Just because we haven't reported on it since our Dec. 14th entry (which includes links to a number of earlier entries) doesn't mean the election dispute in Kentucky has been resolved. The impending standoff is between the Kentucky legislature and courts, involving a newly elected Kentucky state senator who may or may not have been a resident of Indiana and may or may not therefore be ineligible to take office. It is relevant not only because it involves a neighboring state, but because such election disputes can and have happened here in Indiana, and may occur again.
Per a Jan. 7th, 2005 story in the Louisville Courier-Journal:
On a 5-4 party-line vote, a state Senate committee recommended last night that Democrat Virginia Woodward be seated to represent Jefferson County's 37th District and said her opponent did not meet constitutional residency requirements.A story yesterday from the Lexington Heald-Leader points out:The recommendation by the Democratic-controlled committee came after a day of meetings and testimony during which some Republicans argued that Woodward's GOP opponent, Dana Seum Stephenson, should be allowed to serve because she received more votes in the Nov. 2 election.
After the vote, Republicans on the committee filed two independent reports — one calling for the Senate to seat Stephenson, the other recommending that neither Stephenson nor Woodward be seated and calling for a special election.
The full Senate — with its 22-15 Republican majority — is expected to act on those recommendations today.
Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, said last night that the Senate can accept the committee report, accept either of the two reports filed by Republicans, or fashion its own remedy. * * *
The race was thrown into disarray the day before the election when Woodward filed suit contending that Stephenson, the daughter of state Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville, did not meet Kentucky's residency requirements for the Senate.
Stephenson received about 1,000 votes more than Woodward in the election, but a Jefferson Circuit Court judge ruled that she did not meet residency requirements and ordered the state Board of Elections not to count or certify her votes.
Stephenson lived in Indiana between 1997 and 2001. The Kentucky Constitution requires senators to live in the state for at least six years before their election. * * *
After the judge disqualified her, Stephenson threw the battle to the Republican Senate, which, under the constitution, has the authority to decide the qualifications of its members. The Senate created a nine-member committee to hear the case, and selected its members by lot. Five Democrats and four Republicans were chosen. [See also this 1/5/05 LCJ story.]
"I expect the full Senate to follow suit," said Jennifer Moore, Woodward's attorney.Today the LCJ reports, in a lengthy story:But it might not. The Senate might decide to seat Republican Dana Seum Stephenson instead, which could send the issue to the state Supreme Court. The Senate could also force a special election.
Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, said the full Senate will consider the report today, but he and other Republicans declined to predict what the chamber will do. Late last night, GOP panel members were filing dissents.
The outcome is being closely watched because seating Stephenson could give the GOP the key 23rd vote it needs to pass budget or tax bills this session.
Republicans used their majority in the Kentucky Senate yesterday to put Dana Seum Stephenson in Jefferson County's 37th District seat.In a second story today the LCJ reports:In doing so, the Senate refused to accept its own committee's recommendation that Stephenson's opponent, Democrat Virginia Woodward, be seated and the ruling of a circuit court judge that ordered her certified as the winner.
Kentucky legal experts said yesterday that they expect the state Supreme Court will decide whether Stephenson, a Republican, is qualified.
"It's the job of the courts to interpret the constitution," said Phillip Shepherd, a Democrat who is a lawyer in Frankfort.
Richard H.C. Clay, a Louisville Republican and former president of the Kentucky Bar Association, agreed, calling the situation a "constitutional crisis." * * *
The battle for the seat and the rancor it has prompted, meanwhile, might cost Senate Republicans one of their own. The only Republican to vote against seating Stephenson, Sen. Bob Leeper of Paducah, threatened to resign.
"I am tired, I am tired of the unhealthy partisanship that too often fills our days," Leeper read from a statement last night.
Leeper, a former Democrat who switched to the Republican Party in 1999, had proposed a special election to decide who should represent the 37th District. But Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, refused to allow that action to be considered, saying the Senate had already made its decision.
When he walked off the Senate floor yesterday, Republican state Sen. Bob Leeper said he would resign because leaders of his party had rejected his proposal to solve the 37th District election dispute. * * *Finally, an AP story today in the Evansville Courier&Press reports:Leeper's threat to quit stunned party leaders who worried they might not have enough GOP lawmakers to pass their versions of budget, tax and constitutional amendment bills when the session resumes Feb. 1.
Senate Republicans asserted their power in a disputed election Friday and seated Dana Seum Stephenson as a senator, acting quickly to swear her in and attach a large bronze nameplate to her desk.Posted by Marcia Oddi at January 8, 2005 01:53 PMThe fallout from the decision, including a threatened resignation by one of their own Republican members, hard feelings among Democrats and a looming court fight by the Democrat who lost, will likely take far longer.
"I refuse to participate in what I believe to be the greatest single act of pure, raw, ugly politics as I have ever seen take place in our Capitol," said Senate Democratic Floor Leader Ed Worley of Richmond.
The decision prompted one Republican, Sen. Bob Leeper of Paducah, to say he would resign in protest. After meeting privately with Senate President David Williams and Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Leeper said late in the day he would take time to consider and did not rule out a future resignation.
Democrat Virginia Woodward went to court right after the vote and will ask a Franklin County Circuit Court judge Monday morning to prohibit Stephenson from taking any action as a senator until the challenge to Stephenson's residency is resolved.