Two ministers leading recall efforts against Cao (LA) face long odds

[MountainLaurel]

This could get interesting.

WASHINGTON -- A group spearheaded by two ministers has filed papers with the Louisiana secretary of state's office to recall U.S. Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, R-New Orleans, who has been on the job only six weeks.

The recall effort is ostensibly a response to Cao's two votes against the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, which passed Congress last week and was signed into law Tuesday by President Barack Obama. But the Rev. Toris Young, one of the leaders of the effort, said the stimulus vote was only the "last straw, " and that the recall effort had been in the works for weeks. The pastor of Greater Bibleway Missionary Baptist Church in New Orleans, Young identified himself as president of the Louisiana Ministerial Alliance of Churches for All People.

The Recall Anh Cao Committee faces daunting odds. The effort has 180 days from its filing Monday to gather 100,000 valid signatures from registered voters in the district -- a third of all district voters -- in order to get a recall vote. And even if they succeed at that, and voters approve the recall, it appears that Congress would not accept the result.

According to a report to Congress last year prepared by Jack Maskell, a legislative attorney with the Congressional Research Service, "the United States Constitution does not provide for nor authorize the recall of United States officials such as United States Senators, Representatives to Congress, or the President or Vice President of the United States, and thus no United States Senator or Member of the House of Representatives has ever been recalled in the history of the United States."

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/two_ministers_lead_recall_effo.html

[Lost in CT]

1. What are there no windmills in Louisiana to tilt at? nt

[MountainLaurel]

2. And, on a related note

More from Dollar Bill:

WASHINGTON - Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's attorneys are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court decision rejecting arguments that prosecutors improperly presented information about his legislative duties to a grand jury in violation of a constitutional separation of powers clause.

In a request filed late Wednesday and posted on the court's Web this morning, Jefferson wants 14 of the 16 corruption charges he faces at a May 26 trial dropped.

The defense attorneys said the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia, in rejecting their appeal, not only failed to take note of grand jury testimony about his role in helping pass an African trade bill - a clear violation they said of the Constitution's Speech or Debate clause - but refused to review unreleased grand jury testimony to determine if other violations occurred.

"The Speech or Debate Clause is a unique constitutional provision that creates an absolute privilege for legislative activities within its scope," Jefferson's attorneys said. "It protects legislators not only from conviction based on legislative acts, but also from having to defend themselves as a result of those acts."

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/former_rep_william_jefferson_f.html