Republicans out to steal another election
Posted: August 15, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
What's the difference between the California
Recall and my golf game? There is none.
Confused? Read on.
As a weekend hacker, I enjoy the game of golf,
but I don't take it too seriously. I know I'll never
qualify for the PGA – not even the senior PGA.
I'm out to have a good time. I'm out to hit a good
shot. So if I don't hit a good shot the first time, I
keep dropping more balls and hitting more shots
until I hit a good one.
In other words, I cheat and steal at golf. Which is
what Republicans do at elections. If they don't
win the first time, they keep doing it over and
over again until they do win. California's not the
first time. It's just the latest.
It started, of course, in Florida. We all remember
that mess. On election night, it was not clear
who won, Bush or Gore. Networks first declared
Gore the winner, then Bush, then nobody. Bush
led by a narrow margin, but thousands of
butterfly ballots were in dispute. Thousands
more were up in the air over hanging, dimpled
or pregnant chads. The only way to resolve it
was a full, statewide recount – or at least a
recount of the most screwed-up county tallies.
And that's exactly what the Florida Supreme
Court was set to order. Until the
Republican-dominated U.S. Supreme Court
stepped in, shut down the recount, and stole the
election for George W. Bush: parachuting an
unelected president into the White House. That
was public election theft No. 1.
Public election theft No. 2 is now taking place in
Texas. Like every other state, Texas redraws its
electoral districts every 10 years, based on the
federal census. Three years ago, Republican and
Democratic legislators were unable to agree on a
plan, so a panel of federal judges took over and
adopted a new reapportionment plan giving
Texas 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the
U.S. Congress.
Officially, that settled it for the next 10 years. But
not according to the rules of my golf game, or the
GOP's election game.
Once Republicans took control of the legislature
in 2002, they immediately – under orders from
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay – tried to
force through a new election remap giving Texas
22 Republicans in Congress and only 10
Democrats.
That blatant grand larceny was only prevented
by the dramatic flight of Democratic
representatives to Oklahoma and the current
escape of Democratic senators to New Mexico,
where they remain in exile today, weeping for
Babylon.
Enter the California Recall: Public election theft
No. 3. I'm often asked: How could something
like this ever happen to a great state like
California? Here's how. Last November,
California had an election. Like every other state,
California has a lot of budget problems – thanks
to a sinking Bush economy – but voters still
decided to re-elect Democrat Gray Davis.
That should have settled it for four years. But a
band of right-wing Republicans, bankrolled by
multimillionaire Republican Congressman
Darrell Issa, refused to accept the results of the
election. Adopting the new Republican ethic of
"Keep Trying Till You Win," they forced a rerun
of the election, only 11 months later.
Result: this colossal embarrassment called the
California recall. One hundred thirty-five
candidates on the ballot. A totally unnecessary
election, costing taxpayers $67 million. A totally
unfair election, where the incumbent governor
could get 49.9 percent of the vote and lose, while
a challenger could get only 10 percent of the vote
and win. The chance for a porn star or smut
peddler to become leader of the largest state in
the union, with no more credentials than the
ability to collect the signatures of 65 friends and
fork over $3,500.
Continues.............
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