Feds investigating sheriff after 'Hussein' remark

Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott may have more to worry about than just the court of public opinion. Federal investigators are now looking into whether Scott broke the law by campaigning for John McCain.

How did he supposedly do this?

He used Obama's full name.

Apparently using Obamas full name was seen as campaigning for McCain. This is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

Full Article

I'll hold further judgment until we see some more facts, but for right now….

If someone doesn't want to be called by their full name because it has a negative impact; then maybe they should change there name.

This is an offshoot of the Hollywood mentality that somehow saying a persons full name is a violation of their name-holder's rights. It's garbage, and the Fed being involved is insult to injury.

Now I can understand if the speaker made some snide and derogatory inflection or emphasis when speaking about Barak "Hussein" Obama, but that IS his name. If he doesn't LIKE his name, he has every means available to him to change it legally. I think it's clear that he does not LIKE some part of his name.... after all he went by "Barry" for many years...

PS - I am not a McCain supporter.

Exactly!

And the fact that this is being considered an illegal act because it somehow shows support for McCain is ludicrous. It gives me serious worries about what might come with an Obama presidency.

Scott is apparently unaware that it's against the law for him to campaign for a nominee. Scott is the one who inferred that it must have been because he used Obama's full name, not that it's just something he can't lawfully do.

BTW, I loved his intimidating black uniform with full police regalia and his loud commanding voice. It was a great touch.

Peace

Are you joking? It has nothing to do with his use of Obama's name. He was giving a stump speech at a political rally. I believe that would qualify as "campaigning." Man, please tell me you really understood this and were just trying to make me laugh...cause you did.

Originally posted by Maxmars
PS - I am not a McCain supporter.

Yeah right, I bet you work for McCain's campaign. How else could you miss the issue here by a long-shot?

This previous article makes no mention of anything other than the mention of his full name.

Here is his media release discussing the issue.

Honestly, I don't think speaking at a rally is the same as "using his position to influence an election" as the Hatch Act specifies.

I live in the county south of where this sheriff is from. He's basically under investigation because he was on county time, in uniform, at a political rally. I personally think that this is bogus. The only reason there is a stink about this is because he used Obama's middle name. To quote Sheriff Scott, "Obama should change his name if he doesn't like it. He is a lawyer right? He could change his name pretty easily, people do it every day!"

For the sake of discussion, the Hatch Act as it pertains to state and local employees:

Prohibited Activities

Covered state and local employees may not-

* be candidates for public office in a partisan election
* use official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the results of an election or nomination
* directly or indirectly coerce contributions from subordinates in support of a political party or candidate.

Link

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have worn his intimidating black uniform with full police regalia and instead worn an Izod with some Dockers and pennyloafers, you know, something not so official.

Peace

[edit on 9-10-2008 by Dr Love]

The issue that has been raised deals not so much with what he said as that he appeared in uniform when he did it.
There are two sides and opinions about the wearing of his uniform at a partisan political event.

A complaint sent to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel alleges that Scott violated the Hatch Act because his agency receives federal dollars, and Scott was engaging in political activity while on duty and in uniform. Erica S. Hamrick, senior attorney for the agency, said in an e-mail Tuesday that an investigation was being opened. Neither she nor her office could be reached for further comment Tuesday.

Some also are questioning whether Scott violated the county code of ethics. The statute says no county government employees are allowed to wear any uniform or clothing that would identify them as such while engaging in a political campaign not sponsored by the county, even if they are off-duty. But the sheriff, according to Sgt. Larry King, is not considered an employee of the county — he is an elected official. His budget is approved by the county, but he answers to the governor and to his constituents.

“It was meant to incite anti-Obama feelings,” Olson said. “Then he tries to claim it was his personal opinion, yet he was standing there in his uniform.”

Full story here:

forums.heraldtribune.com...

[edit on 9-10-2008 by zlots331]
[edit on 9-10-2008 by zlots331]
[edit on 9-10-2008 by zlots331]
[edit on 9-10-2008 by zlots331]

[edit on 9-10-2008 by zlots331]

Originally posted by nyk537
Honestly, I don't think speaking at a rally is the same as "using his position to influence an election" as the Hatch Act specifies.

Except he spoke at the rally in full uniform which I would consider using his position as influence.

Sorry about all the edits..I'm just not technically on the ball today for some reason.

Originally posted by BluegrassRevolutionary

Originally posted by Maxmars
PS - I am not a McCain supporter.

Yeah right, I bet you work for McCain's campaign. How else could you miss the issue here by a long-shot?

think what you will, I don't care.

reply to post by nyk537


Yeah, it's crazy. I have no idea what they plan to find. This one wasn't even the bad one anyway. The bad quote was in another speech where the guy said:

Using Obama's Middle Name to Tie Him to Terrorism

implored the crowd to work hard to elect McCain or wake up November 5 to see "Barack Obama, Barack Hussein Obama," as the president.

The quote doesn't seem bad. He said something along the lines of, "otherwise you'll wake up and find Barrack Obama..." (then he goes back to correct himself because even though he said the name correctly, he forgot that he needed to add in the middle name). "Barrack Obama... Barrack Hussein Obama president on November 5th".

Neither deserves police intervention or investigation, but I just thought it was an obvious pathetic attempt at using the whole lie that he's Muslim and connected to terrorism for a sound byte. The funny part is that he forgot to add the middle name so he had to go back, correct himself, and reveal that his speech was irrelevant without bringing it up.

*Edit:

Oh, it's not for saying "Hussein", it's for campaigning for McCain while being in office.

From your source

Federal investigators are now looking into whether Scott broke the law by campaigning for John McCain.

I don't know the answer to that question. I doubt it is though. I can't even really find an ethical conundrum that he might face by actively supporting McCain, but I may be missing something.

Seems like a witch hunt, and we've already got our hands full with the Acorn and Obama loves terrorist witch hunts as it is.

Hey, maybe we can get that guy who kept the forces of witches and voodoo (or whatever) away from Palin to put an end to it all.

*Edit:

Never mind, I was missing something. Dr Love posted it a few posts up. Good find.

Though, this needs to be a precedent that elected officials shouldn't campaign for anyone, whether they say something to instill hatred or not.

[edit on 9-10-2008 by Sublime620]

reply to post by Sublime620


True, although the quote you mention above is from a different person at a different rally, it's point is still relatively the same. I think in that particular context, the man was attempting to draw some connection between his middle name and some sort of Muslim extremist or something.

I don't think that's always the case though. It seems as though anyone who uses his full name is impugned, even if they have no agenda in doing so.

I find it to be a case of PC gone much too far.

reply to post by nyk537


See, I don't know about that. I don't mind people using his whole name, I mind who is doing it. The people who are doing it are clearly implying his connection with a Muslim background or terrorism. It's not any of his supporters. It's people who are campaigning against him.

And his supporters should not be ashamed to say his name. I don't think they intentionally avoid it. There's just no reason for them to. Many will bring up, "Well a lot of people call George Bush, "Dubya".

Not the same. The only reason he's called George W. Bush is because his father was also President so a distinction has to be made. Unless there is another Barrack Obama out there, I'm not sure where the distinction comes in. I don't remember too many Republicans going, "Well that damned William Jefferson Clinton...." And why would they?

So, I don't really get mad or care when Rush Limbaugh says, "Barrack Hussein Obama" (emphasis his, not mine). I just roll my eyes knowing that people are actually digging that deep for mud.

*Edited to add:

Yes, that's the other thing. I forgot to elaborate on emphasis.

They emphasize Hussein when saying his name. That's not the normal way of saying any other person's full name. People don't all of the sudden change their pitch and tone of voice when saying my middle name.

I know words are often taken out of context in elections and skewed, but this isn't that. People, not all, but many if not most, are clearly using his middle name to incite fear/hatred.

[edit on 9-10-2008 by Sublime620]

The Sheriff did not break the law. Period.

No I don't support McCain.

And I really think this whole story is a strategy to make your google search split when looking up information about the Cook County Sheriff who stopped evictions of renters. It's meant to quell the Sheriff is one cool dude sentiment which could ignite over the Chicago stance. That story could potentially have huge ramifications.

It's MSMs way of saying, hey look at this little thing (fabricated over-blown story) over here - so you won't notice the really important thing that just happened over here when a sheriff is standing up against the injustices for those who can't represent themselves in a Wall Street style bail-out.

This is a make-believe distraction story that has no importance in my opinion. They are just throwing out bones.

reply to post by Sublime620


Again, I don't fully agree. I think the only reason Rush and some others use the name like that is because of how big of a stink it caused way back when.

Speaking personally as someone who listens to Rush and Hannity almost daily, I firmly believe that's the only reason they use it. I can remember back when it first became a big story that people were using it they thought it was hilarious that anyone would take such issue with someones name. A lot of people use his full name now to draw emphasis to how politically correct everything that deals with Obama is supposed to be.

Again, that's just my take on it though. I personally don't see how anyone could ever draw a correlation between such things based solely on someones name.