A Bully Without Power Isn’t a Bully

By editor • January 15th, 2010

By ROSS DAY
TheKeizerTimes.com
January 14, 2010

I dare say there are probably no two more politically “blue” states (i.e. states with significant majorities of Democrat voters) than Massachusetts and Oregon. Of course, Massachusetts is the home of the historically liberal Kennedy clan of politicians. Oregon is the home of the historically liberal environmental Earth-muffin clan of politicians. In Massachusetts, the state legislature, the governor, and all six statewide constitutional offices are controlled by Democrats. In Oregon, the state legislature, the governor, and all seven statewide constitutional offices are controlled by Democrats. In both states, Democrats can push around Republicans, steal their lunch money (see example in Oregon: Measures 66 and 67) and there isn’t much the Republicans can do about it. In these two states, the Democrats have acted like political bullies. Recently in both states, rather than rely on the sheer power of their political majorities, the Democrats are resorting to political game-play that can only be classified as cheating. In Massachusetts, there is an important election on January 26th to fill the U.S. Senate seat once occupied by the late Edward Kennedy. The seat is important because the Democrats need to retain the seat in order to maintain their filibuster-proof majority in the United States Senate. A filibuster-proof majority will (in theory) make it much easier to pass President Obama’s massive takeover of the health insurance industry. If by some miracle the Democrats lose the Massachusetts special election, that means the majority Democrats in the United States Senate lose their filibuster-proof majority, and suddenly Democrats will be forced to include Republicans in the development of real health care reform. In the ordinary course of business, after an election, the state’s top election official immediately certifies the election so the winner can begin serving the people as soon as possible. However, the Democrats in Massachusetts have already announced that if the Republican candidate – Mr. Scott Brown – wins the election, the Democrats will take as long as 30 days to certify the election, in order to avoid losing their filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate and buy as much time as possible to pass ObamaCare. Of course, if the Democrat wins the race in Massachusetts, the Democrat will immediately be certified and seated in the United States Senate. Unless you live in a cave and only leave the cave to buy the latest edition of the Keizertimes, you should be aware of the upcoming special election ending on January 26th where voters will have a chance to vote in favor of, or against, two tax increases passed by the heavily controlled Democrat state legislature. But a funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box in Oregon. In order to further influence the outcome of the anticipated election, Democrats in the legislature voted to alter the election process to get their desired result in the election. First, the Democrats wrote a ballot title that is extremely biased and unreliable. Ballot titles are always printed on the ballot (hence the name….) and are the first (and sometimes last) thing a voter reads on a subject. Accordingly, the language used in a ballot title can have a substantial impact on an election. The Democrats in the Oregon legislature know this fact, and wrote an intentionally untrustworthy ballot title in a blatant attempt to influence the outcome of the election. Second, the Democrats tried to further confuse the voters by changing the law so that voting ‘yes’ a voter was actually voting ‘no’ and a voter voting ‘no’ was actually voting ‘yes’. Everybody except the Oregon Democrats realized how blatantly deceptive this scheme was, and soon intense public pressure forced the Democrats to mothball that idea. Finally, Democrats stacked a legislative committee that drafted an “official” statement explaining the two tax measures. In fact, the “official” statement is nothing more than a campaign piece drafted by the proponents of the two tax measures. In both Oregon and Massachusetts, the Democrat party has substantial control over the public debate (and to a certain extent, the outcome of elections), and yet in each state the Democrat bullies choose to cheat the citizens of the respective states. Why? I think there is a one-word explanation: backlash. The senate race in Massachusetts is being considered by many to be a referendum on President Obama. The tax campaign is being considered by some to be a referendum on the policies of the Governor and the state legislature. I think Democrats fear the outcome of each election (especially if they lose) will result in a historical backlash by the voters. Democrats cannot let this happen. So rather than play fair, Democrats are resorting to election manipulation techniques that would make a Chicago mayor proud. In other words, the power that makes the Democrats in these states political bullies has evaporated – it is illusory. A loss in either election (or both, especially) will signal the end of the bully reign of the Democrats and present hope to Republicans. And demonstrate that a bully without power is really no bully at all. Ross Day is executive director and general counsel for Common Sense for Oregon.