Presently, it appears his administration has little fear of reprisal as the mainstream media continues to ignore the case. The White House has indicated the president will be campaigning in Las Vegas and Denver next Thursday. It will be interesting to see what Judge Malihi does following Barack Obama’s violation of a legally issued subpoena.

Dear Secretary Kemp:

This is to advise you of serious problems that have developed in the conduct of the hearings pending before the Office of State Administrative Hearings. At issue in these hearings are challenges that allege that President Obama is not eligible to hold or run for re-election to his office, on the now wholly discredited theory that he does not meet the citizenship requirements. As you know, such allegations have been the subject of numerous judicial proceedings around the country, all of which have concluded that they were baseless and, in some instances – including in the State of Georgia - that those bringing the challenges have engaged in sanctionable abuse of our legal process.

Nonetheless, the Administrative Law Judge has exercised no control whatsoever over this proceeding, and it threatens to degenerate into a pure forum for political posturing to the detriment of the reputation of the State and your Office. Rather than bring this matter to a rapid conclusion, the ALJ has insisted on agreeing to a day of hearings, and on the full participation of the President in his capacity as a candidate. Only last week, he denied a Motion to Quash a subpoena he approved on the request of plaintiff’s counsel for the personal appearance of the President at the hearing, now scheduled for January 26.

For these reasons, and as discussed briefly below, you should bring an end to this baseless, costly and unproductive hearing by withdrawing the original hearing request as improvidently issued.

Dear Mr. Jablonski:

I received your letter expressing your concerns with the manner in which the Office of State Administrative Hearings (“OSAH”) has handled the candidate challenges involving your client and advising me that you and your client will “suspend” participation in the administrative proceeding. While I regret that you do not feel that the proceedings are appropriate, my referral of this matter to an administrative law judge at OSAH was in keeping with Georgia law, and specifically O.C.G.A. § 21-2-5.

As you are aware, OSAH Rule 616-1-2-.17 cited in your letter only applies to parties to a hearing. As the referring agency, the Secretary of State’s Office is not a party to the candidate challenge hearings scheduled for tomorrow. To the extent a request to withdraw the case referral is procedurally available, I do not believe such a request would be judicious given the hearing is set for tomorrow morning.

In following the procedures set forth in the Georgia Election Code, I expect the administrative law judge to report his findings to me after his full consideration of the evidence and law. Upon receipt of the report, I will fully and fairly review the entire record and initial decision of the administrative law judge. Anything you and your client place in the record in response to the challenge will be beneficial to my review of the initial decision; however, if you and your client choose to suspend your participation in the OSAH proceedings, please understand that you do so at your own peril.

I certainly appreciate you contacting me about your concerns, and thank you for your attention to this
matter.

Sincerely,
Brian P. Kemp
Georgia Secretary of State

hutoftung wrote:Several sources, including this one, indicate that neither Obama nor his attorney attended the hearing. http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/01/obama-ignores-eligibility-subpoena-hearing-held-as-scheduled/

According to Orly Taitz's website, mentioned above, who appears to be the plaintiff's attorney in this case, briefs were requested and their due date changed from Feb. 5 to Feb. 1. After this date, the Judge will rule, but the final decision lies with the Secretary of State Brian Kemp (who hasn't sounded like he's enjoyed Obama's arrogant dismissal of the lawsuit).

I say there's a real chance Obama won't be on the ballot in Georgia. But I'm not holding my breath. This will be a fun one to watch, at the least.