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Friday, January 07, 2011

Can Knilans Survive The Kris Kringle Test?

Remember the movie, "Miracle on 34th Street" where a branch of the federal government, the U.S. Post office, was called into a courtroom and asked to supply evidence for the existence of Santa Claus. They proceeded to dump bags of mail filled with millions of letters on the judge's bench all addressed to a Santa Klaus everyone understood was living - on the North Pole.

Can lawmaker Joe Knilans survive the same test? What is the address the U.S. Post Office recorded and recognizes to deliver Knilans' mail in the 10 days prior to being sworn in? What address does his current Wisconsin driver's license show?
JG Excerpt:
The network (NPR) reported that because Knilans has been sworn into office, the attorney general's office would likely pass on it's findings to Republican leaders in the state assembly to determine if Knilans is qualified to serve.
They mean pass on their duty to uphold the law. Why do we need an attorney general if they're willing to give the decision to a political cartel? Wisconsin is going down the tubes...fast.

I also don't buy into the argument that everyone knew Joe lived outside the 44th district or knew fully what that meant going into election day. It was not general household knowledge and it can be said that those who knew he lived outside the district assumed by the time he was sworn in, that he would be living inside the district. They assumed they were voting for a lawmaker - not a law breaker.

Audio - Andrew Beckett Reports

Capital Times - Declare The 44th vacant, hold special election.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sadly, the attorney general is the leader of the political cartel.

Anonymous said...

It's ironic that no Democrat brought this subject up when Speaker Sheridan was living outside the district and Marlin Schneider lived outside of his for years and years. Give me a break from hypocrisy and hyperbole of the first degree.

Lou Kaye said...

Sheridan's situation was different. The current laws obviously needs to be changed and clarified. Either way, laws should not be ignored with a wink or because they fulfill somebody's hypocrisy argument.

Anonymous said...

The law obviously needs to be changed. This is just plain moronic. You either live in the district or you don't. Residency isn't that difficult a concept. It's just more games to play so nothing gets done while they bicker and argue about who lives where. To the 4:39 poster, it was brought up plenty. I seem to recall there was just as much attention given to his issue as this one. He was given a pass by the legislature and required to get his shit together and live in the district. He did and everyone moved on. My issue is with the "10 days". It needs to be changed to the following, No one may run for elected office in a district that they do not reside in for a period of 6 months. Furthmore, they need to maintain residence in the district they represent for the entire length of their term. No more of this, 10 days before or after garbage. Obviously the lawmakers can't be trusted to actually enforce the laws they write for themselves. "The People" have been taken out of the mix altogether. The AG punted because he is weak and does as he's told.

Lou Kaye said...

If they allow Knilans to keep his seat, they will be declaring that the state does not have any enforceable district residency requirements for state legislative office. Anybody from anywhere in the state can run on the promise of moving into the district someday.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know what the city determined? Is the basement legal living quarters or not?

Anonymous said...

The rule is residency 10 days before the election. If they rule the basement is not eligible to be a residence he should be removed. That is the law. This will end up in court if the AG folds on this and he will lose. It's what's called black and white law. It dosn't matter if Joe thought he was ok, as they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. If they bend the law for this you get into the whole slippery slope thing. If they bend it for him where does it stop? Drunk driving....he didn't know he was over the legal limit. It may be an extreme example but no different than this situation. They create the laws for pete's sake! What kind of an example are they giving if breaking the law they themselves create is ok for them but nobody else?

Anonymous said...

Here's another thing I don't get. I just went and read the WKOW report again. In it states that Knilans couldn't vote for himself. Why not? If he "lived" in the district he should have been able to. If he knew he couldn't vote for himself then he knew he wasn't a resident, correct?

Lou Kaye said...

An attorney (Wittenwyler) for a political law group in Madison said that the issue is not whether Knilans was eligible to vote on Election Day, but whether he would be eligible (in the district he ran in of course) to vote on the day he is sworn in.

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