Also, I didn't get to meet Johnny Gilbert, which made me sad. But other than those two things--no home game, no Johnny--it was a total blast. We played a great game (all of our scores were well over $20,000), and I got paid $1000 to play a game and visit L.A. Not a bad deal.
Recommended reading: www.BobHarris.com
So the next question is: who becomes SoS?
Mitch Daniels seems to be proceeding as if he's going to be able to make a permanent appointment. But there's still a question as to whether the job rightfully belongs to the highest vote-getter in the last election who was actually eligible for the job. If it does, then Democrat Vop Osili would be sworn in.
I think that Daniels' choice will probably be sworn in permanently. I don't really think the courts will want to give the job to someone whom over 60% of the state voted against when it can allow the governor from White's own party to make an appointment to fill the vacancy. Even though Osili was the highest vote-getter who was actually eligible for the office, and has a very good claim to the position, I think the courts will decide to let this one play out politically rather than actively award the office to someone. But I've been surprised before.
The Indiana Recount Commission held he was eligible, and the state Democratic Party chair, who filed the challenge, appealed to the courts. Judge Rosenberg ruled against White. Judge Rosenberg's verdict is being appealed: whether his ruling will stand on appeal is in doubt, and I (not to sound too much like the legal realist that I am) would expect the courts to find a way to allow the governor's appointee to hold office, since they don't want to be seen as giving the job to someone "rejected" by the voters, especially not so long after the actual election.
That's really more my take on the politics of the situation, but I can think of a way for the appellate courts to handle the issue that would let Daniels make a pick (two ways, actually: one based on statutory interpretation, and the other based on laches, a concept generally illustrated here.).
I think the question of whether White was actually ineligible to be on the ballot was somewhat close. I take a very liberal view of residency requirements, and when he initially entered the race I think he might have been okay remaining registered at his ex-wife's home, since he actually returned there for a time in 2010 before his re-marriage (Judge Rosenberg ruled otherwise, but without further knowledge of Indiana case law I could see this being reversed on appeal, or at least remanded back to him with instructions to more carefully consider whether he could not have legally resided at his ex's house as a matter of law, even though that's where his belongings were, where his son lived, and where he seems to have stayed when in town). If an appeals court holds he was validly registered at his ex's in February 2010, he arguably met the statutory requirement for candidacy ("A person is not qualified to run for...a state office...unless the person is registered to vote in the election district the person seeks to represent not later than the deadline for filing the declaration or petition of candidacy or certificate of nomination."). It's not a great argument, but I can see a court grab hold of it if they need a reason to avoid appointing Osili. Based on the findings of fact in the lawsuit to have him removed*, he probably should have re-registered sometime between May 28, 2010--when Judge Rosenberg found he stopped staying at his ex's and removed all his belongings from there--and the nomination deadline in July 2010, but he might have still met the statutory requirement
(*Note: this is just for the matter of him being listed on the ballot, not the question of whether he committed fraud by voting from his ex-wife's address in the May 2010 primary, which he most assuredly did. The jury in the criminal case found that he should have re-registered much earlier than the facts in the lawsuit seem to indicate--I guess that's the difference between actually mounting a defense and sitting silently while a case against you is made.)
COLUMBUS — An effort to legalize medical marijuana in Ohio was stopped in its tracks Wednesday when supporters failed to get enough valid signatures on petitions, according to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office.
Sec. 3.1‑10‑5. Qualifications; elective office. (a) A person is not eligible for an elective municipal office unless that person is a qualified elector of the municipality and has resided in the municipality at least one year next preceding the election or appointment;
"So far as the nation is concerned, I favor the equality of women with men in all political and governmental matters, and I favor an equal wage for equal service whether rendered by a man or a woman."
The Libertarian Party candidates for the office at the top of the ballot, together, polled 1,016,270 votes on November 2, 2010. The office at the top of the ballot is deemed to be Governor, in all states electing a Governor in 2010. For states that didn’t elect a Governor, it is U.S. Senator. For the four states with neither office up, it is U.S. House of Representatives.
This was only the fourth time that any party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, had polled as much as 1,000,000 votes for the office at the top of the ballot, in a midterm year in the 20th or 21st centuries. The other instances had been the Progressive Party in 1914, the Reform Party in 1998, and the Libertarian Party in 2002.
The Constitution Party’s 2010 vote for office at the top of the ballot was 925,583, its best showing ever. The Green Party’s 2010 figure was 520,830. The Green Party’s best showing had been in 2006, when its top-of-the-ticket vote was 942,604.
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The total share of the vote in 2010 for the office at the top of the ballot, that did not go to either of the two major parties, was 5.50%. That is the highest “other” vote for the top-of-the-ticket in midterm years since 1934.
