A few months back, there was a lot of talk here about a state senate race in Kentucky in which the Repub-controlled body seated one of their own even though she'd been ruled ineligible to serve. Well, it looks like that
case has been decided.
A Franklin circuit judge has ruled that Republican Dana Seum Stephenson cannot serve in the state Senate, and that he can't force the Senate to seat Democrat Virginia Woodward.
Judge William Graham's ruling sets up the possibility of a special election to fill Jefferson County's 37th District Senate seat unless the Republican-controlled Senate reverses course and seats Woodward.
Stephenson said yesterday that she will appeal the ruling.
"We're looking forward to taking this up to the Supreme Court ... and I am confident that I will be allowed to serve my community that elected me," Stephenson said.
Woodward's lawyer, Jennifer Moore, said she hopes the Senate "will do the right thing" and seat her client. Moore said she is still studying the ruling to determine if Woodward should appeal any part of it.
To recap:
Stephenson, daughter of Senate Majority Whip Dan Seum defeated Democrat Woodward by just over 1,000 votes in November in the Louisville-area district. One problem--there appears to be uncontestable evidence that Stephenson lived just across the border in Indiana from 1997-2001. She voted, paid taxes and had her car registered there even though she occasionally slept in a home she owned with her mother in Louisville. The Kentucky state constitution requires state senate candidates to be residents of the state for at least six years prior to the election.
Woodward sued the day before the election, and a judge declared Stephenson ineligible. Woodward was sworn in, but the state senate refused to seat her until a nine-member committee decided the matter. That committee recommended seating Woodward--but the full Senate overruled it and seated Stephenson anyway. The Repub senate president then crassly proclaimed he could seat a 23-year-old if he wanted to.
The judge soundly rejected the idea that the state senate can seat whomever it wants. He also threw several of the Repubs' arguments right back at them.
"The court finds guidance from an old case with a particularly useful quotation, 'The legislature cannot make a buzzard a bull by merely saying it is.' Nor can the General Assembly declare Stephenson a resident when she is not," he wrote.
He went on to say: "They cannot fly in the face of reality and deliberately disregard a lawful court order and irrefutable supporting evidence to declare an apple an orange."
Graham also quarreled with those who have argued that the court would disenfranchise voters by not allowing Stephenson to be seated.
"Stephenson's actions misled them into believing that they were allowed to vote for her. As such, it was Stephenson who disenfranchised the voters."