In any normal political culture, in any other year, all of this would be disqualifying for someone seeking elective office, especially in a primary against someone with a better-than-average chance to hold the seat in November. The prison time? Are you kidding me? Threaten a reporter? I have had moment when I wanted to push somebody or kill somebody in anger. This guy just pushed his buttons all the wrong way. It was one incident! Donovan, meanwhile, is the kind of Republican you would want to date your daughter.
He ran a strong race for attorney general and was talked about as a potential gubernatorial candidate down the road. Witness Roy Moore, who many Republicans stood behind even after he was accused of child molestation. Or Greg Gianforte, the Montana congressman who saw the same reaction after he body-slammed a reporter.
Or any of the slate of candidates Steve Bannon who has endorsed Grimm wanted to run for the U. Senate, an eclectic mix of names that included former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, chemtrail conspiracy theorist Kelli Ward, and Chris McDaniel, who once attended a neo-Confederate convention and has disparaged blacks and Latinos on his radio show, and who all share nothing in common except a desire to spit in the doughy faces of Republican incumbents.
That those incumbents are rock-ribbed conservatives who rarely deviate from party orthodoxy and who spent years building up the GOP hardly matters; they are in office, so they are immediately suspect. To be a Republican running for reelection now is to know that there are four words that signal an immediate death warrant: Endorsed. Or Paul Ryan.
Mariner had served roughly two years total behind bars over and on charges that included felony theft, burglary, cocaine possession, obstruction and violently resisting arrest, records show. Under new clemency rules Gov. Ron DeSantis announced earlier this year, felons are automatically entitled to have their rights restored — including the right to hold political office — but must submit to a formal process administered by the Florida Commission on Offender Review and Office of Executive Clemency.
Under a constitutional amendment that Florida voters approved in , felons can register to vote once they serve their prison terms and pay any court fines. Mariner confirmed Thursday that he did not go through the process to restore his right to hold office.
He said later he was confident he was a lawful candidate. Mariner said he followed the same process as other candidates and noted he was a registered voter. Mariner signed a sworn statement in August he sent to the Florida Division of Elections attesting that he was qualified to run for Congress in Florida.
The press secretary for Republican Gov. Mariner on Tuesday night defeated Republican Greg Musselwhite, a former pipe-fitter and welding inspector who also lost the election in to incumbent Rep. In the end, the idea of placing a recall provision in the Constitution died for lack of support Although the Supreme Court has not needed to address the subject of recall of Members of Congress directly, other Supreme Court decisions, as well as other judicial and administrative rulings, decisions, and opinions, indicate that 1 the right to remove a Member of Congress before the expiration of his or her constitutionally established term of office resides exclusively in each House of Congress as established in the expulsion clause of the United States Constitution 34 and 2 the length and number of the terms of office for federal officials, established and agreed upon by the States in the Constitution creating that federal government, may not be unilaterally changed by an individual state, such as through the enactment of a recall provision or other provision limiting, changing, or cutting short the term of a United States Senator or United States Representative.
No law or Rule exists providing that a Member of the House who is indicted for or convicted of a crime must forfeit his or her congressional salary. However, a Member of Congress who is convicted of a crime and then incarcerated , might be required to forego his or her congressional salary for some period of the incarceration if it results in the Member being absent from the House.
The United States Code instructs the Chief Administrative Officer of the House to deduct from a Member's salary the amount for each day that the Member is absent, except in cases of sickness of the Member or his or her family. As discussed earlier concerning qualifications to hold the office of Member of Congress, indictment for or conviction of a felony offense is not a constitutional bar for eligibility to be elected or reelected as a Member of Congress, other than a conviction for treasonous conduct after having taken an oath of office, under the "disqualification" provision of the Fourteenth Amendment.
A person under indictment or a convicted felon, even one who has also been disciplined by Congress, may run for and, in theory, be reelected to Congress and may not be "excluded" from Congress, but must be seated, if such person meets the three constitutional qualifications for office and has been duly elected.
Under the United States Constitution there is no impediment for the people of a district or state to choose an individual who is under indictment, or who is a convicted felon, to represent them in Congress.
Furthermore, because the qualifications for elective federal office are established and fixed within the United States Constitution, are the exclusive qualifications for congressional office, and may not be altered or added to by the state legislatures except by constitutional amendment, the states may not by statute, or otherwise, bar from the ballot a candidate for federal office because such person is indicted or has been convicted of a felony.
The federal pensions of Members of Congress may be affected when a Member is convicted of certain crimes. This may occur in two general instances: upon the conviction of a crime concerning any of the national security offenses listed in the so-called "Hiss Act," and upon the conviction of any one of numerous felony offenses relating to public corruption, abuse of one's official position in the Congress, or campaign finance laws.
Under the so-called "Hiss Act," Members of Congress in a similar manner as most other officers and employees of the federal government forfeit all of their federal retirement annuities for which they had qualified if convicted of a federal crime which relates to disclosure of classified information, espionage, sabotage, treason, misprision of treason, rebellion or insurrection, seditious conspiracy, harboring or concealing persons, gathering or transmitting defense information, perjury in relation to those offenses, and other designated offenses relating to secrets and national security offenses against the United States.
Additionally, under provisions of law first enacted in , and then expanded in , 45 a Member of Congress will lose all "creditable service" as a Member for federal pension and disability purposes if that Member is convicted for conduct which constitutes a violation of any one of a number of federal laws concerning public corruption, fraud, and campaign finance regulations.
The forfeiture provisions of this law will apply if the criminal misconduct was engaged in while the individual was a Member of Congress or while the individual was the President, Vice President, or an elected official of a state or local government , and if every element of the offense "directly relates to the performance of the individual's official duties as a Member, the President, the Vice President, or an elected official of a State or local government.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, at Section 3, provides a disqualification for one who, having taken an oath of office to support the Constitution, "engages in insurrection or rebellion against," or aids or abets the enemies of, the United States. This disqualification does not appear to be self-executing with respect to a Member, and would appear to require some act on the part of the House to find and declare a seat vacant on the grounds of such disqualification.
Powell v. McCormack , U. Term Limits, Inc. Thornton, U. Gralike, U. See Powell, at n. The question of "qualifications" does not, however, foreclose each House of Congress from judging a Member's fitness for office under the authority of Article I, Section 5, clause 2, to punish a Member in a disciplinary proceeding see discussion of " Congressional Discipline " in this report, below.
Because these provisions are party rules, as opposed to Rules of the House, they may be changed by the political parties in the House themselves, without the necessity of the adoption of a formal House resolution, such as a House Rule change would require.
House Rules are changed by way of adoption of a resolution and may sometimes be effectuated through unanimous consent or by special order. See discussion of suspension concerning " Congressional Discipline " below and Deschler's Precedents of the U. See, e. See discussion in this report, below, of Members who have been convicted.
See now House Committee on Ethics, Rule 18 e 2 Some federal courts have referred to a continuing right of the people to representation in Congress.
Ogilvie, F. Although early authorities indicated that the power to suspend a Member from proceedings was an inherent authority "analogous to the right of expulsion" see Cushing, Law and Practice of Legislative Assemblies, Section , p. As discussed above, however, Members are expected to conform to and abide by the abstention provision after conviction. Although the House took no formal action upon Mr. Zihlman and his status as a Committee Chair, it was noted that " Zihlman refrained from active participation in the proceedings of the House, and the Committee was represented on the floor by the ranking member See discussion in H.
Myers Note beginning of Committee proceedings in the case of Representative Flood, even after his original trial for bribery ended with a hung jury. Flood See House expulsions of Representative-elect John B. Clark of Missouri , Representative John W.
Reid of Missouri , and Representative Henry C. Burnett of Kentucky , for disloyalty to the Union. Myers ; Cong. Representative Myers was expelled after conviction for bribery, conspiracy, and violation of the Travel Act. Representative Traficant was expelled after conviction of conspiracy to violate federal bribery laws, receipt of illegal gratuities, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing false income tax returns, and racketeering.
Note, e. Note also case of Rep.
0コメント