Warren County

Judge to rule on local man's attempt to kick Obama off ballots
By Justin McClelland

Staff Writer

Thursday, October 30, 2008

LEBANON — A Warren County judge will decide whether Sen. Barack Obama's name can appear on Ohio election ballots after listening this morning, Thursday, Oct. 30, to a Turtlecreek Twp. man who claims that the Democratic presidential candidate is not a U.S. citizen and cannot be elected president.

David Neal appeared in Warren County Common Pleas Court after filing a lawsuit on Friday. Neal wants a court order to remove Obama's name from ballots to be used in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Neal claims Obama was not born in the United States and cannot be president because the U.S. Constitution allows only native-born citizens to be elected to that post.

"We're facing a constitutional crisis," Neal said this morning in court. "Until we get to the bottom of this, there's going to be disenfranchisement."

Neal, who described himself as a retired "jack of all trades," said after the hearing that he filed the lawsuit himself and is not working with or for the Republican Party in the lawsuit.

Appearing before Magistrate W. Andrew Hasselbach, Neal said he had researched questions about Obama's birthplace since 2006 and made several requests to the Hawaiian bureau of statistics, Democratic National Party and Ohio Democratic Party for a birth certificate that would prove Obama was born in Hawaii.

"Wouldn't you think a doctor or nurse would have stepped up and said I was in the room when he was born?" Neal said.

In his lawsuit and during the hearing, Neal cited numerous Web sites as sources of information to challenge Obama's birthplace. Neal added that he had to produce birth certificates to sign his children up for youth football.

In a brief filed today disputing Neal's claim, the Ohio Attorney General's office said that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has "no legal authority to perform" the removal of Obama's name from ballots.

"... the allegations in the Complaint are nothing but speculation and inadmissible hearsay. There is no evidence in the Record that Senator Obama was born in Kenya, or that he somehow lost his United States citizenship during his time in Indonesia. Mr. Neal's allegations are anything but 'clear or free from reasonable doubt' ," the attorney general's brief stated.

Mike Schuler and Steven McGann, representatives from the Ohio Attorney General's office, also appeared this morning in Warren County Common Pleas Court, filed the state's brief and said nothing during the hearing.

Hasselbach asked Neal why he had waited until 11 days before the election to file his claim. Neal said that he had hoped other cases in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. would clear up questions about Obama's citizenship, and when they did not, he decided to take action.

The judge said he would issue a decision on Neal's request for an injunction by noon on Friday, Oct. 31

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