Obama Citizenship

Candidate Qualification: Colorado Democratic Party, Oregon SOS Respond

By Phil

As part of my continuing coverage of who’s responsible for candidate qualification, Justin Riggs at yourfellowcitizen.com presents two further updates on this investigation.

The first is a follow up from Colorado, where he received a response from that State’s Democratic Party Chairwoman stating the following:

Sen. Obama has run for office numerous times and qualified as a U.S. citizen by virtue of his birth certificate. He was certified as a candidate under Federal Election Commission law, both during his Senate run and his Presidential contest. If you would like more information on specifics, please contact the Democratic National Committee.

The second comes from the Oregon Secretary of State office; the following is a small portion of Justin’s email exchange with them:

We have previously reviewed with the Attorney General?s Department of Justice legal counsel the question of the Secretary of State?s role in determining the eligibility of a Presidential candidate. We have been advised that the eligibility of a presidential candidate is not a question for the Oregon Secretary of State to determine. Therefore, there is not the same verification paperwork available for these candidates in our office. In this case, these candidates are not Oregon residents and so there would be no Oregon voter registration records etc.

It continues to appear rather definite that the several Secretaries of State believe — likely, in good faith — that it is the various political parties’ responsibility to properly vet their candidates. Yet, we know that the political parties merely accept a self-ascribing document whereby a candidates says, essentially, “Yes, I certify that I’m eligible for the office of the presidency.”

This is why it’s important to begin initiatives that bring about proper certification enforcement in the electoral process, namely at the State level.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on December 11, 2008 (boomark / email).