Ken Bennett's Had About Three Months to Give Hawaii a "Legitimate" Reason to Verify Obama's Birth ..

[struggle4progress]

.. Certificate

By Matthew Hendley Mon., May 21 2012 at 12:06 PM

Last week, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett raised some eyebrows after saying he's not a "birther," but due to constituent concerns, he's just checking with Hawaii to make sure President Obama wasn't born in Kenya ...

... Joshua Wisch, an assistant to the Hawaii Attorney General, says Bennett reached out to their office in March asking for the verification.

"The Department explained that if Secretary Bennett wanted information beyond what is publicly available, then...Secretary Bennett would need to provide legal authority showing that his office is 'a governmental agency or organization who for a legitimate government purpose maintains and needs to update official lists of persons in the ordinary course of the agency's or organization's activities,'" Wisch says. "Once Mr. Bennett can show this, he will be provided the 'verification in lieu of a certified copy'...

"Since March, the Department has engaged in numerous telephone and email conversations with Secretary Bennett's office to respond to his request, but his office has so far failed to provide the adequate authority," he continues. "As soon as Secretary Bennett's office provides adequate legal authority, it will receive the verification." ...

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2012/05/ken_bennett_barack_obama_hawaii_birth_certificate.php

[kestrel91316]

1. Somebody needs to remind the good Mr. Bennett that

it matters not in the least where President Obama was born. His mother was a citizen, and if she'd had him on MARS he would still be a citizen.

[struggle4progress]

2. Mr. Bennett is a cynical rightwing noise-maker, so cannot be swayed by appeals to reason

[Jim Lane]

6. Sorry, but that isn't accurate. The law was different in 1961.

At the time of Obama's birth, there was no automatic citizenship for every child born outside the U.S. and having one citizen parent and one noncitizen parent. The citizen parent would convey U.S. citizenship only if he or she had lived in the U.S. for at least five years after attaining the age of 14. Obama's mother was only 18 when he was born, and thus didn't meet the five-year requirement.

Therefore, if Obama had been born in Kenya in 1961, he would not have been a U.S. citizen. (I mention that only to clarify the legal issue, not because there's even a shred of credible evidence that he was born in Kenya.)

The law has since been changed. In my opinion, though, the obvious meaning of the "natural-born citizen" requirement is that the person was a U.S. citizen at birth without any subsequent legal action (such as a naturalization proceeding or a change in the law).

[DavidDvorkin]

7. The question isn't "citizen" but "natural-born citizen"

The latter does not mean "citizen at birth". The Constitutional requirement has been defined by law, and under that definition, Obama is a natural-born citizen because one parent was a citizen at the time of his birth, and that parent had spent a sufficient amount of time (ten years, I think it is) living in the US.

[mainer]

8. So a child born abroad to ANY American who's nineteen or younger was NOT a citizen?

Wow. I didn't realize that the mother's age mattered.

[Jim Lane]

10. This applied only if the other parent was a noncitizen.

I think that a child born abroad to two U.S. citizen parents was a citizen at birth, regardless of the ages of the parents. This is one of the arguments that were advanced to support the eligibility of the foreign-born John McCain.

[EFerrari]

3. Today I suggested to LibroTraficante that Mr. Bennett needs a US coloring book

so he can learn that HI is a state.

[struggle4progress]

4. He might think it's the middle of oHIo

[EFerrari]

5. We seriously need to free Arizona.

This is the teabagger suck up that is going to count the votes.

[noel711]

9. the only thing 'certifiable' about this story...

are Ken Bennett's mental delusions.

How do these dolts get into public office?