Thornburgh Admits Mistake Inviting Kathryn Harris

[Big Unit]

In the blog of the Wichita Eagle newspaper, there is a posting from the editorial board staff about their interview of Ron Thornburgh this week. The posting mentions the invitation Thornburgh extended several years to Kathryn Harris, who was the Florida election commish in 2000, and who orchestrated the felon-scrubbing program and the other disasters that lead to the U.S. Supreme Court picking our president. Thornburgh extended an invitation to bring Harris here to "honor her courage". See http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/ Does Thornburgh deserve any credit for admitting that that decision was a mistake? Is his ability to make sound judgments still in question for having extended such an invite, when it is Thornburgh's job to ensure fair and accurate elections in Kansas - fair to Democrats, Libertarians, Greens and all other groups - not just to Republican candidates? Can his judgment be expected to be that much better just a couple years later?

[PurpleChez]

1. "honor her courage"

I'm so...yawn...shocked at the...yawn...hypocrisy.

These people are all rats. I think history is going to note that this was an era of unrivaled lawlessness and hypocrisy on the part of the GOP.

[MuseRider]

2. Has anyone

tried to contact Thornburg's office and ever gotten a reply? We have tried email, snail mail and phone calls and none of them have ever been returned. No questions answered, no response at all. He needs to go, hopefully not replaced by O'Conner. :eyes:

[Big Unit]

3. Open Records Reqt.

Depending on what you are asking Thornburgh for, you can ask for production of documents from the Secretary of State's office on the authority of the Kansas Open Records Act, which should provoke some kind of a response within three business days.

[MuseRider]

4. Had not thought of that.

Thanks. My husband tried and tried to get some kind of response asking about elections, voting machines etc. several years ago. He got no response at all. He was very professional, not rude or accusing, just asking some important questions. He never heard a word from them. You would have thought he would be responsible to the voting public enough to at least have someone return a call or response by mail. I will pass this info on to my husband but I think he is currently too depressed about the situation to care anymore.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. So who are you voting for in the primary Muse?

Robert Beattie or David Haley?

[Big Unit]

6. Beattie Is Best Candidate

Although I personally like Sen. Haley, I think Beattie is better equipped to tackle this campaign. I also have to admit that Beattie is my neighbor, and a fellow Wichitan. But I was very disappointed by the lack of effort Sen. Haley gave four years ago when he was the Democratic Party's candidate against Thornburgh. Haley didn't campaign much at all. Beattie is already campaigning to make the office of SOS a nonpartisan race (check out his website BeattieforKansas), and Beattie is very smart, and a licensed attorney. Beattie has long been active in progressive, anti-war, anti-capital punishment and other liberal issue groups. Beattie has also developed a strong, bipartisan network of supporters arising out of his book, Nightmare in Wichita: The Hunt for the BTK Strangler, which was on the NY Times best-seller list for months. There are many people - including a lot of law enforcement people - who credit him for flushing BTK out of hiding, and eventually to being arrested and convicted. While this might not be much of a SOS issue, my point is only that there are a lot of people who view him as a community hero, and this will help earn him Republican votes in November.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Good info

Thanks BU!!

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Sen Haley

was guy who pushed through Scruffy's/Magnum's Law this past session, which makes it a felony to abuse animals. So I guess he has the animal lovers' votes.

[MuseRider]

9. Probably Beattie.

At least he is the one I have been considering. I could be convinced otherwise at this point, nothing solid yet. I have not had enough time to sit and think about it, guess I had better get down to it.