Ventura to meet with lawyers about Wellstone vacancy

AP via startribune.com ^ | 10/26/02

[GeneD]

Gov. Ventura will meet with his staff and lawyers this afternoon about how to handle the vacancy created by the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone.

Ventura's spokesman, John Wodele, says the governor hopes to decide by Monday morning -- if not sooner -- how he'll proceed.

[BenLurkin]

Nothing good will come of this.

Wellstone was a disgusting lefty, but his death will be a bad thing for our nation's political future.

[SamAdams76]

I don't think this is a bad thing. Had the situation been reversed and a Socialist governor replaced a Republican senator with another Socialist, we'd be pretty pissed. So let Ventura select the Socialist and hopefully Coleman pulls out a victory a week from Tuesday.

[ffrancone]

IN 10 DAYS, THEY'LL BE VOTING DEMOCRAT

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY TO HELP TAKE BACK THE SENATE?

TakeBackCongress.org

A resource for conservatives who want a Republican majority in the Senate

[byteback]

I'd like to see Jesse pick a 3rd party candidate. The Greens are right there with Headstone's voting and the goof would certainly caucas with the Dimmies. At least it's a move to legitimize 3rd parties, which is what Jesse tried already.

[copycat]

Fritz for two months, Coleman for six years. Sounds good to me...

[copycat]

I don't think this is a bad thing. Had the situation been reversed and a Socialist governor replaced a Republican senator with another Socialist, we'd be pretty pissed.

Already happened in Coverdale v. Miller. Convention is an arcane practice.

[SamAdams76]

Good point. If Jesse Ventura truly wants to advance third parties, he would appoint an independent.

[Zack Nguyen]

Ventura might just appoint himself. Seriously.

[stylin19a]

The first thing out of Gov. Ventura's mouth was he would not appoint himself.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

He won't do it. He's still looking for a soft exit. Doubt he'd do anything but appoint whomever the DFL offer him.

[IMRight]

So let Ventura select the Socialist and hopefully Coleman pulls out a victory a week from Tuesday.

I'm pretty sure that the law in MN is clear. The appointed senator would serve for 8-9 days. Then whoever wins the election will fill the remainder of Wellstone's term.

[Zack Nguyen]

Thanks. How funny that he should even have to mention it.

[Stultis]

My guess -- and it's just that, and off the cuff to boot -- about where the big battle is going to be:

Absentee ballots.

As I read the Minnesota election law, the Democrat party DOES have the right to substitute a candidate under these circustances, up to four days before the election. What happens in this time frame (presumably so legislated becuase it may be too late to reprint ballots) is that the race with the substituted candidate is crossed out entirely on all regular ballots. Special ballots with only the candidates (incl the subsituted candidate) for that race are printed to supplement the regular ballots.

Here is the important point. Per legislation nothing is done about absentee ballots and they are counted as normal, which seems to mean that Coleman votes therein will count for a valid candidate, but that Wellstone votes won't count for any candidate still in the race. If I can find the link to the relevant laws (which I caution I've so far only skimmed) I will post it. Maybe someone else will step in with that.

Prediction: If the election turns out to be close, the Dems will insist "it's only fair"^TM to ignore the law and count absentee Wellstone votes as votes for the substitute candidate.

"It's Only Fair" is a trademark of the Democratic National Committee and is NOT licensed for use by the Republican Party. Such use is expressly forbiden to it and all its agents, associates, candidates or supporters thereof.

[deport]

Links here....... there are several sections impacting this event.....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/776264/posts?page=25#25

[deport]

Fritz for two months, Coleman for six years. Sounds good to me...

If Coleman should win the election then as I read the MN Law he would become the Senator immediately and replace anyone temporarily appointed....

204D.28 United States senate vacancy; manner of filling. [excerpt]


Subd. 11. Temporary appointment. The governor may make a temporary appointment to fill any vacancy. An appointee shall hold office until a successor is elected and qualified at a special election or until a successor is elected pursuant to subdivision 12.

Subd. 12. Succession by regularly elected senator. An individual who is elected to the office of United States senator for a regular six-year term when the office is vacant or is filled by an individual appointed pursuant to subdivision 11, shall also succeed to the office for the remainder of the unexpired term.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/776264/posts?page=25#25

[Teacher317]

Control of the Senate after November 5th just gets more and more muddled... Oddly enough, Alaska might have an impact on the Senate majority battle if Talent wins. If Murkowski wins in Alaska, he will be able to appoint his U.S. Senate successor. The new Alaska governor takes office on December 2, but by law (passed by a GOP state legislature), Murkowski must wait 5 days after his Senate resignation to appoint the successor. (This provision was enacted to prevent outgoing Democratic Governor Knowles from getting the Senate appointment--though again under law, would have had to choose a registered Republican for the open seat.( If the Congress has a lame-duck session, and the GOP has achieved majority status through the election of Jim Talent in Missouri (see Missouri Senate race), then Murkowski's resignation might deprive Republicans of their temporary majority for the 5-day period.

Now we have Minnesota as a second wild card (which describes Ventura pretty well)... Chaffee as a third wild card... Democrat desperation will put their voter-fraud and election lawsuit machines in over-drive... federal officials monitoring voting sites... certain Florida counties STILL getting it wrong, after THREE tries (no wonder Gore was going for a fifth recount!)

It's gonna be a wild day, Tuesday 11/05/02.

[deport]

Yes it will be a wild ride from Nov. 6 until the 108th convenes... But I don't put much play into all the talk about who will control the Senate during that short span as it would/will take them several days just to adopt new rules of orginization/procedures thus it won't happen, imo. Remember how long it took them just to reach agreement in Jan. 01 as to how they would set up committees, rules, etc.


They are scheduled to convene on Nov. 12 to finish up some business they have left undone, such as budget/funding, Homeland Security, etc. The Senate is meeting Pro Forma right now.

Also the LA race could factor into all this if Landrieu gets forced into a runoff. The runoff would be on Dec. 7 and would really gather some national attention if the Senate is still closely divided.

[deport]

It's control on Jan. 3, 2003 that I'm more interested in.....

[Notwithstanding]

Accurate info about Wellstone's REAL legacy:

http://www.mccl.org/norman_wellstone.pdf