It’s beginning to feel like a shoot-out at the O.K. Corral.
Yesterday’s indictment of Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal S. Acevedo Vila brings the tally of Democratic superdelegates facing criminal indictments, or threat of indictments, to four. (Make that five, if you count former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was pledged to support Hillary Rodham Clinton, but resigned March 12 in a sex scandal and therefore lost his super delegate status.)
At the rate things are going, maybe the Democrats will have to move their convention to San Quentin to have a quorum.
These are the decision-makers who will get to choose the next Democratic nominee, in all likelihood, and whose votes at the convention will count thousands of times more than those of the rest of us. As long as they continue as public officials, they get to remain super delegates.
But while Acevedo Vila, who supports Sen. Barack Obama, can vote at the convention if he remains in office, he is unlikely to rally support on behalf of his candidate for Puerto Rico’s June 1 primary.
Other officials facing criminal charges include Rep. William J. Jefferson of Louisiana, indicted last year on corruption charges following an FBI raid that found $90,000 in a home freezer. Jefferson is uncommitted, perhaps not surprising under the circumstances.
There’s also Nancy Worley, vice chairwoman of the Alabama Democratic party and former Alabama secretary of state, indicted last year charges of using her office to influence political action and soliciting political contributions from her employees. She is also uncommitted.
And there’s Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, indicted Monday for perjury and obstruction of justice after his sexually explicit text messages contradicted sworn denials of an affair with a top aide. As of today, Michigan’s delegation won’t be seated, but who knows how things will look in a few months. Kilpatrick is also uncommitted.
Finally, if the list is extended to include super delegates under an ethical cloud, there’s also Jim Wright, the former speaker of the House from Texas, who resigned in 1980 after the House Ethics Committee probed his financial dealings. Wright, a super delegate by virtue of being “a distinguished party leader” - a category that includes 23 elder statesmen such as former presidents and vice presidents - now works for a life insurance company in Waco and teaches part-time. “I want to support Hillary,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
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1 Comments
#1. Obama 08 03.28.2008
Hey, if there are so many superdelegates in jail that no presidential candidate can reach the magic 2,024 number, does that mean the candidate with the most delegates wins? Can the hair pulling stop now?
By the way, has anyone noticed that McCain had defended Obama from the Rev. Wright smears, saying he does not regard Obama as a bigot. That is in contrast with Hillary Clinton, who continues to pour gasoline on Obama whenever a match is lit.
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