Denied: Kurita Appeal Continues
Posted on April 13, 2009 at 12:41 am
State Sen. Tim Barnes’s motion to dismiss an appeal filed by former state Sen. Rosalind Kurita seeking a reversal of the court’s decision to uphold the decision of the state Democratic Party to strip her of the nomination for state Senate last November has been denied.
Barnes sought to dismiss the appeal arguing that “if the Court ever had jurisdiction over the political questions at issue in this case, the passage of time and intervening events have divested it of such jurisdiction.”
Barnes’ legal team asserted that due to the fact that Barnes has already won the general election against Kurita (as a write-in candidate) and that Barnes was seated by the state Senate with no objection that the problem is resolved.
The court did not agree and the Kurita’s appeal will be heard, likely sometime in June.
Comparing The Kurita And Williams Situations
Posted on February 15, 2009 at 12:21 pmTom Humphrey explores the differences in the two cases of party disloyalty:
[T]he Democrats held their Kurita hearing in public and voted in the open. The party chairman at the time, Gray Sasser, left the decision to the executive committee.
The Republicans, in accord with their bylaws, left the actual decision on Williams to Smith but had a secret vote of the executive committee on a resolution urging Williams’ ouster — refusing even to make public a copy of the resolution until Smith made her announcement and said it was approved overwhelmingly.
It might be, however, that Kurita would have been better off if tossed out of the party back in 2007. She would have had two years to prepare for election as an Independent (or Republican?).
As it was, she was effectively unelected by the party executive committee when her name was removed from the ballot. She tried to run as a write-in candidate, but that crusade was doomed.
Williams does have time to organize a campaign as an independent and, conceivably, could benefit from a Carter County backlash.
Feel The Burn
Posted on January 17, 2009 at 2:49 pmOver the past week many have attempted comparaisons between the Kent Williams situation and the 2007 vote by Democrat Rosalind Kurita for Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey. Mick Wright has an interesting take on that comparison:
Instead of Rep. Williams, wouldn’t a much better comparison to Rosalind Kurita be the 49 House Democrats who voted for a Republican as Speaker?
Or is there something about their vote for the Republican victor that is less traitorous than Kurita’s vote?
Why no outrage from the Left this time?
A Job Opening For Kurita?
Posted on January 15, 2009 at 12:54 pmLt. Governor Ramsey couldn’t convince his fellow Republicans to give former Senator Rosalind Kurita a shot at a constitutional office.
But now that Tre Hargett has stepped up and filled the Secretary of State office, his position at the Tennessee Regulatory Authority is now open.
Might Republicans be willing to let her have that position?
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Kurita Hit With $6,000 Worth Of Fines
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 2:09 pmVia the AP:
The registry fined Kurita’s campaign $3,500 and her political action committee $2,750 for failing to properly classify legal payments as in-kind contributions to her electoral effort, and for exceeding the contribution limits.
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Mark Brown Defends The Message
Posted on November 20, 2008 at 11:01 amSenate Democratic Caucus Political Director Mark Brown looks back at the strategies of campaign 2008 with Jackson Baker:
Brown also takes exception to my having noted that official Democratic Party statements attempted misleadingly to saddle write-in candidate Rosalind Kurita, a Democrat who had significant Republican help, with support for a state income tax solely because she was financially backed by former Republican governor Don Sundquist. (For the record, Kurita was resolutely opposed to Sundquist’s income tax proposals as a senator.)
Brown’s response to that is something of a nolo contendere. After acknowledging that “we hit Kurita on Sundquist because Sundquist gave her campaign contributions,” he amplifies on that later by claiming that Republicans often have made unfairly sweeping allegations concerning Democratic support for an income tax (a point well taken), so that “[w]e pushed back by pointing out that Republicans were taking campaign contributions from Don Sundquist, the father of the state income tax; however, other than press releases and a few automated calls, this was never a major piece of our messaging.”
I’ll let that statement speak for itself.
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Where’s Gratitude?: Ramsey Rejects Kurita For Secretary Of State
Posted on November 14, 2008 at 7:19 amWe talked about the growing discomfort among Republicans, particularly in the House, of the prospect of a Secretary of State Rosalind Kurita a few days ago.
Now, it would seem official. Rosalind Kurita is now not even being backed by the man she made Speaker:
Former Democratic state Sen. Rosalind Kurita, who staked her political future on supporting a Republican for speaker, now is being rejected by Republicans in her bid to become Tennessee’s secretary of state.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, whom then-Sen. Kurita helped elect as Senate speaker in 2007, confirmed Thursday that rank-and-file Republicans, as well as grass-roots activists, fiercely oppose Ms. Kurita’s election by lawmakers to the post.
“That’s true,” said Lt. Gov. Ramsey, who last week stated that Ms. Kurita, of Clarksville, would make a “great” secretary of state.
“Rosalind Kurita voted for me for lieutenant governor,” said Sen. Ramsey, who as Senate speaker also has the title of lieutenant governor. “I owed her at least a consideration there. That obviously is not going to happen, and I have no problem with that. Keep in mind I don’t appoint this position.”
So what do you think of this? Should Ramsey have backed her regardless of the rumblings on the right? Should he have expended some political capital for a woman who basically gave up her career to put him where he’s at?
Couldn’t Ramsey and Mumpower, who are close, have rounded up a few Republicans to commit to voting for Kurita in hopes that some Democrats, recognizing that Kurita is the best they’re gonna do, would vote for her also?
The likelihood that the Senate will refuse to seat the man the Democratic Party installed in her Senate seat is increasingly unlikely considering the leeway the law currently gives a party in choosing their nominee.
Has Ramsey just thrown Rosalind Kurita under the bus?
The 22nd District Race May Take A While
Posted on November 3, 2008 at 12:55 pmIf it’s at all close, Tuesday may be a long night in Clarksville in the race between Democratic nominee Tim Barnes and write-in candidate Rosalind Kurita:
Koelman said after the polls close Tuesday, voting information is downloaded from the machines and vote totals will be printed on spreadsheets. Under the write-in category will be a total number of votes recorded, then each of those votes will also be printed out.
Counting board members will then look at each of the printed names to determine if it is a valid vote.
“The number of votes (for a particular write-in candidate) won’t be known until we count them by hand,” Koelman said.
The counting process is likely to take longer in Montgomery County because of voter volume. Early voting accounted for 36,168 of the county’s 90,063 register voters. Meanwhile, rural Houston County has 5,200 registered voters, and through 11 a.m. Wednesday, only 1,753 of them had voted early.
As mentioned, Cheatham has nearly 24,000 registered voters with maybe half of that number participating in early voting.
After Tuesday’s election results are reported locally, and nationwide, vote counting in the 22nd District state Senate race will continue.
Dude, They Kicked Her Out, Not The Other Way Around
Posted on November 2, 2008 at 11:27 pmSean Braisted asserts that State Senator Rosalind Kurita finally showed her true colors as a “Republican” when she contributed a sizable sum to the Tennessee Republican’s Legislative Campaign Committee.
Now, let’s get this straight. Rosalind Kurita is a pro-choice nanny-statist. Always has been, always will be. If she wanted to be a crypto-Republican, she would have ran straight-up as an Independent in her relection bid instead of running as a Democrat, the only way she could could lose.
What exactly would you have her do? Contribute money to the party that ousted her? Please. While we all like to talk about political parties as though they are about principles and ideas, in the end, parties are just a means to an end. That end, of course, being political power. Parties are not think tanks. They are not universities. They are entities created to achieve electoral victories
Republicans out of pure political opportunism are helping her as best they can. She is returning the favor. It’s just politics, pure and simple.
Kurita needs to get elected. Democrats won’t help. Republicans will. But Kurita is Kurita.
I haven’t seen her change a ideological or policy position to suit her new political friends. You can call her a “Republican” if that makes you feel better, but if you believe that she is any less a champion of the progressive ideals that many would call “Democratic”, you are fooling yourself.
She may have drew first blood by expressing her disgust with the good ole boy Dixiecrat Democratic leadership in the Senate by voting for Republican Speaker Ron Ramsey, but it didn’t have to end this way. The Democratic Party pushed her away just as much more than she pulled away from it.
Say Her Name, Say Her Name
Posted on October 22, 2008 at 11:15 amRosalind Kurita is not on the ballot in her race for re-election to the state Senate yet the Democratic Party wants to remind you that she is running — and that she allegedly violated campaign finance law:
According to a complaint filed today with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, Sen. Rosalind Kurita used her political action committee (PAC) to funnel more than $25,000 in illegal contributions to her Senate campaign.
According to the sworn complaint filed by Ricky Wallace of Montgomery County, Kurita in August and September illegally used her Kurita Majority PAC to pay for campaign expenses during that period, including: $17,070 for direct mail, $7,917 for legal services, and $665 for media consulting. Under state law, PACs can only provide up to $7,500 in contributions for a Primary or General Election.
“Unfortunately, Sen. Kurita is so power-hungry that she’s flagrantly violating Tennessee’s campaign finance law,” said Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser. “She broke the law by crossing the one hundred foot boundary during the primary, and now, she’s cheating by illegally using PAC funds to cover her campaign expenses.”
Interesting that the Party would call attention to Kurita’s PAC which was created to establish a Democratic Majority in the legislature. A rare move for a woman folks now paint as a crypto-Republican.
So, not only are Democrats calling attention to the fact that residents of the Senate’s 22nd District can in fact vote for Rosalind Kurita via write-in, they are calling attention to the fact that Rosalind Kurita’s vote for Ron Ramsey in 2007 may not have been exactly what it looked like at first glance.
They Hate Kurita That Much
Posted on October 20, 2008 at 9:35 amThe Tennessee Republican Party wonders why Democrats in Tennessee continue to work with political consultants Fletcher, Rowley, Chao, Riddle, Inc. after a Congressman they worked with allegedly promised his mistress a job with the company:
This election cycle, FRCR is doing or has done work for several Democrats running for the Tennessee legislature, including state Senate candidate Tim Barnes - the candidate hand-picked by a few dozen Democrat insiders after Democrat party elites rejected the votes of 4,477 people in the primary and installed Barnes, the certified loser of the election, as the winner.
The Tennessee Democratic Party, instead of ignoring a release likely to get ignored, decides to issue a corrective press release giving life to the story that the company doing a majority of the media for Democratic Party candidates in Tennessee is in the midst of a national scandal:
For the Tennessee Republican Party, fact-checking has long been overlooked, according to Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser correcting an erroneous press release distributed by the TNGOP earlier this morning. Fletcher, Rowley, Chao, and Riddle previously worked for Senator Rosalind Kurita in the District 22 Democratic Primary Election. Contrary to the TNGOP’s claim this morning, FRCR has never entered into a contractual agreement with the Tim Barnes campaign. The Tennessee Democratic Party, however, has hired Scout Communications for independent expenditures in Senate District 22.
Write-In Ros Nabs Another Endorsement
Posted on October 16, 2008 at 11:00 amFrom a press release:
Senator Rosalind Kurita (D-Clarksville) received a major endorsement from the Tennessee State Employees Association (TSEA) in her write-in campaign for the State Senate.
“From those state employees who provide disaster relief, to those who work with children in foster care, and from those who protect our highways to those who care for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, our state is fortunate to have so many dedicated state workers,” said Sen. Kurita. “I am honored to receive this endorsement and appreciate their support.”
The Tennessee State Employees Association represents hundreds of state employees in the 22nd Senatorial District, which includes Montgomery, Cheatham and Houston counties.
SEE ALSO:
The National Rifle Association
The Clarksville-Montgomery County Voters Council
Kurita Legal Challenge Fails
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 5:54 pmKen Whitehouse has the story:
When the case was heard last week, Kurita said that no matter what the judgement was from Echols that this case would wind up in the 6th Circuit Court. Assuming Kurita files a challenge, which all indications are she will, that is where this is headed.
SEE ALSO:
The Opinion
The Order
In The Kurita Race, The Hand On The Faucet Is Outside The District
Posted on October 13, 2008 at 12:02 pmFrom Erik Schelzig:
Kurita, who lost support among many fellow Democrats after she cast a key vote in favor or Republican Sen. Ron Ramsey’s election as Senate speaker in 2007, raised about $31,600 following for her write-in campaign. Barnes, meanwhile, raised about $36,500.
The fundraising numbers reflect the level of outside interest in the race: Kurita raised only $4,000 from people inside the district, while Barnes collected only about $5,000 from potential constituents.
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No News Is Good News?
Posted on October 10, 2008 at 3:09 pmKen Whitehouse reports on the federal hearing in the case of Rosalind Kurita versus a whole bunch of folks:
The case was heard today by Judge Robert Echols, who said he would not make a decision until next week.
After the long and tedious hearing adjourned, Kurita said that she felt today’s actions resulted in a “fair hearing,” but that “No matter what, I don’t think this will be the end.” She added, “My counsel (Bopp) did a wonderful job in working for the will of the people.”
Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser said that Kurita’s counsel presented “tenuous legal arguments.”
SEE ALSO:
Erik Schelzig
Jeff Woods
Daniel Potter
Kurita Answers Motions Filed By Defendants In District Court Case
Posted on at 8:08 amSenator Rosalind Kurita’s attorneys answered yesterday various motions by defendants Tim Barnes, the Tennessee Democratic Party, and several state officials urging the United States District Court for Middle Tennessee to dismiss or abstain from judgment in the Fourteenth Amendment case brought to it by Kurita.
Senator Kurita, the certified victor in the 22nd District State Senate Democratic Primary, on Sept. 13th saw her election declared “incurably uncertain” by the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee acting as the State Primary board.
A tri-county convention of executive committee members in the three counties of her district then voted 61-4 to install her opponent, Tim Barnes, as the Democratic nominee. Kurita is currently running as a write-in candidate.
Most political observers believe that the moves against Kurita by Democratic Party officials was payback for her 2007 vote for Republican Speaker of the Senate Ron Ramsey.
Kurita has charged the party with violating her Fourteenth Amendment rights in removing her name from the ballot as the Democratic nominee for the 22nd State Senate District.
At issue in the case is T.C.A. § 2-17-104 which designates a political party’s executive committee as the “decider” in the case of a contested primary election.
Barnes and other defendants contend that this law was properly applied in the contested election and that the court has no reason to intervene in the matter.
Senator Kurita, in filings by her attorney James Bopp, contends that “T.C.A. § 2-17-104 does not contain any standards or procedures that must be followed by a state primary board in resolving a primary election dispute.”
Kurita’s lawyers make the case that it is thus irrelevant whether due process is afforded in a particular case or not. They argue that T.C.A. § 2-17-104 is unconstitutional because it “empowers the state primary boards to adjudicate protected rights without due process of law.” In making this argument, however, they do not concede that due process was followed in this case.
Kurita’s lawyers’ full answer to the motions filed by Barnes et al is linked here. Defendants’ motions are available below.
A trial on the merits remains scheduled for October 10, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. Today.
SEE ALSO:
TNDP’s motion to dismiss or abstain
Tim Barnes motion to dismiss
State defendants motion to dismiss or abstain
How Do You Write-In A Woman Like Kurita?
Posted on October 9, 2008 at 11:44 amI’ll just let her tell you:
The Tennessee Democratic Party voided State Senator Rosalind Kurita’s state-certified 19 vote election victory in a Sept. 13th meeting of the executive committee. She filed an official write candidate two days later.
On September 18th, a tri-county convention of Democratic executive committee members in Montgomery, Cheatham and Houston Counties voted 61-4 to install her opponent Tim Barnes as the nominee.
These ads started running Monday on cable television throughout the 22nd state Senate district.
SEE ALSO: A slightly different variation on the ad.
MORE ON CONTROVERSY KURITA:
The Show Trial Of Rosalind Kurita
Write-in Ros?
Write-in Ros: It’s On, Son
Reports And Reaction To The Nomination Of Tim Barnes
Did Barnes Run Out The Clock On Ros?
GOP Committee Chairs To Host Fundraiser For Kurita
Kurita’s Election Stolen By “Union Thugs”
Barnes Campaign Treasurer Voted In Four GOP Primaries Before August 7th
Wait? So Kurita’s Ramsey Vote Did Factor In?
Posted on October 7, 2008 at 6:54 amGray Sasser simply will not quit striking back at Rosalind Kurita for showing the temerity to challenge the political maneuverings by Tennessee Democrats which overturned a certified election:
“In fact, the only backroom deal in this long, sordid saga was cut long before the Aug. 7 primary, when Sen. Kurita went back on her word to her Democratic colleagues and supported Republican Ron Ramsey for Senate speaker and lieutenant governor,” Sasser said. “Unfortunately, this process has become marked by accusations and, frankly, falsehoods. Sen. Kurita had the opportunity to present her case at an open meeting of the state executive committee, and according to rules that both sides agreed to before the proceedings.”
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