Two issues appeared in the news this last week concerning our servicemen. In one case, the serviceman won, in the other, servicemen across Kansas will likely be disenfranchised this coming election.
The good news first. In this case, South Carolina National Guardsman, 1st Lt. Augustine Kim. on active duty, ran afoul of DC’s gun laws, i.e., possessing an unregistered firearm.
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) arrested Lt. Kim on four felony charges of carrying firearms in the District after he was pulled over with the items securely stored in his trunk, as is allowed under federal law.
Lt. Kim pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of possessing an unregistered gun, and that charge was dismissed in May 2011. — Washington Times.
D.C. property clerk Derek Gray refused to return Lt. Kim’s firearms claiming they were “dangerous articles”. Gray furthermore refused to communicate with Lt. Kim’s lawyer on the matter. It took the actions of a lawyer, two Senators, another Member of Congress and an editorial in the Washington Times to get DC to release Lt. Kim’s property.
That changed after The Washington Times published a story about the case last Monday. The long-time firearms lawyer had never known the city to set up a hearing within a matter of days. Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, spoke with Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier on Thursday. Fellow Palmetto State Republican Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Tim Scott have also been engaged. “When you get two senior U.S. senators and a member of Congress calling the chief of police, it makes a difference,” Mr. Gardiner explained.
Friday’s hearing was held in a tiny, windowless room in the massive MPD evidence building in Southwest. Mr. Gray spent 17 minutes going through the papers in Mr. Kim’s file with the attorney before arriving announcing the decision. MPD would transfer the guns to a police department near Lt. Kim’s home in Charleston, S.C. next week. After the hearing, Mr. Gardiner called his client. “Auggie is so laconic,” said his smiling defense attorney. “All he said was, ‘That’s good news.’”
The second story is, as yet, unresolved. Here is a short summary.
Kansas legislators worked Thursday on new proposals for redrawing the state’s political boundaries, but a federal court could take redistricting out of their hands at the end of the month.
Majority Republicans in the Senate were trying to end a bitter internal feud over the chamber’s 40 districts, driven by a coming struggle between GOP conservatives and moderates in this year’s Republican primaries. The Senate’s moderate GOP leaders hope to fend off conservative challenges and retain power, allowing them to remain as a check on conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s agenda.
…
The most contentious dispute has been over redrawing state Senate districts. Conservatives believe proposals backed by moderate Republicans and most Democrats are designed to thwart conservative primary challengers. Many legislators view alternatives from conservatives as designed to help them oust the Senate’s current leaders — with Brownback’s blessing, though he has said he isn’t involved in primary races. — Midwest Democracy.
The Kansas House submitted a congressional redistricting plan on schedule. The RINOs in the Senate, however, rebuffed the plan. Why? Because the new boundaries contained potential opponents…opponents likely to send those RINOs home come the fall. The RINOs wanted to gerrymander the districts to eliminate potential rivals. The conservatives wanted the redistricting plan submitted by the KS House to remain as-is.
As of this last weekend, the impasse remains. The issue is that a federal deadline is coming up. Military ballots must be mailed to servicemen serving outside the state 45 days prior to an election. That is federal law. Without redistricting, not only will the ballot not be mailed, political opponents cannot file for office.
Conservative KS Secretary of State Kris Kobach is caught in a dilemma. He is the defendant of a federal lawsuit. He has filed a request with the federal court asking for a three-judge panel to break the deadlock and settle the boundary issue.
Kobach should not have been placed in this position. The fault lies in the KS Senate—specifically in the persons of the democrat senators supporting the impasse, the “moderate” republicans and the KS Senate leadership who refuse to act.
While these RINOs dither, Kansas servicemen will be the one to suffer disenfranchisement. Kansas voters should remember who is at fault, the RINOs and their democrat allies. Vote’m out of office. If there isn’t a primary opponent ready, choose ome. Boot every RINO and democrat out of office in the primary and then elect Conservatives in the fall.
Those who fail our servicemen do not deserve to serve in any elected or appointed office.