When my congressperson, Chaka Fattah, was indicted in 2015, John Boehner didn’t “have to get rid of him.” But maybe times have changed.
If so, it is in a bad way. The precedent would be set that if a Democrat was indicted, they would also have to be punished in advance of a coming trial. This goes against the apparently now-quaint presumption of innocence,
Expulsion from Congress, unlike impeachment, does not involve a trial. It is long established that indicted members get to keep their seat unless and until they resign, or are expelled after conviction.
King was pushed out of his party, and what it could do for him (notably, assign to committees). He was not expelled. If he had been re-elected after that, he might still be in Congress.
Expelling a member, who was under indictment, would be an extreme and unnecessary form of prejudicial pretrial publicity.
The difference is that Nixon represented a substantial faction within the Republican party. Santos is an outsider within the party; sacrificing him won’t upset the base. And Santos has no outside base to fall back on and use as a platform to counter-attack from.
Given they have a two-year term and the glacial pace of most court proceedings for this kind of stuff it is likely the rep could stay in office a long time before a conviction pushed them out (and I am unclear if even a conviction can force them out…I am pretty sure being in prison does not mean you can’t also be a member of congress).
Not a maybe. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi didn’t push for his pre-trial expulsion either. She wouldn’t have because there were many precendents for what happens when a member is arrested, and she always followed them.
Could you fix your quote box, please? I did not say the above.
Agreed and apologies, but I am past the edit time limit. The first part of my post should have read:
Not a maybe. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi didn’t push for his pre-trial expulsion either. She wouldn’t have because there were many precendents for what happens when a member is arrested, and she always followed them.
Please show me where I ever used the word, “expelled.” I said pushed out, and that’s what I meant. To say otherwise is setting up a straw man.
No Speaker has the power to “fire” a member. It’s done by bringing pressure to bear until that member resigns. That’s how Republicans got rid of King. It’s how Nancy Pelosi got rid of Anthony Wiener. How come McCarthy can’t manage it?
Other New York House members are calling for Santos to resign. His own Republican party leaders in New York are calling for him to resign. Looks like Kevin is ignoring those folks. Not a good look.
It’s not a problem. Such people are tried in courts all the time, and impartial juries are selected to hear those cases.
Even if McCarthy was willing to bring that pressure to bear I cannot see Santos caring in the slightest.
What could they possibly do to Santos that would make him want to give up a $175,000/year job?
He has no reason to believe there is a future in some promises from McCarthy. That some promise if he leaves means something better down the road. This is all he has. Santos will cling to his position and ride it as far as he can get.
Fair enough. Since I agee with Whack-a-Mole on how unpushable Santos is, I jumped in my mind – which of course is not yours – to expulsion as the most plausible way to get him out of there this year.
Besides the Whack-a-Mole theory, if McCarthy was to start trying to push out members who have disgraced the GOP,. I don’t see Santos being at the top of the list. Consider:
As for what McCarthy should do, he should cross the aisle to become a moderate Democrat. If he did that sincerely, who knows, he might retain his speakship a bit longer than he will as a Republican. Then he should respect the voters and courts rather than trying to push unconvicted members out.
The election doesn’t have to be within ten days, just the announcement.
governor shall, unless otherwise provided for by authorized
local law, resolution or ordinance, make proclamation of a special
election to fill such office within ten days of the occurrence of a
vacancy, specifying the district or county in which the election is to
be held, and the day thereof, which shall be: a. not less than seventy
nor more than eighty days from the date of the proclamation to fill a
vacancy in the office of a representative in congress
I was too, but I guess it makes sense. Constant, uncontrollable lying is a sign,. evidence that something is wrong with a person. (A sign is something a doctor perceives; a symptom is something a patient perceives.) It’s not the thing that is wrong; calling it an illness would be like calling an unexplained new mole on your face an illness. You want the doctor to figure out WHY the mole appeared.
I would presume uncontrollable mendacity could be a sign of many different illnesses.
In the other prior cases of members “pushed out” there was a component of said members not wanting to go through the process of legislative discipline outside of the constraints placed upon a judiciary process, and/or of not wanting to have to bear the ignominy of being stripped of all appointments.
But it means the person has to care about that. And this new breed doesn’t. We have already the precedent of MTG and her removal from committees actually letting her raise MORE money and increase her visibility.
They just Don’t Care. All that counts is having that aye when the vote is called.
McCarthy says “The voters elected him.” I’m thinking, no they didn’t. They elected the guy he said he was but most definitely was not. How is that not a reason for him to be forced out?
As scummy as he is, I disagree with this analysis. That’s not how identity works. If you shake my hand because I tell you I’m an astronaut, and then you find out I’m not, you didn’t shake someone else’s hand. You shook the hand of me, a liar.
They thought they elected George Santos, who was a college grad. They didn’t. They elected George Santos, who isn’t a college grad. But they elected George Santos.
If he leaves office, it ain’t gonna be because he’s a liar. It’s gonna be because he’s a criminal. And the evidence is coming in literally day by day.