FayObserver.com, NC
April 5 2008
No law bars Kevorkian from try for Congress
Catherine Pritchard
Q: I heard that Dr. (Jack) Kevorkian is running for Congress. How can
he do that? He’s a felon. – B.W., Southern Pines
A: That doesn’t bar him from running for Congress. Nor would it bar
him from serving there, if he were elected.
Under the U.S. Constitution, members of Congress must meet just three
qualifications – a minimum age (25 for House members and 30 for
senators); a minimum length of U.S. citizenship (seven years for
House members and nine years for senators); and, at the time of
election, they must be living in the state they represent.
Kevorkian is 79 and a lifelong U.S. citizen. He lives in Michigan,
the state he says he wants to represent in Congress, so he’s good to
go.
The states can set different rules for their own offices.
Under North Carolina’s Constitution, for example, members of the N.C.
House and N.C. Senate must be `qualified’ voters in this state, and
felons are barred from voting in North Carolina unless they’ve had
their citizenship rights restored.
Note: In this state, general citizenship rights are automatically
restored to a felon once he (or she) is unconditionally discharged
from prison, probation or parole, whichever applies. (There are other
situations permitting restoral, too.)
Note 2: That restoral doesn’t affect North Carolina’s prohibition
against felons owning guns.
Back to Kevorkian: He’s on parole for his 1999 conviction of
second-degree murder. The retired pathologist is a long-time advocate
of physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. Between
1990 and 1998, according to him, he participated in more than 100
such suicides.
He has said that in all but one instance – the last – the patients
tripped the machines that led to their deaths. He hooked them up to
it.
In 1998, he administered a lethal injection to 52-year-old Thomas
Youk, who was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Youk was
physically unable to commit suicide and asked Kevorkian to give him
the lethal injection.
Before that, Kevorkian had been tried four times on assisted-suicide
charges. Three of those trials ended in acquittal and one in a
mistrial.
In the Youk case, he was tried and convicted of a charge of
second-degree murder. Kevorkian was released on parole in 2007 on the
condition that he never help anyone else to die. He was also barred
from caring for anyone who’s older than 62 or disabled.
Kevorkian, an independent, would face eight-term Republican incumbent
Joe Knollenberg in the race and Democrat Gary Peters.
Q: Where can I buy a child’s beanie with a musical rotating propeller
on top? I urgently need one. – B.C., Foxfire Village
A: Uh oh. We don’t know.
If it’s any help, we can point you to places where you can buy
nonmusical beanies with propellers. Check sites such as
GeekCulture.com, Amazon.com and eBay.com.