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The Senate Must Decide If Roy Moore Is "Fit" To Be Seated As A U.S. Senator
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on November 12, 2017
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on November 12, 2017
Alabama has a long and ugly political history of sending social misfits and ill-conceived "messages" to Washington. In the 1950s and 60s, if you were a white male with an IQ above plant life and could say, "2-4-6-8, we don't want to integrate", you were deemed qualified for political office in Alabama. "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever", was the political mantra of Governor George Wallace in his 1963 inaugural speech.
Wallace constantly extended his middle finger to Washington officials. He repeatedly invoked the doctrine of "interposition and nullification" to explain why federal laws against racial segregation and discrimination did not apply to Alabama.
Which brings us to Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney Jeff Sessions. In Alabama, Moore has become a popular "cult" figure because of his unsuccessful crusade to display his Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama Supreme Court building and his administrative order directing Alabama probate judges to ignore a U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing same-sex marriages.
Now, allegations of pedophilia are swirling around Roy Moore, who has acknowledged dating young teenage girls while he was in his 30s. Moore claims the girls' parents consented to this unseemly social behavior. One of the women in question claims Moore fondled her inappropriately when she was only 14 and he was 32. Moore has denied these claims.
Alabama is a "Red" state. Whether he is a pedophile or not, Moore will likely defeat his Democratic opponent (Doug Jones) in a special election scheduled for December 12, 2017.
The truth about the pedophilia charges hurled at Moore cannot be determined between now and the special election. Furthermore, they will not be determined in a judicial setting because the applicable statute of limitations has run on any potential criminal charges against Moore.
At this juncture, the most appropriate venue for determining the truth about the pedophilia charges leveled at Moore is the U. S. Senate. Alabama voters may ignore the charges, but they are too serious to be ignored by the Senate.
It is one thing for Alabama voters to send a suspected pedophile to Congress; it is another matter for him to be sworn in and seated in the U.S. Senate.
Since 2010, Alabamians have elected a governor (twice) who used their tax dollars to romance his married mistress and lied about it once he was caught. Alabamians also elected a Speaker of the House who was removed from the legislature after his conviction in 2016 on state ethics charges. Finally, Alabamians elected Roy Moore to the Alabama Supreme Court (twice), only to see him removed from the bench each time because he intentionally violated the Canons of Judicial Ethics.
Alabama's appointed officials have often faired no better. Mark Fuller, who enjoyed a lifetime appointment as a federal judge in Montgomery, was a serial wife-beater who had to be forced from the bench in 2015. Terry Jackson "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr., a Robert Bentley gubernatorial appointee to the Alabama Conservation and Natural Resources Board, resigned his District 7 seat just before BuzzFeed News published a featured article last June on a 2015 rape case in which University of Alabama honors student named Sweet T as her rapist.
Given Alabama's history of embarrassing political choices, it is fair to say that Alabama voters have not demanded minimum standards of decency from its elected officials. For the good of our nation, the U.S. Senate must determine for itself, and for all Americans, whether Roy Moore is fit to take the oath of office in the United States Senate (should he win next month). They should hold a "fitness and character" hearing where Moore's accusers and Moore can be questioned under oath and both sides can present other relevant evidence in a quest to determine the truth about the pedophilia charges.
The U.S. Senate must clear the air on whether Roy Moore is a creepy pedophile who preyed on young teenage girls at shopping malls several decades ago. It is an unpleasant but necessary task for the Senate.
Alabama officials will not deal with the pedophilia charges because it takes courage to do so. State officials have always punted the ball to the federal government to do the right thing in difficult circumstances like this.
If Moore is found to be a pedophile, he must not be seated as a U.S. senator. In that case, Governor Kay Ivey would have to call a new election to fill the vacant senate seat. Moore's Democratic opponent would not automatically win by default in this circumstance.
If Moore is cleared of the pedophilia charges following a Senate hearing, he must be allowed to take his seat in the U.S. Senate.
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