Rev. Ted Strickland has scheduled the special election to replace Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones for the remainder of her term will be held on October 14, if needed, depending on the number of candidates.
From the PD --
Tubbs Jones, who represented the 11th Congressional District, died Aug. 20. Her term was to expire at the end of the year. Strickland said earlier this week that he hoped to avoid filling her seat since Congress is not expected to be back in session before January. And, each election is expected to cost about $2.75 million.
However, the governor said in a statement issued Wednesday that a 2004 federal appeals court ruling made it clear he has a mandatory obligation to call an election whenever a congressional seat is vacated.
This will make things very interesting in Cuyahoga County during this years election season. It also opens up many questions on who may file to fulfill her term as the would most likely be the winner in the general election for the following term.
The Republican opponent in the general election is Thomas Pekarek.
The case Strickland is relying upon said that there may be times when the time remaining is de minimis. Strickland could have gone on that basis because his legal counsel's interpretation of the case is precisely what Judge Ryan warned in dissent. "[T]he court implicitly mandates mindless compliance with Clause 4 in the future, in an even more absurd and unreasonable circumstance."
ReplyDeleteI'd also be interested in knowing what relief the courts awarded the ACLU in the case that Strickland is relying upon. If the ACLU was entitled to fees less than what it cost to put on the special election, if I was Strickland I'd actually pull an Andrew Jackson (i.e., when Jackson said, "John Marshall has made his decision; let him enforce it now if he can.") and not order one.
This does set an interesting situation where the Democrat party insiders will replace Tubbs-Jones on the ballot for the full term election, but anyone & everyone on the DEM & GOP side can file for the unexpired term. So basically, if a large enough field files for the unexpired term the party endorsed candidate could lose, then you could have a "interim" congressperson, (certainly a Democrat) collecting a congressional salary for a month & a half for doing nothing.
ReplyDeleteOf course since congress will be out of session, it is a complete waste of time & money. Rev. Ted should be drawn & quartered for falling in line with this crap.