Eligibility sponsor fears GOP protecting Obama (with video and audio)
A legislative plan in Arizona that would require candidates for president to document their constitutional eligibility to occupy the Oval Office needs only an affirmative vote from the state Senate before it could be advanced to the governor, but the sponsor has told WND she's concerned the GOP leadership will end up protecting President Obama's secrets.
State Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, told WND today that her bill was approved by the House but now is being "held" by Senate President Robert Burns.
She explained Burns told her that in light of the controversy over the state's immigration law – targeted by pro-amnesty immigrants and open-border activists – "he didn't want to take on another one."
While Burns was on the floor of the Senate or in caucus much of today and couldn't be reached directly for comment, a spokesman, Mike Philipsen, told WND only that the issue is "in the process" and did not respond to requests to confirm that it actually will be given to senators for a vote.
Burns represents District 9 and is a Republican from Peoria. He serves as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Philipsen confirmed that if a Senate concurrence is obtained, "then it would go to the [governor]."
Gov. Jan Brewer has not said whether she supports the idea or not.
The text of the Arizona bill is available online.
Arizona has been targeted by calls for boycotts, violent protests and public ridicule for adopting a law that has law enforcement officials check the immigration status of people they stop. In effect, it makes being in the country illegally under federal requirements illegal under state law, too.
Public ridicule also has targeted the state for even considering a law that would require presidential candidates to document their eligibility, even though several other states also have adopted a similarly questioning stance.
The Arizona Republic cited Democrats who said "presidential candidates already have to prove their citizenship," and it added, editorially, "Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who lives in the real world, not on conspiracy island, points out that it could be unconstitutional for a state to impose its own requirements on federal office."
The newspaper called the plan, "worse than a foolish waste of time."
"It suggests Arizona is a place where any crackpot whim can be enshrined in law."
But Burges told WND that the disputes going on over immigration laws make now the right time to advance the argument over Obama's eligibility to the level of state law.
"I think it is a perfect time," she said.
She noted that the state legislative session is scheduled to conclude this week, and next year's legislature may not have the same components that are willing to look at the facts about Obama's eligibility.
And as WND has reported, no controlling legal authority ever directly addressed the question of whether Obama met the U.S. Constitution's requirements to be president, that is, being 35 years of age, a resident for at least 14 years and a "natural born citizen."
An image of a "Certification of Live Birth" that has been posted on the Internet fails to prove "natural born" status since those documents were available at the time Obama was born to children not born in Hawaii.
Besides his actual birth documentation, documentation that remains concealed for Obama includes kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.
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"At some point, I think, you have to do the best job for the greatest number of people," Burges said, echoing the feelings of Georgia state Rep. Mark Hatfield, who just days earlier introduced there legislation modeled after Arizona's plan.
Both of them require documentation regarding a candidates "natural born" status.
Hatfield told WND his plan calls for a candidate to submit an affidavit regarding status, citizenship and age, and "append a document proving the natural born citizen status."
The text of Hatfield's proposal also is found online.
The Arizona plan calls for political parties to "submit an affidavit of the presidential candidate in which the presidential candidate states the candidate's citizenship and age and shall append to the affidavit documents that prove that the candidate is a natural born citizen…"
Both documents provide that absent proof, the candidates name should not be on the ballot in that state.
Hatfield said it's really the responsibility of members of Congress to make sure a foreign-born individual or dual citizen isn't installed in the White House.
But he said without the leadership in Washington necessary to do that, it is up to states to tackle the issue. Arizona's plan is closest to adoption, awaiting only approval from the state Senate and a governor's signature.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Oklahoma also has pending in a legislative committee a referendum that could be put before voters.
The organization says during 2009, various plans to require documentation from presidential candidates were considered in Maine, Oklahoma, Missouri and Montana but were not adopted.
But that track record is not at all unusual for controversial issues such as a requirement for documentation for a presidential candidate's eligibility.
NCSL records also show that other election proposals were considered that were much more vague about whether they would apply to presidential candidates or not.
| Listen to an interview with Rep. Mark Hatfield:
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The Constitution states: "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."
"The bill is basically a bill that would provide some teeth to the Article 2, Section 1 by requiring presidential candidates in the future to submit an affidavit showing their citizenship and age, and their residency, and appending to that documents that would prove citizenship, age and residency," Hatfield said.
The issue arose with the candidacy of then-Sen. Barack Obama, who has written that he was born in Hawaii of an American mother and a Kenyan national father. Lawsuits erupted over the issue before his election and have been continuing to this date. Some claim he was not born in Hawaii and others allege the founders of the U.S. excluded dual citizens from the presidency.
"No citizen of the United States should ever have any doubts about the qualifications of the individual who occupies the highest office in the land," Hatfield said on the Liddy show.
A recent CBS–New York Times poll revealed that only 58 percent of Americans even "think" that Obama was born in this country.
According to the NCSL database, a New Hampshire proposal was pending concerning "inserting the presidential qualifications contained in the U.S. Constitution."
In New York, a proposal by a freedom-of-information organization to state lawmakers would have provided "an individual seeking placement on the New York State's election ballot(s) for the office of president or vice president of the United States must present proof of eligibility, as per requirements that are stated in Article 2, section 1, paragraph 5 of the U.S. Constitution."
In South Carolina, there was discussion over a plan to prohibit the name of a candidate on a ballot "unless that person shows conclusive evidence that he is a legal citizen of the United States."
Questions also remain about the wording of various proposals. In Obama's situation, the question specifically refers to his status as a "natural born citizen" as required by the Constitution, not any status as a "citizen" or even "native born citizen."
The proposals essentially are moving the same direction as a federal measure proposed by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla.
Posey's H.R. 1503 states:
"To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require the principal campaign committee of a candidate for election to the office of President to include with the committee's statement of organization a copy of the candidate's birth certificate, together with such other documentation as may be necessary to establish that the candidate meets the qualifications for eligibility to the Office of President under the Constitution."
The bill also provides:
"Congress finds that under … the Constitution of the United States, in order to be eligible to serve as President, an individual must be a natural born citizen of the United States who has attained the age of 35 years and has been a resident within the United States for at least 14 years."
The sponsors' goal is for the bill to become effective for the 2012 presidential election. The legislation now is pending in a House committee and has more than a dozen co-sponsors.
But whatever support Posey's plan has, it faces massive obstacles in a House and Senate dominated by Democrats, as well as a president whose own status could be impacted by its requirements.
April 27, 2010
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