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HOME > PUBLICATIONS > Exclusive: Why Was Senate Candidate Forced to Prove His Citizenship?

July 16, 2010

Exclusive: Why Was Senate Candidate Forced to Prove His Citizenship?

Margaret Calhoun Hemenway

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Adding to the long-running Obama eligibility dispute, Army veteran and naturalized American Hector Maldonado, recently pointed out in a Branson, MO radio interview that the State of Missouri demanded he prove his citizenship status in order to be permitted to run for Senate from the "Show Me" state. Maldonado was asked by the Office of the Missouri Secretary of State to prove his citizenship status and was threatened via certified letter with being removed from the ballot if he did not comply by a deadline of May 12. On the Missouri Secretary of State's website, the qualifications to run for U.S. Senate are cited:
 
U. S. Senator - Art. I § 3 U. S. Constitution
 
    * At least 30 years of age
    * Citizen of United States for 9 years
    * Resident of Missouri
 
In responding to Missouri's demand, Maldonado questioned whether the state similarly asked candidate Barack Obama for proof of citizenship when he filed to run in Missouri in the 2008 electoral cycle. According to Maldonado, the Secretary of State's office declined to answer this question although it told him that his own proof of citizenship was a matter of public record (so presumably the lack of any Obama proof of citizenship is also a matter of public record). Maldonado is mulling a possible lawsuit against the State since the Secretary of State is required to protect Missouri against fraud and corruption.
 
Maldonado, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1995 and was awarded two Bronze Stars from his Iraq and Afghanistan deployments, noted Michelle Obama's "slip of the tongue" comment when she mentioned Obama's home country Kenya (a comment widely circulated in a YouTube video), but said that it wasn't up to him to decide whether Obama was lying or not-- or whether there were "holes in his birth story." The Army veterandiscussed Obama's expending as much as one million or more dollars to hire lawyers to conceal his citizenship-related records. He also raised the subject of why anyone running for public office believes he is entitled to this level of secrecy- especially since it is impossible to determine whether Obama conforms to requirements of the U.S. Constitution's Article II, Section 1, unless he can produce an original birth certificate.
 
The phrase "I'm from Missouri-- show me" is widely understood to mean that one is skeptical of a matter and not easily convinced.
 
Maldonado is not the first with prior military service who has raised Obama's eligibility-- Air Force Colonel Greg Hollister (retired) was a plaintiff in an early eligibility lawsuit filed in federal court. (The eligibility lawsuits have been dismissed primarily for ostensible reasons of lack of standing or jurisdiction.) Other military reservists have also filed suit to try to determine whether Obama is legally serving as Commander-in-Chief, consistent with the oaths they swore as officers to support and defend the Constitution, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Maldonado recited this part of his oath and pointed out that Americans need to realize that they are facing the challenge of a three front war- one in Iraq, one in Afghanistan- and the third here, “the real threat,” on the home front- in which the U.S. is threatened with losing the rule of law by disrespecting its Constitution.  
 
More recently, an active duty officer, Army Lieutenant Colonel Terry Lakin, also decorated with a Bronze Star, and like Maldonado, with prior deployments to combat zones, publicly raised the question of Obama's compliance with Article II, Section 1 and is facing court-martial for disobeying military orders in pursuit of the truth about whether Obama is legally serving as Commander-in-Chief. Lakin's military orders to deploy to Afghanistan required him to produce copies of his birth certificate. The Army recently indicated it seeks to deny Lakin the customary right to evidence needed to defend against criminal charges by denying witnesses or documents from Hawaii. Hawaiian officials have insisted, without producing a single document, that Obama was born in the Aloha State. 
 
To this day, no hospital in Hawaii will claim to be the birthplace of President Obama, nor has the name of any physician or midwife who attended Obama's birth surfaced. A former Hawaiian senior elections clerk, Tim Adams, recently offered the first repudiation of the Hawaiian Health Department's assertions that Obama was Hawaiian-born, claiming everyone in his office knew there was no hospital birth record for Obama. Meanwhile, prominent Kenyans continue to declare that Obama is a son of Kenya- most recently Cabinet Minister James Orengo on the floor of Kenya's Parliament in late March.  
 
Maldonado questioned whether he was singled out as a naturalized American of Mexican descent to prove his citizenship status, while Obama was evidently not asked by the State of Missouri to present any evidence for his citizenship when he filed for federal office and continues to stonewall the release of an original birth certificate or any evidence which would prove his "natural born" status. The issue Maldonado raises - of whether other candidates for federal office are being held to the same standard of verification as he has been held to - is a valid concern. 
 
As former CNN commentator Lou Dobbs discovered in an investigation of the "birther" controversy last summer, in the State of Illinois, there is no verification of eligibility required to run for office - Dobbs described it as an "honor system." Yet in America, "all men are created equal" and are entitled to be treated equally under the laws. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established to prevent minorities from being unfairly discriminated against. Perhaps Mr. Maldonado should consider, beyond contemplating a lawsuit against the state of Missouri, appealing to the EEOC to investigate whether he was racially-profiled for a standard of proof of eligibility that other candidates for federal office were not required to meet.
 
 FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Margaret Calhoun Hemenway spent 15 years on Capitol Hill, in the House and Senate, and five years as a White House appointee serving President Bush at both DoD and NASA. For further information, contact: Margaret Hemenway at (202) 448-9015.

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  Comments (12)

obama could "punk" us all. All he has to is show us the bc, and all the rest of his hidden paperwork.

Question is, "why hasn't he?"

Answer is he is hiding something.

What he is hiding is the real question...

posted by: Dick
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 10:34 AM

I hope this keeps on going. It will stop Obama from running again for a second term.

If he does, he will most certainly have to show his records .. and he will never do that because he will be found out to be a usurper for the time he was in office.

At the very least it means he is done as a leader for us.

posted by: TheMunz
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:21 AM

Margaret,

Great article. Maldonado is certainly being treated differently than Obama. The implication is that blacks get a pass, while Hispanics are suspect. Maldonado was certainly profiled if he was required, but none of his fellow candidates were required, to show proof.

One note: With Obama, much of the issue centers on the Constitutional requirement of *natural born* citizenship, not just "basic" citizenship (as in Maldonado's case). (There are several distinctions of citizenship in the US (e.g., naturalized) -- most Americans are unaware of these distinctions.)

"Natural born" citizenship is the highest standard of citizenship, and the Presidency is the only office in the country that has that level of standard.

Because there have been only a few dozen people in the entire history of the US that have needed to meet the "natural born" standard, there is not a lot of case law that provides a consistent definition of what "natural born" citizenship actually means. There is a lot of web chatter about this, but little legal precedence.

Obama's supporters have successfully and effectively used the race card to deflect the courts from exploring (or the press from pursuing) the definition in his case.

posted by: Libby
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 12:43 AM

Birtherism is a scam aimed as mis-directing conservatives into tin-foil hat conspiracy theories.

Obama's COLB is sucker bait and YOU are the sucker.

posted by: Reality Maven
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 01:30 PM

Repeating the same old disproved argument is just proof that people are not doing any real research. This thing ended during the 2008 election long before the State of Hawaii had confirmed Obama's citizenship by birth. Hector Maldonado complaints is a kin someone denying that he is a citizen of American after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services confirming his citizenship.

posted by: AnotherBird
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 02:58 PM

Obama is not doing himself any favors by not clearing this up.

There are millions of voters that are simply adding this to the scales they use to decide who to vote for.

Voters rarely decide based on a single issue -- they vote on a whole palette of issues. Economy, jobs, foreign policy, etc. Everything gets thrown on the scale, and the voter chooses.

Obama's political advisors must be going nuts trying to get Obama to do something about this -- these low level background chatter issues never help a candidate -- only hurt.

And this is a constant background buzz -- everyday, there are hundreds of web postings, articles, etc. -- just like this one. Hit Google to see.

The effect is cumulative, and hurts Obama's credibility.

What is frustrating, is that it is so, so, so easily cleared up -- indeed, by *not* clearing it up, Obama is merely stoking the chatter even more. (Unless you are some sort of conspiracy theorist and you believe that there is a conspiracy in which Obama is doing this on purpose....)

posted by: Libby
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 04:14 PM

I have a question for the Constitutional Law scholars out there. Hypothetically speaking, lets say that at some point in the future hard evidence was produced to prove Obama is not a U.S. Citizen. Would this nulify the election in 2008, as well as every appointment made or document signed, since taking office? If the answer is "Yes," then someone needs to bring that hard evidence forward?

posted by: Ltpar
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 06:13 PM

Racial Profiling and prejudice and the State and Federal level... Mr.Maldonado is experiencing indignity, racial profiling, targeted attacks designed to cause suspicion and untrust all while the real traitors walk free of notice. The real problems are just coming to the surface as the left Communist's and Marxist's are growing by leaps and bounds in the leaders positions, Vote them all out...

posted by: Bernie
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 07:39 PM

Newsweek posted an article asking "Is Obama was the Antichrist ?" because the day after his election when Obama was celabrating in Illinois, the Lottery there drew 666, the same evening. That destroyed his life, so they asked that question: "Is he the Antichrist ?"
Check out the article: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/lisa_miller/2008/11/is_obama_and_antichrist.html

posted by: GeirSmith
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 07:47 PM

I think it must be made manditory for ALL public officials, whether they are elected or appointed, to submit a valid birth cerificate. This should be required especially with regards to what is going on with Obama.

posted by: Lois
Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 00:58 AM

If Obama is an American citizen why does he constantly berate our country and express his loyalty and allegiance to Muslim nations?

Why did he avoid the National Day of Prayer but participated in Rahmadad?

Why did he stop Christian ornaments from being placed on the Christmas tree in the WH but place Muslim related ornaments on it instead?

Why does he bow before leaders of the Muslim nations, but show no respect for Queen Elizabeth?

Who paid for his college degree?

Why is he so closely connected to George Soros?

If he was born with the name Barry, why was it changed to a Muslim name - Barack Hussein? Is he a Muslim?

This country has elected its first Muslim, anti-American President. I say Anti-American because he wouldn't do everything within his power to transform our great nation, destroy capitalism, build up Czars to run this country and remove power from Congress and now try to silence us with intimidation of Assination!

What kind of President is he?

He allows voter intimidation through his confidant, Eric Holder.

I not only question his birth certificate, but I question if he is a Communist. He certainly has surrounded himself with enough of them. And, his policies are beginning to look a lot like Venezuela.

Wake Up America!!!

Barack Obama as to be defeated. Fight to vote him out in 2012, provided we still have the right to vote in 2012.

Wanda Barzizza

posted by: Wanda Barzizza
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 08:35 AM

People are listening. Come back to KHOW and give an update on this and Col. Lakin. I am a veteran too and appreciate the courage of these men.

posted by: afterforever
Friday, July 23, 2010 at 08:24 PM