UPCOMING EVENTS
GOVERNOR BLUNT TO ADDRESS ANNUAL
JOHN C. RYAN PICNIC
The
Pettis County Republican Party will sponsor the 64th ANNUAL JOHN C.
RYAN Picnic on Monday, September 26,
2005, at 6:00 p.m. In light of the
anticipated large crowd, the event will he held at the State Fair Best Western,
3120 South Limit Avenue. Governor Matt Blunt
will be the honored guest and keynote speaker. This event traces its original
to a picnic begun in 1942 hosted by the late Senator John C. Ryan. This event
has become an important event for Republicans in our community. The price of the
tickets is $25.00 per person or $40.00 for two. Tickets may be obtained from
any member of the Republican Central Committee, or by contacting Chairman Carla Young.
CANDIDATE
RECRUITMENT
COMMITTEE
To organize
The Pettis
County Republican
Candidate Recruitment Committee will have their organizational meeting on September 20,2005
at 5:15 p.m. at 202
West Fourth Street, Sedalia,
Missouri. The purpose of
this Committee will be to find candidates for the general election in 2006.
Committee Chair Terry Kelley has vowed to find qualified candidates for all
offices. The following positions to be elected in 2006 are currently held by
Democrats; Clerk of the Circuit Court, County
Clerk,
Recorder of Deeds and Collector of Revenue.
Republicans currently hold the offices of Senator from the 28th
District (Delbert Scott); Representative from the 116th District
(Tom Self); Representative from the 117th District (Kenny Jones);
Representative from the 118th District (Todd Smith); Representative
from the 119th District (Shannon Cooper); Presiding Commissioner
(Rusty Kahrs); Prosecuting Attorney (Jeff Mittelhauser); Auditor (Connie Purchase); Assessor (Dean Dohrman); Circuit Judge - Division Four (Robert Koffman); Circuit Judge - Division Five (R. Paul Beard; and
Circuit Judge - Division Six (Robert Liston). Terry
Kelley is seeking volunteers to assist in this effort. Please plan to come to
the organizational meeting. If you have any additional questions, please feel
free to call Terry Kelley .
Pettis County Republican
Party Plan
On April 19, 2005, the Pettis County Republican Committee and a number of local
interested individuals met to adopt the Pettis County Republican Plan. This
Plan is the basic outline of work to be done over the next nineteen months. All
Congressmen and approximately one third of all Senators will be seeking
election in 2006, including our Junior Senator James Talent. A candidate
recruitment committee has been organized for the purpose of recruiting
candidates for that election and
the TARGET Committee (The Association of Republicans Getting Everyone Together)
has agreed to continue fund raising efforts. The TARGET Committee
has raised approximately $7,000 over the last two year period. The County Committee has agreed to participate in the Missouri 72-Hour Task Force. Several people have agreed to help in
this effort, but an overall coordinator has not yet been found. If you are
willing to assist in the grass roots effort, please telephone Chairman Carla
Young. Working together, the Pettis County Republican Committee will be
successful in 2006.
Appointments
Most everyone understands the importance of electing a
capable, honest and energetic governor. Little thought is normally given to
another important function of the governor, because it doesnt
often directly impact our lives. That is, the gubernatorial appointment
process. Under our system of government, the governor appoints individuals to
fill vacancies which may occur for various reasons. Indeed, Governor Matt Blunt
has recently exercised this important function in appointing Judge Robert L. Koffman as the Presiding Circuit Judge, in March;
appointing R. Paul Beard as Circuit Judge - Division Five in April; and
recently appointed Dean Dorhman as Pettis County
Assessor. As is customary, the Governor had the Pettis
County Republican
Central Committee participate in the appointment process relating to County Assessors position.
Although the Governor often exercises this authority, it is quite unusual to
have three appointments in one county within such a short period of time.
Pettis County Republican
Women
The Pettis County Republican Women have scheduled their next meeting
for Thursday, October 13, 2005, at the home of Marsha Boeschen,
1505 Shady Lane, Sedalia, Missouri. For more information, please call Barbara Hagebusch, PCRW President,
COMMENTARY
This year has been a difficult one for the
judicial branch of government. Conservative citizens, frustrated by the decisions
of some judges in individual cases, have called for numerous sanctions on
judges who make the wrong decision in a case. However, I think a careful review
of history will show first, that putting pressure on judges so that they are no
longer able to make their best judgment of the facts and the law would end our
experiment in free government and second, that we are not so impotent against
judicial errors as we make ourselves out to be.
Judicial independence was a key point in
the minds of our founding fathers when our constitutional foundations were
being created. Not only was European history rife with stories of sham trials
by corrupt judges in the pay of the king who would render whatever verdict was
requested, but the American colonies were still stinging from the enforcement
provisions of the Stamp Act which stripped their rights to be tried by an
impartial jury and put all cases in front of English Admiralty judges, who held
their positions, and thus entered their judgments, at the whim of King George.
For that reason, great efforts were made to create a judicial branch for the
new nation that was not beholden to the executive, to the passions of the
people, or to any other influence, other than a desire do see justice done.
Eliminating the independence of the
judiciary because of our disagreement with the findings of one or two or ten
particular cases is absurd, as absurd as eliminating the executive branch
because the President has made an error of judgment in a particular matter.
Throwing the baby out with the bath water is the phrase used to highlight this
kind of rash response to problems. If we eliminate the independence of the
judiciary, what will exist in its place? The answer is a judiciary so afraid of
removal and public disgrace that it cannot make a decision on a particular case
until a poll of Congress has been taken; justice that changes hats every time a
new set of politics assumes power in Washington. Well-heeled litigants could
affect the outcome of a case as much by supporting the right congressional
races as making arguments to a court. Legislators and executive branch members
would become obligated as public servants to apply political muscle to cases
that were important to their campaign supporters. Losing judicial independence
will subject us to corruption of medieval proportions.On
the other hand, we are not helpless in the face of
poor constitutional interpretations by the independent Judicial Branch. The
Constitution was carefully crafted to contain checks and balances on the powers
of each of the branches of government, including checks on the power of the
Judicial Branch. The Supreme Court web-site states When
the Supreme Court rules on a constitutional issue its decision is virtually
final [because] its decision can only be altered by the rarely used procedure
of constitutional amendment. If we feel helpless in the face of poor judicial
interpretation, it is only because we fail to use the check and balance
available to us in our Constitution. We as a people can overrule any Supreme
Court decision by constitutional amendment. In fact the very first amendment
after the bill of rights was an amendment whose purpose was to overrule what
the public felt was a bad Supreme Court decision. In the case of Chisholm v. Georgia, two Tories whose land had been
confiscated during the war sued Georgia in Federal Court to get their land back.
The Supreme Court found for the Tories and ordered Georgia to return their land. The public was
outraged and promptly passed the 11th Amendment ending the power of
individuals to sue states in Federal court. That power continues to be
available for use today. However, rights like hammers have no value unless they
are used.
We, as a people, should put the power to
check the Judicial Branch into more active use in our nation. When an
interpretation of the Constitution is seen by the people to be significantly
wrong, Congress should immediately propose an amendment correcting that
interpretation. The citizens of each state should then debate the issue as
their legislatures prepare to vote on the amendment. The result would be
healthy political discussion about constitutional interpretation at all levels
of society resulting in meaningful decisions made by the people as a whole,
while retaining, on the other hand, an independent judiciary whose on motive is
to do justice.
Paul Beard. Judge
