In my continuing coverage of Candidate Qualification, Justin Riggs, blogger at yourfellowcitizen.com is currently mulling over a different tactic of holding someone accountable for a candidate’s official eligibility:

The United States Democratic Party consists of two separate entities: the Democratic National Committee, which is an unincorporated association, and the DNC Services Corporation, which is “a District of Columbia non-profit corporation that is controlled by the elected national officers of the Democratic National Committee, owns the assets, employs the staff and possesses the contractual rights and obligations of the Democratic National Committee.” (p. 5 of PDF) [emphasis in original]

 

Originally, state open records acts only applied to governmental agencies, but as governments have outsourced more and more of their functions, several court cases have arisen involving the right of the public to access documents held by private, non-profit corporations. In several of these cases, the courts held that the public did have a right to access to the requested information. Two examples of these types of cases are Gannon and Nichols v. The Board of Regents of The State of Iowa and Kimberly Kay Allen v. John Day. The courts seem particularly sympathetic to the plaintiff when the organization being petitioned for information is functionally a government agency, or is performing a government function, both of which define what the DNC Services Corporation is and is doing.

 

My feeling is that a court would be more likely to rule in a plaintiff’s favor under the circumstances which have arisen under the current controversy (I’m no lawyer, of course). After all, how can a citizen be expected to perform their duty to elect an eligible President if the parties legally responsible for ensuring the eligibility of their candidate won’t share the information necessary to make a rational and informed decision? This information is vital, and of a national interest.

 

Because of the Hawaii Certification of Nominations, we now know who certified Barack Obama as eligible to serve as President under the provisions of the Constitution, and when they did so. The only information we are missing is this: what information was presented to these officials that allowed them to make their determination of eligibility? Procuring that information is our next goal at http://www.yourfellowcitizen.com.

Justin has been performing exemplary work over at his blog. Do check it out sometime; it’s full of communications with State and party officials from across America.

-Phil