Welcome to your Thursday open thread. Don’t forget, today is the special election for New Castle County Council president. Vote!
The Republicans have their marching orders from the Chamber of Commerce – don’t mess with the debt ceiling.
Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, played a critical role in electing a new Republican majority to the House. While he’s no doubt aware of some of the pressure from the GOP’s activist base, Donohue also knows his Republican partners can’t — or at least shouldn’t — do anything that undermine the nation’s business interests.
Consider this exchange from MSNBC this morning:
CHUCK TODD: Are you going to be actively working on these folks that you supported in the election, telling them, ‘Hey, don’t mess around with the debt ceiling,’ or ‘Don’t mess around with these trade deals’?
TOM DONOHUE: We absolutely support the expansion of the debt. We think, by the way, it’s in everybody’s interest to do a few things on spending while we’re at that, to demonstrate we’re moving in the right direction. But who could imagine that new people come to town and cut the most significant deficit while we have high unemployment two weeks into the deal? So we’ve got to do the debt ceiling. There’ll be a lot of political carrying on, but it will be done.
It should be interesting to watch the Republican in-fighting on this issue. I doubt the new Teapublicans will just go along. What will the GOP establishment do?
Article I, Section 8 of the Arizona state constitution:
Officers Subject to Recall; Petitioners
Every public officer in the state of Arizona, holding an elective office, either by election or appointment, is subject to recall from such office by the qualified electors of the electoral district from which candidates are elected to such office. Such electoral district may include the whole state. Such number of said electors as shall equal twentyfive per centum of the number of votes cast at the last preceding general election for all of the candidates for the office held by such officer, may by petition, which shall be known as a recall petition, demand his recall.
363,909 total votes were cast for sheriff in 2008, meaning that 90,978 residents of Pima County would have to sign a recall petition to force a recall election of Sheriff Clarence Dupnik. (Dupnik’s Republican opponent received 128,146 votes.) The petition would have to contain a general statement of 200 words or fewer outlining the case for recall.
Dupnik would have five days to resign his position following the filing of a successful recall petition. If he failed to do so, a recall election would be scheduled as provided by law. The Pima County Board of Supervisors would be required to call for a recall election within 15 days, to be scheduled for the first available election day — provided it is more 90 days away from the announcement. Pima County holds elections in March, May, and November — so May would be the first plausible date.
Remember with Dupnik’s original remarks, he didn’t mention anyone in particular he only mentioned the rhetoric in general. The rightwing reacted furiously, perhaps because of a guilty conscience?