newsobserver.com projects - Josiah Turner Jr. - Comments

Re: Who has been expelled from the legislature?

Isaac136 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:53:54 -0400

The burden of proof for a member to be expelled should not rise to the level of criminal conviction, for godsakes.

The standard for criminal conviction is what it is because what that person stands to lose is life or liberty. We're talking about tolerable behavior, here, folks, not whether or not s/he raped or murdered.

Conviction of a civil offense is not as perilous, but certainly a person could lose his/her life-savings.

What we're talking about is whether a person is permitted to flout his oath of office by the body before which he swore. This is not a hard call, folks.

Re: Who has been expelled from the legislature?

bkrueger — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:21:55 -0400

A quick scan of the links above indicates that at least Turner, Thorne, Potter, Roberts and Brown were expelled without having been convicted of a crime.

It looks like Gilbert was expelled and then cleared of criminal charges.

Then there's Clary, who was convicted, then elected, then resigned, then re-elected and then expelled.

Re: Who has been expelled from the legislature?

cicero01 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:50:20 -0400

Embezzlement, theft, fraud, libel, pay scandals: these sound like good grounds to expell someone. Question is: was the General Assembly's expulsion before or after the legislator was convicted of these crimes? This is the key question.

Re: More cowbell!

Wayne_Goodwin — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:43:00 -0500

Thank you, Ryan, for the gratuitous reference in the blog posting title to one of the funniest Saturday Night Live/Will Ferrell/Christopher Walken skits!

Re: Kicked out

bellaparola — Sat, 19 May 2007 16:39:10 -0400

Thanks for that information. I had wondered about both the background and procedures for expelling a member who doesn't resign under such circumstances. Please continue to keep us abreast.

Re: Kicked out

gercohen — Fri, 18 May 2007 09:55:28 -0400

Google books turns up
A Glossary of the Lancashire Dialect - Google Books Resultby John Howard Nodal, George Milner - 1875 - 290 pages
which says that in Lancashire dialect a "Gonner head" or "gander head" is a stupid person. This 1875 book is a contemporary usage to the 1880 expulsion

gander has three meanings according to dictionary.com:

1) male goose (noun)
2) to look at (verb)
3) simpleton or ninny (slang) (noun)