This correspondence had an email, with a document attached to it. First the email:
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Mr. Sandler,
I've been told that you're office is the correct one to forward this correspondence to. Please find attached some questions regarding the potential release of documents to the public from the DNC. Thank you very much for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Your Fellow Citizen,
Justin W. Riggs
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Dear Mr. Sandler,
Please allow me to thank you for your prompt and courteous reply to my records request. While I disagree with your assessment of the situation, I respect your judgment, and will proceed with my inquiry through the proper channels.
I thank you for the information regarding the various State Party's Delegate Selection Plans for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Please know that many of those documents have been reviewed by myself and other concerned citizens. We have also contacted a large number of Secretaries of State, who have unanimously told us that it is the legal responsibility of the political party to ensure that the candidates they put forth for election are legally qualified to serve in the office they are seeking; hence our decision to contact you.
I hope you won't consider it impertinent of me to ask you to clear up some confusion on my part. To the best of my knowledge, each of the State Party's Delegate Selection Plans must comply with the policies, procedures, and rules that are put forth in the Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention that was adopted by the Democratic National Committee on August 19th of last year. In that document, under heading 12 (Presidential Preference), rule K, it states:
1. Based on the right of the Democratic Party to freely assemble and to determine the criteria for its candidates, it is determined that all candidates for the Democratic nomination for President or Vice President shall:
a. be registered to vote, and shall have been registered to vote in the last election for the office of President and Vice President; and
b. have demonstrated a commitment to the goals and objectives of the Democratic Party as determined by the National Chair and will participate in the Convention in good faith.
2. It is further determined that these requirements are in addition to the requirements set forth by the United States Constitution and any law of the United States.
This document leads me to believe that there are policies and procedures that have been established by the party in which a candidate is determined to be legally qualified to hold office. As far as I am able to determine, each of these necessary qualification could be established by the presentation of documentary evidence. I am hopeful that the party will be willing to share this information with the public because in the Delegate Selection Rules it also states, under the heading An Open Party: “The Democratic Party in each state should publicize fully and in such a manner as to assure notice to all interested parties a full description of the legal and practical procedures for selection of Democratic Party officers and representatives on all levels”. I have made this request of my state party, and was rebuffed – perhaps the national party organization is willing to receive a “full description of the legal and practical procedures” for the selection of the Democratic Party's presidential nominee for the office of President of the United States of America. Is there any circumstance under which the Democratic National Party would be willing to share this information with the public? Is there any circumstance under which the party would be willing to share with the public the evidence that was considered in making the determination that Mr. Obama was legally eligible to serve as President under the provisions of the United States Constitution and the Delegate Selection Rules for the 2008 Democratic National Convention?
Finally, please know that I come to you in a spirit of cooperation and, hopefully, coordinated effort. I am anything but a litigious person, and am willing to exhaust any and all necessary efforts to bring this information to light before considering the option of petitioning the judicial branch of our governmental system. I wish you the very best, and eagerly await your response.
Sincerely,
Your Fellow Citizen,
Justin W. Riggs
Showing posts with label Democratic National Committee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Democratic National Committee. Show all posts
A Hand Delivered Letter to Nancy Pelosi?
I received an interesting letter from an an unnamed source today. This person wrote:
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If you want to draft a letter to NP (Nancy Pelosi) regarding the differences in the HI DNC Certification, I have someone who will hand-deliver this to NP in D.C.
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Obviously, I jumped at the offer. Here's the letter I wrote:
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January 2nd, 2009
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
Washington, D.C. Office
235 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
202.225.4965
Congresswoman Pelosi,
First, please allow me the opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year, and express my gratitude for the chance to present this letter to you. I know that you are an extremely busy woman, and I will seek to be as brief and to the point as possible.
On the 22nd of December last year, I received a document from the Hawaii Office of Elections that included an Official Certification of Nomination from the Democratic Party that bears your signature on it. On that document, it states in part that: “the following candidates for President and Vice President of the United States (referring to Barack Obama and Joe Biden, respectively) are legally qualified to serve under the provisions of the United States Constitution.” I was interested in this document because it was different from all the other Certifications of Nomination which I have received, which simply state that the candidates had been nominated at the convention. I am assuming that this difference is a result of Section 11-113 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, which stipulates that the political party of a candidate must provide a statement that the candidate is legally qualified to serve as President under the provisions of the United States Constitution.
As I'm sure you know, there has been some concern on the part of the citizens of this country that Mr. Obama is not eligible to hold the office of President; and, as of yet, no evidence has been made available to the public that would allow for a determination of eligibility to be made. Because you signed your name to this document, I have been asked by other concerned citizens to make a request that you provide us access to and copies of any documents that you used when making a determination of eligibility regarding Mr. Obama's qualifications to serve as President of the United States of America.
Again, I thank you for your time, and eagerly await your response.
Sincerely Yours,
Your Fellow Citizen,
Justin W. Riggs
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If I hear anything, I'll post it right away...
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If you want to draft a letter to NP (Nancy Pelosi) regarding the differences in the HI DNC Certification, I have someone who will hand-deliver this to NP in D.C.
------------
Obviously, I jumped at the offer. Here's the letter I wrote:
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January 2nd, 2009
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
Washington, D.C. Office
235 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
202.225.4965
Congresswoman Pelosi,
First, please allow me the opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year, and express my gratitude for the chance to present this letter to you. I know that you are an extremely busy woman, and I will seek to be as brief and to the point as possible.
On the 22nd of December last year, I received a document from the Hawaii Office of Elections that included an Official Certification of Nomination from the Democratic Party that bears your signature on it. On that document, it states in part that: “the following candidates for President and Vice President of the United States (referring to Barack Obama and Joe Biden, respectively) are legally qualified to serve under the provisions of the United States Constitution.” I was interested in this document because it was different from all the other Certifications of Nomination which I have received, which simply state that the candidates had been nominated at the convention. I am assuming that this difference is a result of Section 11-113 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, which stipulates that the political party of a candidate must provide a statement that the candidate is legally qualified to serve as President under the provisions of the United States Constitution.
As I'm sure you know, there has been some concern on the part of the citizens of this country that Mr. Obama is not eligible to hold the office of President; and, as of yet, no evidence has been made available to the public that would allow for a determination of eligibility to be made. Because you signed your name to this document, I have been asked by other concerned citizens to make a request that you provide us access to and copies of any documents that you used when making a determination of eligibility regarding Mr. Obama's qualifications to serve as President of the United States of America.
Again, I thank you for your time, and eagerly await your response.
Sincerely Yours,
Your Fellow Citizen,
Justin W. Riggs
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If I hear anything, I'll post it right away...
Response From the Democratic National Committee Regarding Document Request
Thanks to many new friends from the Plains Radio Network, I received a response to my document request today (note: the request came through others, not directly to my request). It looks like the request has been forwarded on to the legal department for review. Here's a sampling of the emails that were sent by the DNC to various petitioners (I've redacted the names of all senders for the privacy of those involved).
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Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate department.
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and then:
Already received several duplicate copies. Forwarded to the appropriate department.
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in response to a question about what department the correspondence was sent to, the DNC replied:
Legal.
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So we've made progress. We should hear back relatively soon, I would hope. I'll post something here as soon as there's news fit to print...
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Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate department.
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and then:
Already received several duplicate copies. Forwarded to the appropriate department.
------------
in response to a question about what department the correspondence was sent to, the DNC replied:
Legal.
------------
So we've made progress. We should hear back relatively soon, I would hope. I'll post something here as soon as there's news fit to print...
Request for Documents From Democratic National Party...
Although they aren't officially a public, governmental agency, I thought I would make a document request under the state open records act, and see what response I got. There is precedent for a private, non-profit organization being compelled to release information of this nature, so I would encourage anyone and everyone interested in this topic to send a similar request to the DNC:
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Justin W. Riggs
(my personal information)
December 31, 2008
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
Alice Travis Germond
Democratic National Committee
430 South Capitol Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
Phone: 202-863-8000
germonda@dnc.org
RECORDS REQUEST
Dear Records Request Officer:
Pursuant to the state open records act, I request access to and copies of any and all documents used to determine the eligibility of Barack Obama to serve as President of the United States under the provisions of the Constitution of the United States of America and the Democratic Party's 2008 Delegate Selection Plan in the 2008 primaries and general election. While the DNC Services Corporation is a private, non-profit organization, several courts have held that such organizations fall under the jurisdiction of their respective state open records acts, particularly when they are performing a government function or are functionally a government agency (see Gannon and Nichols v. The Board of Regents of the State of Iowa and Kimberly Kay Allen v. John Day for examples of these types of rulings). I therefore request that this request be granted in all due haste.
Because this request is for public, non-commercial use, I request that any fee be waived. If a fee is required, please contact me at this email address (juriggs@yahoo.com) with the amount, at which time I will decide to pursue or cancel my request.
If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I would also remind you that the act stipulates that you respond to this request in a timely fashion. I request that the document be mailed either electronically (a readable scan of the documents is sufficient) or through the postal service, no later than noon, January 7th. If this is not possible, please contact me at this email address (juriggs@yahoo.com) with a time and a date by which I can expect to receive the documents.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Your Fellow Citizen,
Justin W. Riggs
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Justin W. Riggs
(my personal information)
December 31, 2008
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
Alice Travis Germond
Democratic National Committee
430 South Capitol Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
Phone: 202-863-8000
germonda@dnc.org
RECORDS REQUEST
Dear Records Request Officer:
Pursuant to the state open records act, I request access to and copies of any and all documents used to determine the eligibility of Barack Obama to serve as President of the United States under the provisions of the Constitution of the United States of America and the Democratic Party's 2008 Delegate Selection Plan in the 2008 primaries and general election. While the DNC Services Corporation is a private, non-profit organization, several courts have held that such organizations fall under the jurisdiction of their respective state open records acts, particularly when they are performing a government function or are functionally a government agency (see Gannon and Nichols v. The Board of Regents of the State of Iowa and Kimberly Kay Allen v. John Day for examples of these types of rulings). I therefore request that this request be granted in all due haste.
Because this request is for public, non-commercial use, I request that any fee be waived. If a fee is required, please contact me at this email address (juriggs@yahoo.com) with the amount, at which time I will decide to pursue or cancel my request.
If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I would also remind you that the act stipulates that you respond to this request in a timely fashion. I request that the document be mailed either electronically (a readable scan of the documents is sufficient) or through the postal service, no later than noon, January 7th. If this is not possible, please contact me at this email address (juriggs@yahoo.com) with a time and a date by which I can expect to receive the documents.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
Your Fellow Citizen,
Justin W. Riggs
Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner
John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi signed the Hawaii Certification of Nominations. I wrote them through their Congressional offices.
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On the 4th of September, 2008, Mr. Boehner signed a document that was submitted to Hawaiian government officials stating that John McCain met the Constitutional requirements for holding the office of President. I am doing a research project on this topic, and was wondering what evidence Mr. Boehner was presented with that allowed him to make this determination of eligibility.
Thanks for your help!
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On the 28th of August, 2008, Ms. Pelosi signed a document that was submitted to Hawaiian government officials stating that Barack Obama was legally qualified to hold the office of President under the provisions of the Constitution. I am doing a research project on this topic, and was wondering what evidence Ms. Pelosi was presented with that allowed her to make this determination of eligibility.
Thanks for your help!
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On the 4th of September, 2008, Mr. Boehner signed a document that was submitted to Hawaiian government officials stating that John McCain met the Constitutional requirements for holding the office of President. I am doing a research project on this topic, and was wondering what evidence Mr. Boehner was presented with that allowed him to make this determination of eligibility.
Thanks for your help!
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On the 28th of August, 2008, Ms. Pelosi signed a document that was submitted to Hawaiian government officials stating that Barack Obama was legally qualified to hold the office of President under the provisions of the Constitution. I am doing a research project on this topic, and was wondering what evidence Ms. Pelosi was presented with that allowed her to make this determination of eligibility.
Thanks for your help!
Hawaii Answers TWO of My Questions
Today was a landmark day in my search. Hawaii has answered two of the questions I originally asked.
1) WHO was responsible for ensuring that our presidential candidate's were eligible?
For the Republicans, the answer to that question is 1) John Boehner, Chairman of the Republican National Convention, 2) Jean A. Inman, Secretary of the Republican National Convention, and 3) Willes K. Lee, Chairman of the Republican Party of Hawaii.
For the Democrats, it was 1) Nancy Pelosi, Chair of the Democratic National Convention, 2) Alice Travis Germond, Secretary of the Democratic National Convention 3) Brian E. Schatz, Chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and 4) Lynne Matusow, Secretary of the Democratic Party of Hawaii.
2) WHEN was the final determination regarding the presidential candidates eligibility made?
For the Republicans, the date was September 4th, 2008.
For the Democrats, the date was the 28th of August.
This only leaves us with one final question to answer:
3) WHAT EVIDENCE did the candidates provide to the above named officials which allowed a determination of eligibility to be made? At least we know who to ask!
I've attached the documents for you to review, and wish to express again my thanks for Hawaiian officials, who have been more than helpful during my correspondence with them.
Hawaii - Dems and Repubs Say Constitutionally Eligible
1) WHO was responsible for ensuring that our presidential candidate's were eligible?
For the Republicans, the answer to that question is 1) John Boehner, Chairman of the Republican National Convention, 2) Jean A. Inman, Secretary of the Republican National Convention, and 3) Willes K. Lee, Chairman of the Republican Party of Hawaii.
For the Democrats, it was 1) Nancy Pelosi, Chair of the Democratic National Convention, 2) Alice Travis Germond, Secretary of the Democratic National Convention 3) Brian E. Schatz, Chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and 4) Lynne Matusow, Secretary of the Democratic Party of Hawaii.
2) WHEN was the final determination regarding the presidential candidates eligibility made?
For the Republicans, the date was September 4th, 2008.
For the Democrats, the date was the 28th of August.
This only leaves us with one final question to answer:
3) WHAT EVIDENCE did the candidates provide to the above named officials which allowed a determination of eligibility to be made? At least we know who to ask!
I've attached the documents for you to review, and wish to express again my thanks for Hawaiian officials, who have been more than helpful during my correspondence with them.
Hawaii - Dems and Repubs Say Constitutionally Eligible
Hello to the Democratic National Committee
This morning I called the DNC to see if I could get in touch with anyone that might be able to answer my questions. I talked to two very helpful individuals, one of which promised to get back to me with information.
Funny thing is, I was so nervous, I forgot to get the gentleman's name! Hopefully, he get's back to me....
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UPDATE: Matt from the DNC did get back to me, and gave me the name of Ben Abolt to get in touch with. He said this is "the guy who can answer my questions". So I sent a letter to Mr. Abolt right away:
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Mr. Labolt,
This morning I contacted the Democratic National Committee about the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's qualifications, and they gave me your name as the person to contact. I Googled your name, and happened to see that you had a Facebook account - hope you don't mind that I contacted you this way.
The reason I contacted the DNC is that there has obviously been some controversy surrounding whether or not Mr. Obama is qualified to hold the office of President. I think that he must be, but I took it upon myself to get a firm answer on this question. As I researched the topic I saw that in the 2008 Delegate Selection Rules, it states:
1. Based on the right of the Democratic Party to freely assemble and to determine the criteria for its candidates, it is determined that all candidates for the Democratic nomination for President or Vice President shall:
a. be registered to vote, and shall have been registered to vote in the last election for the office of President and Vice President; and
b. have demonstrated a commitment to the goals and objectives of theDemocratic Party as determined by the National Chair and will participatein the Convention in good faith.
2. It is further determined that these requirements are in addition to the requirements set forth by the United States Constitution and any law of the United States.
So now I know the Democratic Party has qualifications a candidate must meet if they want the nomination. What I don't know, and what I need your help with is:
1) Who within the party is responsible for making sure that Mr. Obama meets all the qualifications set out in the Delegate Selection Rules?
2) When did the qualification process occur, and on what date was it determined that Mr. Obama is eligible?
3)What evidence was provided by Mr. Obama that served as conclusive proof that he was eligible to seek the nomination?
Thanks in advance for your help, and I'll look forward to hearing back from you. You can contact me here on Facebook, or at juriggs@yahoo.com.
Funny thing is, I was so nervous, I forgot to get the gentleman's name! Hopefully, he get's back to me....
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UPDATE: Matt from the DNC did get back to me, and gave me the name of Ben Abolt to get in touch with. He said this is "the guy who can answer my questions". So I sent a letter to Mr. Abolt right away:
------------
Mr. Labolt,
This morning I contacted the Democratic National Committee about the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's qualifications, and they gave me your name as the person to contact. I Googled your name, and happened to see that you had a Facebook account - hope you don't mind that I contacted you this way.
The reason I contacted the DNC is that there has obviously been some controversy surrounding whether or not Mr. Obama is qualified to hold the office of President. I think that he must be, but I took it upon myself to get a firm answer on this question. As I researched the topic I saw that in the 2008 Delegate Selection Rules, it states:
1. Based on the right of the Democratic Party to freely assemble and to determine the criteria for its candidates, it is determined that all candidates for the Democratic nomination for President or Vice President shall:
a. be registered to vote, and shall have been registered to vote in the last election for the office of President and Vice President; and
b. have demonstrated a commitment to the goals and objectives of theDemocratic Party as determined by the National Chair and will participatein the Convention in good faith.
2. It is further determined that these requirements are in addition to the requirements set forth by the United States Constitution and any law of the United States.
So now I know the Democratic Party has qualifications a candidate must meet if they want the nomination. What I don't know, and what I need your help with is:
1) Who within the party is responsible for making sure that Mr. Obama meets all the qualifications set out in the Delegate Selection Rules?
2) When did the qualification process occur, and on what date was it determined that Mr. Obama is eligible?
3)What evidence was provided by Mr. Obama that served as conclusive proof that he was eligible to seek the nomination?
Thanks in advance for your help, and I'll look forward to hearing back from you. You can contact me here on Facebook, or at juriggs@yahoo.com.
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