Archive for March, 2010

A Thought About the Coakley Defeat and HCR

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

Dear Friend of Justice,

A great many good friends urged me to hold my nose and vote for Martha Coakley because it was vital to save health-care reform. But I could not bring myself to do this.

Ironically, the defeat of Coakley turned out to help Obama pass HCR.

His prior strategy was to preserve 60 votes in the Senate. This gave conservatives (from insurance-industry states) Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson veto power over the content of the bill. And they used their power in December to get what they wanted.

Once Coakley was defeated, however, Obama had to go with Plan B. He switched to a reconciliation strategy, which only required preserving a majority in the Senate. Lieberman and Nelson lost their veto power.

Would they have used it? Lieberman did vote for the bill. But Nelson did not.

So if Coakley had won, Obama would probably have gotten a bill less to his liking. And Martha Coakley would be Senator-for-life in Massachusetts.

-Bob Chatelle

A News Story About the Joseph Allen Hearing

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2010/03/10/prosecutors-judge-didnt-have-power-to-acquit-joseph-allen/

-Bob Chatelle

A Phone Call From Joseph Allen

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Dear Friend of Justice,

I received a phone call from Joseph Allen yesterday afternoon. Even though Allen and his co-defendant, Nancy Smith, were acquitted by a judge, the prosecutors (aided by the Ohio Attorney General) have appealed the acquittal and are trying to send Smith and Allen back to prison. The appeals court will have a hearing on the prosecutors’ motion this coming Tuesday.

Let us hope for the best so that these two good people can get on with their lives. Sending them back behind bars would be a terrible tragedy.

You can review my past posts on this case here.

For general background on the case, click here.

-Bob Chatelle