Thread: Blogger's arrest shakes up Mississippi Republican primary

Mississippi high court sides with Cochran over primary

BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press October 24, 2014

Cochran

ROGELIO V. SOLIS — AP

JACKSON -- The Mississippi Supreme Court said Friday it won't revive an election challenge by a candidate who lost a Republican primary to Sen. Thad Cochran.

Three justices agreed with Cochran's attorneys, who said state Sen. Chris McDaniel waited too long to challenge Cochran's victory in the June 24 primary runoff.

A fourth justice, Michael Randolph, sided with Cochran, but for a different reason: He said courts should not be involved in deciding a political dispute over who votes in party primaries.

The 4-2 Supreme Court ruling was handed down three weeks after justices heard oral arguments. Three justices did not participate in the decision.

Cochran's attorneys, Mark Garriga and Phil Abernethy, said in a statement Friday the ruling "brings an end to the challenge of the primary runoff election and reconfirms the voters' choice of Thad Cochran as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate.

"As we have said from the beginning, regardless of the timeliness of the challenge, the facts continue to show this has always been a baseless challenge, and the will of the voters has now been validated by the Mississippi Supreme Court," Garriga and Abernethy said.

McDaniel ran with TEA Party support, and he claims the runoff was tarnished by voting irregularities such as people voting in the June 3
Democratic primary and then crossing over to vote in the June 24 Republican runoff. Mississippi does not register voters by party, but it bans people from voting in one party's primary and the other party's runoff in the same election cycle.

State officials already have set a Nov. 4 general election ballot that lists Cochran as the Republican nominee, former U.S. Rep. Travis Childers as the Democratic nominee and Shawn O'Hara as the Reform Party candidate.

McDaniel attorney Mitch Tyner issued a statement Friday that did not say whether McDaniel will pursue other legal action: "While we disagree with the majority, since there was no deadline in the statute to file a challenge, we are glad the Supreme Court finally ruled so Mississippi conservatives can move forward into 2015."

Mississippi in 2015 holds election for governor and seven other statewide offices and for all 174 state legislative seats. Tyner said recently that McDaniel might file a federal lawsuit to try to overturn results of the Republican U.S. Senate primary, based on claims that Cochran's campaign violated Republicans' First Amendment rights by courting voters who traditionally support Democrats.

Mississippi College law professor Matt Steffey said Randolph took issue with a state law McDaniel had cited -- one that a federal appeals court had already found unenforceable. It says people are only supposed to vote in a party's primary if they intend to support the party's nominee in the general election.

"You can't demand that people demonstrate their fidelity to the party orally as they go to vote," Steffey told The Associated Press on Friday. "It's just unimaginable that poll watchers would have a lawful way to identify people who look like unreliable Republican voters. Are they going to do that on the basis of race? Are they going to do that on the basis of presumed economic status?"

McDaniel led a three-person Republican primary June 3. Voter turnout increased for the runoff three weeks later, and certified results show Cochran defeated McDaniel by 7,667 votes. Cochran's camp says the former Senate Appropriations Committee chairman won the runoff fairly by reminding voters of his record in Washington.

Forty-one days after the runoff, McDaniel filed a challenge that sought to overturn Cochran's victory. A circuit judge dismissed the suit, agreeing with Cochran's attorneys that McDaniel had missed a 20-day deadline to file it. McDaniel appealed to the state Supreme Court, asking justices to revive his lawsuit so it could go to trial.

Abernethy made the same argument to the Supreme Court that he did in circuit court -- that McDaniel's challenge came too late.

Abernethy cited a 1959 Mississippi Supreme Court ruling that a candidate must challenge election results within 20 days. He said although election laws have been updated since then, legislators did not specifically undo the precedent set by the 1959 ruling.

Tyner said state law was substantially rewritten in 1986 and doesn't set a timeline for challenging results of a multi-county primary.

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2014/10/24/...#storylink=cpy

http://www.sunherald.com/2014/10/24/5874868/mississippi-high-court-sides-with.html?sp=/99/184/208/

Nov. 5, 2014

Mississippi Senate Election Results: Thad Cochran Wins

Thad Cochran (R-MS) speaks to supporters during his 'Victory Party' after holding on to his ...

Mississippi blogger pleads guilty in U.S. senator's wife photo case

By Therese Apel 4 hours ago

JACKSON, Miss. (Reuters) - A Mississippi political blogger accused of breaking into a nursing home to videotape the ailing wife of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy to commit burglary, according to a local district attorney.

Clayton Kelly, 29, could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

He was accused of taking video of Rose Cochran last spring, while she was bedridden in a nursing home. Kelly briefly posted the image in an online video attacking Cochran, a Republican then locked in a primary battle with Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel.

Kelly had been indicted on charges of conspiracy, attempted burglary and burglary, but prosecutors agreed to drop the other charges in exchange for his guilty plea.

During the first day of his trial, Kelly’s attorney argued that Kelly was acting as a journalist and therefore didn’t need consent to take the video.

Prosecutors argued that it is illegal for a reporter to break into someone’s residence to take photos.

During a court recess, Kelly decided to seek a plea deal, prosecutors said.

"I think a lot of this is political," he told the court, according to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper. "I think my constitutional rights should be respected."

Kelly was initially charged along with three other men.

A school teacher, Richard Sager, was charged with conspiracy and tampering with evidence. He is participating in a pre-trial diversion program, and will not be prosecuted if successful, The Clarion-Ledger reported.

John Mary, a former conservative radio host, in August pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to five years of supervised probation in exchange for helping the investigation.

Attorney Mark Mayfield, a leader in the Mississippi Tea Party, was also charged with conspiracy. He committed suicide in June.

“Throughout this ordeal, we have maintained that a crime was committed,” Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest said.
Kelly will be sentenced on Monday.

http://news.yahoo.com/mississippi-bl...224642984.html

Blogger sentenced to 5 years for taping Sen. Cochran’s ailing wife

By NICK GASS
6/15/15 12:42 PM EDT
Updated 6/15/15 1:41 PM EDT

A Mississippi man who last week pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for videotaping the ailing wife of Sen. Thad Cochran has been sentenced to five years in prison, though he will be released after two-and-a-half years.

Clayton Kelly, 29, a blogger, was accused of shooting cellphone video of Cochran’s wife Rose while she was in her bed at a nursing home. The images appeared briefly online during a particularly competitive Republican primary race between Cochran and state Sen. Chris McDaniel.

According to the Clarion-Ledger, Kelly also faced burglary and attempted burglary charges but avoided those as part of the last-minute plea deal before jury selection that will allow him an early release.

Cochran’s wife died in December at the age of 73 after living in a nursing home for 13 years.The 77-year-old Mississippi senator married long-time aide Kay Webber in late May.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/0...#ixzz3dAPRXat5