Election Limbo Day 26: Second Verse, Same as The First

It’s déjà vu all over again.  Coming soon to the Cherokee Nation, a Principal Chief election featuring Chad Smith and Bill John Baker!  Just like the one we’ve had since March that was supposed to end in June, but now might last until, oh, Columbus Day or later.

The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court issued a one-page order (page 2 contained their respective signatures) that unanimously invalidated the general election and set the stage for a new election.

They did not order one be conducted within 30 days, or have special rules, like Baker asked for in court.  

That leaves it up to Smith to call a new election, which he says he will do next week after he meets with members of the tribal council and the election commission. 

Some interesting tidbits:  Smith says he’ll leave office on August 14, when his term expires, and no one knows what that means.  We assume whoever wins the Deputy race Saturday would fill in for a while, which raises the stakes there significantly.  

What conspiracy theory will Baker come up with next?

Also, Baker came out swinging again today, with some more outlandish Terry Rainey accusations.

It’s just a little weird that the very day the Court gives him what he wants, Baker still can’t help but throw out a conspiracy theory!  Baker seems to think people will actually believe that every member of the Supreme Court (who gave him the new election he wanted) watched the videotape and then covered up evidence of this Rainey guy monkeying with the election.  Oh, and also four election commissioners (including ones Baker helped appoint) also being in on the "fix."  Baker thinks those commissioners are corrupt--except when they conducted a hand recount and accidentally left out hundreds of Smith ballots.  According to Baker, when they did that, they were all doing a great job-- even when they stood up in court and said they’d screwed up.  But never forget that no matter what Baker says about the numbers being changed, he saw the actual ballots counted in front of his own eyes and in the end he got either four (his version) or five (the commission’s version) votes less than Smith.  

Bill John Baker's got more conspiracy theories than Oliver Stone.