Big investment, no return
The trial bar in Oklahoma didn’t exactly get much bang for its considerable bucks in Tuesday’s election. Lawyers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on races that were considered crucial to their goal of putting Democrats back in control of the Senate – forever the graveyard for lawsuit reform legislation. In each case, Democrats lost badly. Exhibit A was in Tulsa, where incumbent Nancy Riley won just 37 percent of the vote in her race against Republican Dan Newberry. Riley had switched parties two years ago, and that allowed Democrats to hold a 24-24 tie with Republicans. In Lawton, the trial bar went all in for challenger Keith Erwin but incumbent Republican Don Barrington won with 56 percent. Another favorite of attorneys, Bob Murphy, picked up just 42 percent of the vote against Republican James Halligan for the Stillwater-area seat held by term-limited Sen. Mike Morgan. And Diane Drum, who since mid-August had received nearly 90 percent of her campaign funds from lawyers, was drubbed by incumbent Jonathan Nichols in Norman. Nichols won with 61 percent.
The juror’s tall tale
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/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:”"; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} How about the juror in the criminal trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who was excused from final deliberations in Washington, D.C., to attend her father’s funeral in California — only to admit this week she really went there to see some horse racing! Marian Hinnant said she made up the story about her father to attend the Breeders’ Cup Oct. 24-25 in Santa Anita, for which she’d bought tickets in the spring. Judge Emmet Sullivan suspended deliberations after being told Hinnant’s father had died. When Hinnant didn’t respond to court officials’ attempts to contact her through the weekend, the 11 other jurors resumed work without her. They convicted Stevens of lying about work done on his vacation home by a state oil contractor. Apparently nothing will happen to Hinnant. After telling Sullivan the dead father story was a ruse, Hinnant reportedly wandered off into a wild, twisting tale about crime and the horse racing industry — evidently enough to convince the judge the best outcome would be for Hinnant to return to obscurity.
The juror’s tall tale
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/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:”"; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} How about the juror in the criminal trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who was excused from final deliberations in Washington, D.C., to attend her father’s funeral in California — only to admit this week she really went there to see some horse racing! Marian Hinnant said she made up the story about her father to attend the Breeders’ Cup Oct. 24-25 in Santa Anita, for which she’d bought tickets in the spring. Judge Emmet Sullivan suspended deliberations after being told Hinnant’s father had died. When Hinnant didn’t respond to court officials’ attempts to contact her through the weekend, the 11 other jurors resumed work without her. They convicted Stevens of lying about work done on his vacation home by a state oil contractor. Apparently nothing will happen to Hinnant. After telling Sullivan the dead father story was a ruse, Hinnant reportedly wandered off into a wild, twisting tale about crime and the horse racing industry — evidently enough to convince the judge the best outcome would be for Hinnant to return to obscurity.
In the clear
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Though too late to factor much into Tuesday’s election, it’s interesting to note Alaska’s Personnel Board cleared Gov. Sarah Palin of any ethics violations in her firing of the state’s public safety commissioner. The independent agency deals with allegations of violations of state ethics laws involving executive branch employees. Its findings contradicted those of an investigator working for the state legislature, who reported a couple weeks ago. The new report said the earlier finding wrongly concluded Palin abused her power by allowing aides and her husband to pressure former Commissioner Walt Monegan, who claimed he was fired for refusing to dismiss Palin’s ex-brother-in-law from the state troopers. Again, the news comes too late to have much effect on the presidential election, but it might diminish “troopergate” as an issue in Palin’s future.
Voting, au naturale
From the Now We’ve Heard Everything Dept.: The Associated Press reports a nudist enclave north of Tampa, Fla., wants a clothing-optional polling station. The Caliente Resorts in Pasco County has approached election officials about a polling station that caters to folks who’d just rather not be bothered by clothes. AP says there’s nothing in Florida law prohibiting a nudist precinct, but the supervisor of elections doesn’t want to create any new ones before redistricting in 2010. For now at least, the bare-it-all vote will continue to be counted with all the others.
Reaching the limit
Ever since Oklahoma kicked off the legislative term-limit movement with a vote of the people in 1990, elected officials have been fighting back, with mixed success. The arrogance of some lawmakers knows no limit, and opponents of term-limit laws are always biding their time before launching another repeal movement. The president, 37 governors, 15 legislatures and the mayors of the nation’s 10 largest cities are subject to term limits. Make that nine of the 10 largest cities. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was successful in his attempt to roll back an ordinance that would have limited him to two consecutive four-year terms. Hizzoner believes the city needs his steady hand during these difficult times. Any president since FDR and any Oklahoma governor could have made the same argument. But the presidential and gubernatorial term-limit laws are constitutionally-based. The New York City Council is free to regulate or deregulate mayoral terms at will. Voters have a chance to limit Bloomberg to two terms when he comes up for re-election next year.
