When Republicans are stupid: Kimsey, Reed and Nixon support giving “freed felons” the vote.

America is a great nation. During the course of our history, millions sacrificed to insure our continued existence. Millions more worked and sweated to overcome incredible obstacles to achieve success… and occasional greatness.

We did not become the Greatest Nation The World Has Ever Known by caving when things get a little too hard… when situations arise that require hard work, nontraditional thinking and some guts to overcome.

Felons voting are one of those situations.

Our local Republican county auditor believes that this situation is, well, just too hard to fix. The paper reported “…keeping disenfranchised felons off voter rolls has proven difficult for county auditors. “

Our Republican Secretary of State sees it the same way. “"If we could do something that simple, it would be great for the state of Washington," Reed said.

They are, of course, flat wrong.

Look, Mr. Kimsey, Mr. Reed, here’s a clue for you. If you find the rigors of your job too difficult, then do us all a favor: resign. That’s right, get the hell out.

I am sick of your whining and sniveling. I am dramatically uninterested in making your job easier. This isn’t ABOUT making your job easier.

FIND A WAY.

OR QUIT.

You two are simply paid far too much money to cave when faced with a problem. And let’s make no mistake here, gentlemen, that is precisely what you’re doing, you’re caving.

When an individual makes the decision to commit a crime in this state, they may suffer from a variety of penalties for engaging in criminal conduct.

Making the victim whole, however, MUST be part of the CRIMINAL SENTENCE, and the suspension of the individual’s voting rights CANNOT BE DETERMINED BY THE CONVENIENCE OF THE VARIOUS COUNTY AUDITORS OR THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

Kimsey wants to make the election process “less complex.” For who, Mr. Kimsey? Is this about making life easier for YOU? Or are we to continue to provide an additional incentive for criminals to make sure they repay ALL of their debt to society… and not just the part of it where they do time?

Rep. Toby Nixon, who I believe (up to now) has done a pretty fair job on Government Ops, tells us: "What other debts do people owe that causes us to eliminate their right to vote? Well, none,"

Well, gee, Representative. What other debt is a direct result of criminal acts? Well, none.

All of these perspectives are in ADDITION to the fact that democrats, who benefited mightily, by EVERY INDICATION, from the fraud vote, would benefit just as much from the convict vote.

There is a bizarre idea among so-called Mainstream Republicans (Which Reed, Kimsey and Nixon happen to be a member in good standing) that out-democrating the democrats will somehow result in elective success.

It will not.

And democrat acceptance and approval of this idea is driven by precisely one idea and one idea alone: they will benefit from such an act.

There is one great moral and ethical reason to oppose this nonsense, and that is the restoration of a suspended right BEFORE the sentence is complete does absolutely NOTHING to provide any incentive TO complete the sentence. Restitution is just as much a part of the criminal sentence as is incarceration. Restitution is rarely paid enough now as it is… how will ignoring it altogether improve that rate of payment?

There is one great political reason to oppose this idiocy, and that is the FACT that democrats will directly benefit.

Too often in the recent past, Republicans have just made it too easy for democrats to win. Now, we propose THIS kind of stupidity?

I would be the first to support the automatic restoration of felon voting rights the MOMENT restitution is COMPLETELY PAID OFF and probation is completed. I believe the court process to restore rights to be needlessly cumbersome. Implementation of such a program would continue to use the restoration of voting rights as an incentive while simplifying the process.

God forbid that, in Mr. Kimsey’s words, we should make the election process “more complex,” which, come to think of it, must be why Mr. Reed opposed any real election reform after his dog and pony show where he ignored the repeatedly expressed will of the people of this state to void all current voter registrations, require proof of citizenship to register to vote, while requiring legal identification to cast a ballot or sign up for an absentee ballot or permanent mail ballot.

State czar for voting: Let felons cast ballots

Wednesday, June 8, 2005
By DON JENKINS, Columbian staff writer

Felons cast most of the illegal votes that clouded Washington's gubernatorial election, and the state's chief elections official Tuesday proposed a way to prevent it from happening again: legalize those voters.

Talking to reporters at the Clark County auditor's office, Secretary of State Sam Reed for the first time came out solidly in support of letting freed felons vote, regardless of their court-imposed debts.

Felons currently must pay off fines and make restitution to victims before they can apply to have their voting rights restored.

But keeping disenfranchised felons off voter rolls has proven difficult for county auditors.

Felons accounted for 1,401 of the 1,678 illegal votes cast in the 2004 election. Fifty-nine felons voted in Clark County. Election officials plead that they may never learn about the conviction.
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