Tennessee Democrats Steal Election from Rosalind Kurita

As I stated in Monday's post on Sarah Palin, for a political party that preaches inclusiveness, Democrats can be a hateful bunch. Now one of their own, Rosalind Kurita, knows how it feels to have a vindictive Tennessee Democratic Party out to get her.

The two-term state senator represents District 22 comprised of Cheatham, Houston, and Montgomery counties. She was re-elected to a third term on August 7, fighting off a challenge from within her own party by Clarksville attorney Tim Barnes with a meager 19-vote advantage. There is no Republican candidate, so the winner got the seat. A victory is a victory no matter the margin. At least that's how democracy used to work before the Democrats ruled otherwise.

On September 13, the state Democratic Executive Committee decreed that voters in District 22 shouldn't decide which Democrat would represent them and voided the election. This was done despite the fact that the election had been certified by the county election commissions and the Tennessee secretary of state and was official. The party of "every vote counts" certainly doesn't think so when things don't work out the way they like. Executive committee members from Cheatham, Houston, and Montgomery counties will meet today to decide which Democrat they prefer as Gov. Phil Bredesen, supposedly the leader of the state party, stands off to the side and lets it happen.

(It's interesting that Democrats didn't question the election of Ophelia Ford a few years ago, which was ripe with voting irregularities and dead voters.)

The reason state Democrats are hijacking a certified election is because Kurita committed the unpardonable sin: she crossed party lines and helped vote out a politician who had been speaker and lieutenant governor for far too long, John Wilder, giving Republicans control of the speaker's podium for the first time since Reconstruction.

"I voted my conscience, and that's more important than party line," Kurita explained. "We're individuals up here." Tennessee Democrats hate that sort of thing. She was rewarded by new speaker Ron Ramsey with the position of speaker pro tempore (one her fellow Democrats never gave her), making her the highest ranking woman in state government. Whether by design or circumstance, she faced no Republican opposition for re-election. Despite their rhetoric that Republicans and Democrats should reach across party lines and cooperate, that's not what Democrats really want. What they want is to maintain their stranglehold on the General Assembly and continue their good ol' boy way of doing things in Nashville without Republicans standing in their way.

State Democratic leaders turned their back on Rosalind Kurita after twelve years of service in the senate and promoted the candidacy of Tim Barnes in the August primary to get back at her. When the result wasn't to their liking, they claimed voting irregularities and blamed Republicans for encouraging their members to vote for Kurita. (Like Democrats have never done it in Republican primaries. What hypocrisy!)

Now Democrats will chose a Democrat they like. Tim Barnes will take it any way he can get it. "I'd be honored to receive the nomination in this way," he unabashedly told the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle yesterday. Nothing like having a political office dropped in your lap, I suppose. He has shaken enough hands and slapped enough backs among members of the three county executive committees to feel good about his chances. He will likely be "honored" with a free pass to Nashville even though he lost the election.

Needless to say, state Democratic leaders have shot themselves in the foot with this debacle and liberal bloggers across the state such as Left Wing Cracker, Sharon Cobb, and Newscoma are letting them have it. "What the Democratic Party of Tennessee did to Kurita was very undemocratic," wrote Sharon Cobb, speaking for most of her fellow liberal bloggers. It's refreshing--and fun--to see Democrats coming out against their own party.

Kurita will fight for her senate seat as a write-in candidate in the November election apparently as an independent. "My people in my counties deserve to be able to elect their own senator," she said. "The fact is, they elected me, and I'm not going to quit on them...I am going to fight this. I'm not going to let this election be stolen." Good for her. Tim Barnes or whoever is picked tonight shouldn't get a free ride just because the Democratic Party chooses to override the will of the people and change the outcome of an election. "When somebody steals an election," added Kurita, "they're capable of anything."

P.S.: On a related note, liberal blogger Silence Isn't Golden writes a fitting eulogy for the Tennessee Democratic Party and their future. Let's hope he is indeed a soothsayer in this case. Tennessee has been in the grip of the Democratic Good Ol' Boys far too long. Start with Jimmy Naifeh and let's work our way down.