Paolino enters 17th Senate District race

“Lower our taxes, streamline our government, recruit employers for jobs in our area and preserve Open Space.”

A Delaware County municipal official wants to make the leap to the state Senate in the 17th District. via Tony Phyrillas

Read full story from Tony Phyrillas

[Lisa Paolino was excluded]

The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are state actors under U.S. law. Neither party may issue rules designed to exclude a female candidate or a minority candidate in the nomination process. Such discrimination violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the United States Constitution.

The United States Supreme Court has rejected the argument that a “political party is not a ‘State or political subdivision’ within the meaning of Section 5” of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia, 517 U.S. 186 (1996).

The Supreme Court likewise stated that “We have previously recognized that Section 5 extends to changes affecting nomination processes other than the primary.” Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia, 517 U.S. 186 (1996).

A copy of the High Court’s Morse opinion can be viewed at Cornell Law School’s website at:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-203....

[What Ken Davis did]

There's lots of covereage of what happened (and, more importantly, what didn't happen) at Ken Davis' so-called GOP endorsement convention for the 17th District Senate Seat:

http://writemarsh.blogspot.com

(search Writemarsh site for "17th" to find coverage of this issue)

[Ken Davis excluded DelCo]

Ken Davis excluded 100 votes from the Delaware County GOP committee, refused to include the only female GOP candidate on the endorsement ballot, and wouldn't even let the female GOP candidate attend the endorsement convention. And there's more...

Check out the information and Ken Davis' phone message on:

http://writemarsh.blogspot.com

[Protecting democracy]

The problem is, Ken Davis' Monday night meeting at the T.K. Club was the only endorsement convention for the 17th District Senate Seat. Anything held after that night would be nothing but a sham.

There are important constitutional and statutory rights involved here.

Ken Davis deliberately excluded one third of the Committee people from the only 17th District Senate Seat endorsement convention. Even more importantly, a female candidate was not allowed to attend and was not placed on the only ballot for the 17th District Senate Seat GOP endorsement. Do the math -- approximately 50 female Committee people were excluded by Ken Davis when he excluded the DelCo committee people as half of the DelCo Committee people are women).

If a woman was on the 17th District Senate Seat ballot, there was a chance she would have garnered many votes from the women of the Montgomery County GOP Committee. Half of the MontCo GOP committee are women, after all. If she wasn't such a threat, then why did Ken Davis consider her a problem.

Well, we'll never know how a legitimate vote would have turned out. Ken Davis made sure of it, as his phone message posted on www.writemarsh.com makes clear.

(Listen carefully to how he refers to Lisa Paolino in that phone message)

[Writemarsh blog address]

Hey everyone -- in case you were getting an error message when you used the above links to the Writemarsh blog, the Writemarsh blog's internet address is:
http://writemarsh.blogspot.com

[Writemarsh is right]

Here's another gem from the Writemarsh blog, http://writemarsh.blogspot.com/

The party has not spoken... yet said...

The question is not whether Lisa Paolino would have won.

The question is whether she had the right to be on the ballot for the 17th District Senate seat and whether her rights and the rights of all of the women on the Delaware County and Montgomery County GOP Committees were violated when Ken Davis deliberately excluded the only female candidate from the ballot and from the convention.

Ken Davis referred to Lisa Paolino as a "problem" and as "that... woman" in his phone message.(check out the phone message at http://writemarsh.blogspot.com/2008/02/proces... )

Ken Davis made it clear that Lisa Paolino was deliberately excluded from the ballot and that he did not want Lisa Paolino to attend the 17th District Endorsement Convention. He also made it clear that he would throw out any Delaware County Committee People who showed up at the 17th District Senate Seat endorsement convention.

He had no right to do this. Let's look at the law:

The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are state actors under U.S. law. Neither party may issue rules designed to exclude a female candidate or a minority candidate in the nomination process. Such discrimination violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the United States Constitution.

The United States Supreme Court has rejected the argument that a “political party is not a ‘State or political subdivision’ within the meaning of Section 5” of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia, 517 U.S. 186 (1996).

The Supreme Court likewise stated that “We have previously recognized that Section 5 extends to changes affecting nomination processes other than the primary.” Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia, 517 U.S. 186 (1996).

A copy of the High Court’s Morse opinion can be viewed at Cornell Law School’s website at: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-203....

Ken Davis should have allowed ALL of the 17th District Committee People decide who is the best candidate for the 17th District Senate Seat. He usurped the authority of the Committee People, and he once again has made the GOP look bad.

Let's remember -- Ken Davis did this in the name of the Republican Party, claiming to be acting on behalf of all Republicans.

Now it's time for all of the the Republican voters to let Ken Davis know that the party are its people and that WE decide.

[ugh politics]

Lisa would not have won Monday. She doesn't have it in her.

And more importantly? NO candidate should be judged by Ken Davis. Also important? What happened Monday was not "illegal". Delaware County deferred to Montgomery County, as Delco is what less than 20% of this district? Id Tom Judge and Delco deferred to Montgomery County, your beef is also correctly with him. However can it be said that Delco is not supportive of the home grown candidate? And if that candidate said she can run unendorsed, let her. She shouldn't be kicking up such a fuss if she was always planning to run unendorsed, should she?

[Let the Courts Decide]

"NO candidate should be judged by Ken Davis." -- TRUE

"What happened Monday was not 'illegal'." -- LET THE COURTS DECIDE

[ugh politics]

Fine let Ms. Big Mouth file a law suit. Lisa doesn't have a case. Tom Judge decided on behalf of Delco to defer to Montco. Period.

If Ms. Big Mouth is SUCH an independent, she doesn't need the endorsement, let her run her race on her record....unless there is a problem with the record?

So how come Lisa didn't attend Lower Merion's Lincoln Day Dinner recently? She could have pled her case in person.

[sick of it]

paolino campaign leaves many questions unanswered

http://www.phillyfuture.org/node/6142
http://giza.livejournal.com/506789.html
http://www.pawcf.com/2008.html