Bob Lonsberry

Bob Lonsberry

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LONSBERRY: ON UNCERTAINTY AT THE WHITE HOUSE AND CITY HALL

The morning dawns uncertainly over Rochester, as a city awakens to a day that will see its president testing positive for a potentially fatal disease, and its mayor being indicted for felony crimes.

               It is a Friday morning in 2020, when the seas are rough and the journey is uncertain.

               But on this Friday, there is, as always, security in law. When the affairs and characters of men are in flux, the steady foundation of rule of law offers the citizens of a Republic peace and assurance and a clear path forward.

               No matter what happens.

               First, the president.

               If Donald Trump becomes seriously ill, his staff, cabinet and, most critically, the vice president stand ready and legally empowered to exercise all the powers of the office of the presidency. There is never a moment when no one is at the wheel. And there is no confusion. An incapacitated president – be that incapacitation of a moment or a month – empowers the vice president, who would be authorized to do whatever needed to be done.

               So a sick president does not rock the boat.

               Neither does a dead president.

               If Donald Trump should die, Mike Pence would immediately be sworn in as president and, in fact and law, be the president.

               If Donald Trump should die before Election Day, his name would still be on the ballot and people could vote for him. If he were to win the election, the Republican Party would be required to name a replacement candidate whose name would go – along with Joe Biden’s – before the members of the Electoral College.

               The members of the Electoral College, who are selected by the various states, would then elect the new president. No federal law requires them to vote the way the people of their states voted, but the laws of 29 states do.

               If Donald Trump were to be elected president by the Electoral College, and then die before noon on January 20, the person elected vice president – presumably Mike Pence – would be sworn in as president on Inauguration Day.

               Under law, there is no question or uncertainty. There is no crisis or controversy. Politics and the public will will play out, the health of a man and the hopes of a nation will be what they will be, but the Constitution-based foundation of law stands unmoving as a protector of both freedom and function.

               Now, the mayor.

               Lovely Warren was accused by her primary opponents in the last campaign of finance irregularities. State, local and possibly federal authorities have looked into those allegations and this month a Monroe County grand jury heard evidence of alleged criminal wrongdoing. Today, that grand jury will rise and it is expected to issue one or more felony indictments against the mayor.

               That will come at a time when the city and its institutions are in difficult straits. Broad-based upset over the death of Daniel Prude and the subsequent months-long cover-up have dominated recent weeks. City Hall has been surrounded by protestors and they and others have called repeatedly for the mayor’s resignation.

               In response, she has bounced back and forth without seeming direction, and said things which seem contradictory, and there is a growing crisis of confidence in her abilities.

               And today she will be accused of felony crime and begin a months-long process of answering those charges in the legal system.

               Again, it is a situation which causes angst and anxiety for the people of Rochester.

               But there is no uncertainty.

               If she is convicted of a felony, state law will immediately remove her from office and the deputy mayor will become mayor.

               During the coming months of distracted governance, the City Council will be available to exercise its powers as a co-equal branch of government. When the person in the mayor’s office is stumbling, the people on City Council can stand strong.

               And there is every reason to believe that they can and will.

               In recent weeks, the council, under President Loretta Scott, has begun exerting its authority in a way not seen since Rochester went to a strong-mayor form of government decades ago. This is good, and this is what the law envisions and authorizes.

               Further, while the political views of many members of the City Council are unarguably extreme, they are still by-and-large intelligent and capable people. In fact, the current council may, with the exception of one or two members, be comprised of some of the highest-caliber people the body has seen in years.

               Members like Loretta Scott, Mitch Gruber, Malik Evans and Michael Patterson are all people who could themselves be successful mayors.

               Which gets to the point that, no matter what difficulties go on inside the mayor’s office, the City Council has the legal authority and the collective talent to provide capable leadership for the city.

               The storm may rage, but the city government is going to be fine.

               The storm may rage, but the federal government is going to be fine.

               It is an uncertain and anxious Friday morning in Rochester. But the quiet assurance of rule of law speaks peace to those who will listen.

               It will see us through fine.


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