For too many years, right wing Republican Secretaries of State have done the bidding of the lunatics in their party. Think Katherine Harris in Florida and Ken Blackwell in Ohio.
In Missouri, there's a Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, who doesn't kowtow and cater to every diabolical idea promulgated by the nuts. And, they really hate her for it.
In 2006, Carnahan rejected the biased language of the right wing's ballot initiatives. Every time they challenged her in court, the nuts lost.
These are the same anti-stem cell zealots who attacked Michael J. Fox when he got involved in the Missouri Senate Race over the stem cell issue. (Keep in mind that Rush Limbaugh, who openly mocked Fox's Parkinson, has deep roots in Missouri.)
Anyway, fast forward to 2007. The anti-stem cell crowd is coming back with another anti-science, anti-health, pre-historic initiative. They have a new plan that would repeal the referendum that passed in 2006 (but don't want anyone to know.) Fired Up Missouri documents the foibles of "the anti-cure crowd."
Again, Carnahan isn't letting the stem cell opponents confuse the voters. Those religious fanatic types hate it when they don't get their way.
[Curt] Mercadante says that while the courts have given the Secretary of State some latitude in editing ballot summary language submitted to the office, the latitude has been surpassed in this instance. He says all options, including an effort to impeach the Secretary of State, will be considered.
So, they want to impeach Robin for following the law. Now, that's insane:
The Secretary of State's Office could not disagree more with Cures Without Cloning on its claim that the summary language is confusing to voters. Secretary Robin Carnahan's Chief of Staff Mindy Mazur says the summary is completely fair and in accordance with state law.
Mazur says it is not uncommon to have challenges to initiative petition ballot titles, pointing out there is a process laid out for the challenge in law. She adds that in 2006 there were court challenges to three different summary statements and in each case the summary statemant was upheld as sufficient and fair.
We all get caught up in the Presidential race and the battles for House and Senate seats.
But a lot of the day-to-day work gets done on the front lines by people like Robin Carnahan. It's just so important to win elections in key states like Missouri for key offices like Secretary of State. The Republicans have known that for years. State elections really matter. Robin is running for re-election next year. And, she needs to win again.
