Well, I guess the Tea Party didn't read my post "Helpful advice to the right on recall elections" over at Frank LoBiondo Record. You see, nj.com is reporting the Tea Party activists are in court:
The group, called the Committee to Recall Senator Robert Menendez, is going to court after its petition to recall the senator was denied by former Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells last month.
The Tea Partiers, part of a Sussex County group supporting limited government and opposed to Menendez's stance on healthcare reform, are contesting the decision in a state appeals court.
Dan Silberstein, a lawyer for the group, said the legal battle is over which constitution - the U.S. or state - should apply to residents who want to recall their senators.
"We essentially have a New Jersey constitution that says we can do it," said Silberstein.
Now sadly they don't have a leg to stand on because this is apparently settled law--I say sadly because they don't have a chance of getting a recall even if state law applied. Article I, Paragraph 2b of The New Jersey state constitution requires 25% of registered voters to sign the petitions to even get to hold a recall election. From my previous post:
According to the latest state voter registration statistics, there are 5,227,896 registered voters in New Jersey. So to recall Senator Menendez, my conservative friends will need a minimum of 1,306,974 signatures. Chris Christie only got 1,174,445 votes, so that might be a bit tough for them.
Maybe this higher traffic blog will help. I advise the Tea Party people just collect petitions and never turn them in, because the chance of success is the same without the court costs. |
