~ Vision-4-Freedom ~
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~ Vision-4-Freedom ~
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[Weekly Column]
By: Steve Gill
December 1, 2008 - December 8, 2008
GillReport.com
Steve Gill
The selection of Hillary Clinton as his choice for Secretary of State reveals that President-elect Barack Obama does not limit his lack of appreciation for the Constitution to just the First and Second Amendments. While there has been plenty of analysis focused on whether or not this is a good political decision or not, the choice may actually reveal more about Obama’s respect or disrespect for the Constitution than about his political judgment.
The Emoluments Clause in Article I, section 6 of the U.S. Constitution provides: "No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time." On January 4, 2008 President Bush issued Executive Order 13454 which "encreased" the "Emoluments" (salary) of the office of Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton, as an elected Senator from New York at the time and with a current term of office that runs through the end of 2010 would seem to fall clearly within the definition of a “Senator” under this clause.
Clinton's appointment to the civil Office of Secretary of State constitutes an appointment to an office for which "the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased" during the time for which she was elected to serve as Senator. The plain language of the Emoluments Clause would thus appear to legally bar her appointment, assuming the Constitution matters to the new President.
Previous President’s have ignored this provision in the Constitution by engaging in the legal “fraud” of rolling back the pay scale for certain Senators who they wished to place in office despite the Constitutional ban on doing so. The clear wording of the provision makes Senators and Congressmen “ineligible,” something that cannot be cured by simply reducing their pay. The Constitution says that such Senators and Congressmen cannot be appointed, not that special accommodations must be made for their appointment.
Nevertheless, President Richard Nixon dodged the law and with a complicit Congress he selected Ohio Senator William Saxbe as his Attorney General. Saxbe was appointed following the “Saturday Night Massacre” that had led to the resignation of Attorney General Elliot Richardson during the scandal-ridden Watergate years.
President Jimmy Carter used the “salary rollback,” or “Saxbe fix,” to put Senator Edmund Muskie in place as Secretary of State; and...
President Bill Clinton utilized it to appoint Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen.
President Ronald Reagan chose to stick to the plain language of the Constitution in making his Cabinet and Supreme Court appointments.
So didPresident George W. Bush, and George Herbert Walker Bush.
In the past, Democrats in the Senate have opposed the use of the so-called
“Saxbe fix.” In the Saxbe case, ten Democrat Senators voted against the ploy on constitutional grounds.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), the only one of the ten who still remains in the Senate, said at the time that the Constitution was explicit on this issue and that "we should not delude the American people into thinking a way can be found around the Constitutional obstacle."
Will he speak up again, or was his previous opposition to this un-Constitutional artifice base on partisanship rather than principle ?
More importantly, is President Barack Obama showing himself willing to abandon his sworn oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” before he even takes the oath ?
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In a country that is ever changing and re-defining American values, Steve is dedicated to preserving the independent and self-sufficient spirit that embodies this country. As one of his listeners, Country star Lee Greenwood says, Steve Gill gives him his daily "Grasp on Sanity".
Steve has received numerous AIR (Achievement in Radio) Awards, including Best Talk Host in Nashville, and has twice received recognition as a Hero of the Taxpayers from Americans for Tax Reform for his leadership in opposing a state income tax in Tennessee. Steve has been the Chief Political Analyst for WKRN News 2 (ABC) in Nashville.
He also makes frequent appearances as a political commentator on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and other media outlets in the U.S. and abroad and is a regular columnist for www.pajamasmedia.com. In 2008, Steve wrote...The Fred Factor: How Fred Thompson May Change the '08 Election.
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E-mail: steve@gillreport.com
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As John Quincy Adams said, "Duty is ours; results are God's." If we would truly do our duty, who knows what God would do to help us defeat (for the sake of our children and grandchildren) this devilish New World Order ?
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As for me and my house, we will fight for a free, independent and sovereign United States--so that we might walk, work, and worship in freedom--as long as we have breath in our being. How about you ?
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"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." --James Madison
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"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"---Thomas Jefferson
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