From Politico:
It's not exactly a constitutional crisis, but two Republican members-elect missed the swearing-in on the House floor Wednesday and proceeded to participate in the legislative process -- voting, introducing bills, participating in committee hearings and speaking in the chamber -- for more than a day before the mistake was caught. "Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) missed the mass swearing-in ceremony on the House floor Wednesday but proceeded to cast a series of votes," I write for POLITICO. "Fitzpatrick participated in a reading of the Constitution on the House floor Thursday. If he paid attention to the reading of Article 6, he heard these words 'The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.'"
3 comments:
"Be it Resolved, that the votes recorded for Representative-elect Sessions and Representative-elect Fitzpatrick on rollcalls 3 through 8 be deleted and the vote-totals for each of those rollcalls be adjusted accordingly, both in the Journal and in the Congressional Record,"
Except that Sessions and Fitzpatrick DID vote for all of yesterday's legislation. Big day for House Republicans; first they violated the Constitution, then they constructed a Lie to say they didn't.
The vote was 257 to 159. Here is who voted for "yes" to the lie.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll011.xml#N
You will notice that the Republican Chairman of the Ethics Committee, Darrell Issa, refused to vote. Don't want to start your first day on the Ethic Committee by being party to this kind of lying incompetence.
Here is the Fitzpatrick event invite soliciting money from attendees.
Violates the Constitution, and the law of the land on his first day in the office!
8 U.S.C. § 607 generally prohibits the solicitation or receipt of campaign contributions in federal offices, including the House office buildings and district offices, in connection with a federal, state, or local election.
General Prohibition Against Using Official Resources for Campaign or Political Purposes
“[W]e are deeply committed to fulfilling our role in our constitutional democracy by maintaining the integrity of the People’s House. Our absence on the House floor during the oath of office ceremony for the 112th Congress — while not intentional — fell short of this standard by creating uncertainty regarding our standing in this body”
Not a good first day for two veteran Republican Representatives. Looks like they forgot to do their Constitutional homework before coming to Washington.
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