To all the Democrats cheering Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows for kicking Donald Trump off the ballot, we have to ask: Have you forgotten Katherine Harris?
In 2000, the then-Florida secretary of state ended Florida’s recount of presidential votes, sealing a victory for George W. Bush over Al Gore.
Indeed, from Election Day all through the recounts, enraged Democrats slammed Harris over various decisions, even as she said she was doing her “duty under Florida law.”
Just as Bellows says her actions were “required under Maine election law.”
Gore spokesman Chris Lehane called Harris “a lackey for the Bush campaign.”
“Saturday Night Live” lambasted her in a nasty skit that made fun of her looks.
Foaming-at-the-mouth Democrats cried “constitutional crisis.”
Fact is, Harris’ decisions stood the test of time: A media recount of every Florida ballot eventually showed that Bush had indeed carried the state.
But Democrats’ fury that a minor state official was potentially deciding a presidential election was certainly understandable.
Yet here they are, touting Bellows as a hero because they like what she’s done, just as they cheered the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that booted Trump there.
As the Constitution itself states, any enforcement of the “insurrection” clause is a federal matter.
Letting minor state officials seize that power is a recipe for chaos and the death of democracy, because for every Shenna Bellows, there’s a Katherine Harris.