[EL] Mitt's returns & Obama's records: did the Vice-Chair of the Us Civil Rights Commission really write that message?

Mon Aug 20 04:27:12 PDT 2012

The answer to whether the President did a senior thesis is easily found
online (he didn't, but did a lengthy seminar paper on Soviet nuclear
disarmament), so can we please return this list to matters of election law?
There are many things which are interesting to discuss which have nothing to
do with the purpose of this list.

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Abigail
Thernstrom
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 1:05 AM
To: Jamin Raskin
Cc: Election Law
Subject: Re: [EL] Mitt's returns & Obama's records: did the Vice-Chair of
the Us Civil Rights Commission really write that message?

            This is almost funny.  I suggest you do not, in the future,
question my academic credentials.  Harvard Ph.D., Department of Government.
Author of two books on minority voting rights, the first one of which
received numerous academic prizes, including one of the ABA's two annual
book awards. I have a long law review article on voting rights coming out in
the near future -- not the first time I have placed my work in a good law
journal.

            I hate to lower myself by answering your Limbaugh/Beck charge,
but I have never laid eyes on a Glenn Beck show and never listen to
Limbaugh.

            Have you no shame, sir?

            And are you so devoid of interest in American history that you
think both the personal and political history of an important president is
not a legitimate topic to explore?

            Enough said -- indeed, too much said.  Going to bed and then
first thing in the morning departing on vacation. So these were my last
words on this subject.

            AT

Abigail Thernstrom

Vice-chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Adjunct Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

www.thernstrom.com

On Aug 20, 2012, at 12:26 AM, Jamin Raskin wrote:

At a moment when voting rights are being threatened in numerous states, hate
group activity is on the rise, and murderous hate violence is traumatizing
many communities in the nation, I find it astonishing and deeply revealing
that the Vice-Chair of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission has the time and
inclination to post a message to a Listserv designed for academics and
lawyers who study the intricacies of election law hypothesizing wildly that
the President of the United States wrote his college thesis "celebrating the
Black Panthers."  If Ms. Thernstrom's email account has been hacked by Glenn
Beck or Rush Limbaugh and put to this embarrassing and pathetic partisan
task, then I offer in advance a humble apology for having suggested that she
misapprehends the whole purpose of this group, to say nothing of the public
office she holds. 

     --JBR
Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 19, 2012, at 11:44 PM, "Abigail Thernstrom"
<thernstr at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:

            I want to see the record.  What did he write his senior thesis
on? Supposed it was devoted to celebrating the Black Panthers; might be
telling -- or at least of interest.  He writes in Dreams that he sought out
Marxist professors; what was their influence on him in those formative
years? He's hiding something! Perhaps trivial, but there has to be a reason
of some sort for the secrecy.

            Abby

Abigail Thernstrom

Vice-chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Adjunct Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

www.thernstrom.com <http://www.thernstrom.com/> 

On Aug 19, 2012, at 11:00 PM, Joe La Rue wrote:

In answer to Estelle Rogers, these records have been sought -- repeatedly --
as far back as during the leadup to the 2008 presidential election
<http://www.nysun.com/new-york/obamas-years-at-columbia-are-a-mystery/85015/
> . Mr. Obama, however, has refused to allow them to be released
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html> . The question,
of course, is, why? One supposes that it is not because his grades were bad.
He was, after all, granted admission first to Columbia and then Harvard Law,
which doesn't normally happen to those with subpar grades. So, if it's not
grades, what is it in the records that Mr. Obama does not want the public to
see? 

I don't know; I haven't seen the records. But one suggestion that I think
plausible is that the president enrolled at Columbia as a foreign student
from Indonesia and accepted aid designated for foreign students. If that is
so, that would amount to fraud, wouldn't it (assuming, of course, that he
was a United States citizen)? And, Brian Landsberg, if the future president
claimed to be a foreign national, that might have implications for election
law, wouldn't it? For an interesting explanation of this theory, see
http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/obama%e2%80%99s-college-classmate-the-
obama-scandal-is-at-columbia/.

Of course, that whole theory might be rubbish. President Obama might have
listed himself as a U.S. citizen when he attended Columbia, and he may have
completely innocent reasons for not wanting anyone to see his records. Or
perhaps he just thinks it's nobody's business. Regardless, Mr. Obama won't
release the records. And, that is his right: there is no law requiring him
to release these records. My original email was to highlight the hypocrisy
of the president, who refuses to release his own records while demanding
that Mr. Romney release records he, likewise, is not required to release. I
also wanted to highlight the hypocrisy of the media, which is engaged in a
full-court-press vetting of Mr. Romney, but has left many questions about
Mr. Obama unvetted and unanswered. 

Finally, Ms. Rogers, the "U. of Columbia" was obviously meant to be Columbia
University. I was typing quickly, on an iPhone, and simply got the name
wrong. 

Joe
___________________
Joseph E. La Rue

cell: 480.272.2715 
email: joseph.e.larue at gmail.com

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:  This e-mail message, including any attachments, is
for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential
and privileged information or otherwise be protected by law. Any
unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you
are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail
and destroy all copies of the original message. 

On Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Brian Landsberg <blandsberg at pacific.edu>
wrote:

Finally, one might hope, what does this have to do with election law?
Nothing, I would venture.  

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 19, 2012, at 3:41 PM, "Estelle Rogers" <erogers at projectvote.org>
wrote:

Not to mention, what is the U. of Columbia?  And if the records from said
institution, whatever and wherever it is, are so interesting to Mr. La Rue,
why weren't they sought the first time Obama ran for elective office, or the
second, or the third?  And why, pray tell, haven't you asked for the
President's kindergarten transcript?  Who knows what evil is lurking there?

Estelle Rogers 

Sent from my iPad

On Aug 19, 2012, at 6:06 PM, "henry weinstein"
<henryelliotweinstein at gmail.com> wrote:

Pardon my curiosity but just what sort of fraud do you have in mind
regarding Obama's Columbia records? His grades from his time at Occidental
College (the college he attended before transferring to Columbia)? His
grades at Columbia? 

On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 5:31 AM, Joe La Rue <joseph.e.larue at gmail.com>
wrote:

Interesting theory the Guardian has about Mitt. Of course, they fail to say
that Mitt has no legal obligation to release the tax returns Obama wants.
Regardless, I have a proposition: how about Mitt agree to release the
returns, right after Obama releases his records from the U of Columbia,
including his admissions records. He's been hiding those with nary a word
from the media. Some of us think there must be a reason he's hiding them.
There are several non-Birther theories to explain why Obama doesn't want us
to see those records, each of which, if true, might derail the President's
re-election (and at least one of which would implicate the president in
fraud). So, let's see media calls for Obama to release his records, too.
Then Mitt can release his returns. Sound fair? 

 <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=38771> "Mitt Romney's tax returns: the
'voter fraud' theory"

Posted on August 17, 2012 9:01 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=38771>  by
Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> 

The Guardian
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/17/mitt-romney-tax-returns
-voter-fraud-theory?newsfeed=true>  reports with the subhead: "There has
been much speculation about why Romney refuses to disclose earlier tax
returns. Could it be as simple as an address?"

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