Blunt puts politics before the law....again.

Governor Blunt has decided once again to ignore the law. An article in the Post-Dispatch's Political Fix reported that the date has passed for Governor Blunt to set a special election in February to fill the vacancy in the 18th District. The 18th District House seat was vacated when Tom Dempsey was elected to the State Senate in September of 2007. February 5, 2008 is the date of the Missouri presidential primary and Blunt set this date for 3 other special elections to fill House vacancies.

Under Missouri law the Governor shall call for an election "without delay" to fill the vacancy. The February date was a logical choice for the special election but it now appears as if the seat will remain open until the regular November 2008 election. The Post article indicates that a Blunt spokeswomen stated "(Blunt) has yet to decide whether to call a special election for a later date or to leave the House seat empty until the next full two-year term is filled in the November election." The spokeswomen, Jessica Robinson, said she didn't know why Blunt did not set the special election in February.

Of course, the rest of us know why Blunt put off the special election; politics. One of the possible contenders for the seat on the Democrats side is former County Sheriff and St. Charles City Police Chief Tim Swope. Swope, who was elected Sheriff as a Republican, recently switched sides and would be a formidable Democratic candidate in this Republican county. By putting off the election until November, which is the presidential election, Republicans can be assured of high voter turnout and a possible Democratic ticket headed by Hillary Clinton, not exactly a favorite in St. Charles County.

Apparently, Blunt still hasn't figured out that the laws of this state apply to him. The law requires that an election shall be set without delay and it makes no mention of any exceptions, much less pure political motives, to delay the election. However, the article in the Post claims there is precedent for not scheduling a special election until the November general election because former Governor Mel Carnahan did this in 1998.

Precedent? Precedent is something done or said that may serve as an example or rule to authorize or justify a subsequent act of the same or an analogous kind. Use of the word precedent implies some legal justification. This is another of those situations in which we apply a different standard to politicians. For example, you won't get very far if you steal a car and tell the police "there is precedent for this, my neighbor Barney stole a car back in 98 and he's still driving it."

The fact that Carnahan broke the law does not justify Blunt's action, it just confirms that Democrats break the law as well. We have this silly law about filling an open House seat "without delay" because of something called representative democracy. The residents of the 18th District should demand no less.