. John McCain's campaign lacked enough signatures to entitle their candidate to a place on Indiana's Republican presidential primary ballot flamed out today. The Commission unanimously rejected the complaint, which I believe was filed for the sole purpose of trying to embarrass Sen. McCain during a campaign stop in Indianapolis last month. It created a lot of flutter in the liberal blogosphere but turned out to be so baseless that not even a single Democratic member of the Commission could take it seriously.

The Commission also rejected a residency challenge filed by the Republican primary opponent of Sen. Brent Waltz (R-Greenwood). Pretty much everyone I've talked to agrees that Mike Beeles was on to something, but the Commission's ruling is consistent with the leniency afforded to candidates with minimal evidence of residency. If the candidate says he or she lives there, it's pretty much impossible to disprove unless it's a case like former City-County Councilor Patrice Abduallah where he foolishly filed a statement of candidacy listing an address outside his district as his residence, and even he almost got by with it. Don't forget that Beth White knew Abduallah listed an address outside his district but allowed him to go on the ballot anyway because nobody filed a formal challenge to his residency. So much for being an "officer of the court." The fact she ignored Abduallah's glaring disqualification forfeited any right she had to have my trust as an honest public official. She neither apologized to the voters of Abduallah's district nor admitted her error in judgment. So no, I don't trust her to conduct fair and honest elections.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

First, there are TWO Democrats on the commission, not one.

Secondly, you can't say the case was without merit if it took over 2 hours to decide. Cook did a great job presenting his case, and I think that in the end, it came down to the fact that McCain is the nominee regardless, so why spend any more time on it.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Don't flatter yourself, Thomas.

The Amazing Abdul said...

Welsh,

I was there. All the members of the committee gave Thomas compliments for his presentation, Democrat and Republican, even though they all voted against it.

In fact, one of the Republicans told him when he was done with law school, to give him a call about a job.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Birds of a feather flock together, Abdul. Leave it to you to admire someone for creating an issue out of nothing to bring self-praise to himself. As you say, you're a whore and I'm just a slut because you get paid for the garbage you spew. BTW, Abdul, did you ever apologize to that confidential police informant whose life you recklessly placed in jeopardy (according to the police affidavit) on your IndyUndercover site while you were kissing up to Sherron Franklin to prop up her arson case? I didn't think so. Or how's your investigation of a prominent Democrat for child molestation coming. You're a riot, Abdul ... a real riot.

Gary R. Welsh said...

As for Thomas, I have absolutely no respect for a person who posted a defamatory post on his blog claiming that I prepared and filed a complaint that Adam Longworth in fact prepared himself and filed. It demonstrates just how lacking in integrity he is.

Anonymous said...

You haven't seen the last of this kind of crap, Gary. The Democrats will put someone up to formally filing a challenge to McCain's status as a "natural born citizen" in a further attempt to discredit him. You can take that to the bank. Nice way to treat a decorated veteran and former POW.

Anonymous said...

9:07, isn't there an AA meeting closeby you need to attend?

To their credit, I have heard both Sens. Obama and Clinton speak very dmirably of Sen. McCain's military service and sacrifices.

The practice of staking out an issue by pre-judging an opponent's response, and thus villifying your opponent by claiming they're less patriotic, is tacky, time-consuming and it just won't work any more. Reagan is dead.

Move on. McCain's goofy enough without going after his residency.
He's got more warts than a frog. They'll come out on their own.

But tired old divisive campaign tactics are "out" this year. Haven't you heard?

Anonymous said...

Gary's got a new liberal blogger to hate! Yay!

(To expound upon Abdul's comment, the Republican commissioner who "offered" Thomas a job works for Mayer Brown in Chicago. That's quite the compliment.)

Vox Populi said...

Whew, Gary... your panties are in a bunch over this. You should have attended the hearing, it was an interesting show. Try not to be so sensitive.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Oh, how they all flock together. And now we have Jen. Did you register davidorentlicherforcongress.com just to spite David O like you did to Jon Elrod. Or do you limit your under-handed dirty tricks to Republicans only? Aren't you the clever one. Again, "integrity" is something foreign to some folks. Will a subpoena turn up your name, Jen, as the culprit behind "Fakerepublican.com"?

Eclecticvibe said...

I wish people would look at this in the light of the ridiculous system we have for ballot access. This is only "frivolous" because the law is frivolous. Why shouldn't we argue about how to remove barriers to ballot access, therefore creating a more democratic(small d) society.

Gary R. Welsh said...

And you Vox Populi, haven't you been busy spreading rumors about a candidate's alleged sexual orientation for the sport of it. Psst . . . self-loathing isn't healthy.

Anonymous said...

Damn, Gary. You really drew out the sewer rats from the blogosphere tonight with this post. If a man is known by his enemies, I'll have to call you a friend.

Jon E. Easter said...

All this Beth White bashing is getting older than John McCain.

Anonymous said...

I'm with anon 957 and BRAVO TO YOU GARY!

Gary R. Welsh said...

Sorry, Jon, but your dear Beth White allowed Patrice Abduallah to deceive the people of my district into believing he actually lived in his district. She's earned every bit of criticism that is being directed at her.

Anonymous said...

Whatever DID happen to that PROMINENT DEMOCRAT CHILD MOLESTER that ABDUL HAKIM SHABAZZ was in the process of OUTING ON HIS BLOG?
I wonder how the all IMPD cops feel about ABDUL turning over all his computer files on them from Indyundercover.
My advice to ABDUL? Don't drink and drive because that siren and those flashing lights in your rear view mirror may be a cop that's not real happy with their demotion.