Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed the so-called Birther Bill which would have required all Presidential candidates to demonstrate that they were natural born American citizens eligible to be president.
Well that’s a bit of a surprise and may sound the death knell for similar measures in other states. Four states have already rejected similar measures in the legislature.
According to the AP Brewer said in her veto letter that she was troubled that the bill empowered Arizona's secretary of state to judge the qualifications of all candidates when they file to run for office. "I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions."
She also took a bit of a swipe at the legislature saying "In addition, I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth to submit their 'early baptismal circumcision certificates' among other records to the Arizona secretary of state. This is a bridge too far."
The baptismal certificate was among a list of alternate evidence that could be presented if for some reason the birth certificate was unavailable.
Critics of the bill had pointed out that this could give Arizona another black eye to go with the one it has from the immigration bill last year and no one likes to look foolish.
Well good for Governor Brewer. Like I said before, I was a bit concerned about the potential of 50 different procedures that would just tie up time and money but I could have lived with some sort of common requirement such as a certification from the state of birth.
Oh well, here’s hoping this is the last we’ll hear of this nonsense, but I doubt it.
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