Judge Allows Dems to Penalize Florida
Well Florida should be very happy with their bone head plan to move their primary to January in violation of DNC rules. The lawsuit against the DNC was filed by Sen. Bill Nelson and it appears that the Florida judge believes in the Constitution; that pesky piece paper. Florida may now be headed down the same path as Michigan who was stripped of all their delegates last Saturday. You can read all about the Florida debacle in previous post here and here.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Democratic National Committee can penalize the Florida party by stripping the state of its convention delegates because it is holding an early presidential primary, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
- U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled in favor of the DNC in a lawsuit by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings, both Florida Democrats. Nelson and Hastings had argued that state Democrats were being illegally penalized for the state having the primary earlier than national rules allow.
- But Hinkle said that political parties have a First Amendment right to set their own rules and enforce them. The national party did that, which means that Florida will not have a say in picking the Democratic nominee.
- Florida’s primary is Jan. 29. But Democratic Party rules say states cannot hold their 2008 primary contests before Feb. 5, except for Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The calendar was designed to preserve the traditional role Iowa and New Hampshire have played in selecting the nominee, while including two states - Nevada and South Carolina - in the early mix to add geographic and racial and ethnic diversity.
The Democratic National Committee welcomed the decision.
- “We’re pleased the court ruled in our favor, recognizing the constitutionally protected right of the Democratic National Committee to enforce its rules and treat all state Democratic parties in a fair and equal way,” said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney.
- Hinkle said he wanted to issue a quick oral decision because there was some urgency in the case. He planned to issue a written decision by Monday, but anticipated that would not be the last word in the case.
Nelson’s lawyers were still in the courthouse and not immediately available for comment.
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