Evening star., 1934-01-09
MRS. KEMP UPHELD
BY STATE OFFICER
Sanders Election Illegal, As
sistant Attorney General
Tells House Committee.
BY the Associated Press.


The contention that the election of
j. Y. Sanders. jr., to the House from
the sixth Louisiana district was illegal
was advanced today to a House Elec-
items Committee by George M. Wallace,
assistant attorney general for Louisiana.
He defended the election of Mrs.
Bolivar E. Kemp to succeed her late
husband. The committee was attempt
ing to decide which contestant to seat
or whether to declare both ineligible.
Wallace said the general election law
provided for elections fixed by law. but
not for any people to hop up and hold
an election"
Referring to the Sanders election, he
added
They cannot set up machinery of
turns through the machinery provided
by law
The returns would have to be COM
piled by the secretary of state and be
certified by the secretary, Governor and
attorney general, Wallace said. as re-
quired by law.
He contended the Mass Meeting
Committee which called Sanders elec-
tion set up the election machinery and
certified the election.
Economy Caused Delay.
Economy was advanced by Wallace
as the reason for delaying a special
election to fill the House vacancy
caused by the death of Mr.. Kemp
The assistant attorney general was
asked by Representative McDuffie,
Democrat, of Alabama, why the Gov
ernor of Louisiana waited five months
to call the election.
AN election is expensive and the
parishes were broke and the Governor
ton that could be coupled with It,
Wallace said.
WAS it true the ballots were printed
before the election was called?" asked
Representative Perkins, Republican, OF
New York.
mo, sir. The ballots were ordered
printed without the name and 1t was
printed in the night after the COM
mittee met"
wallace said the approximate cost Of
an election in a district is about $1,000
or $4,000.
Did the Governor say Louisiana
needed no more Consressmen?" asked
McDuf1ie.
Il heard the other side say that"
Sanders Contentious.
Both Sanders and his attorney, Ed
ward Rightor of New Orleans, yesterday
declared the Kemp election was illegal
on the grounds the District Democratic
Executive Committee was without
authority to nominate Mrs. Kemp and
that Gov. Aliens call for the election
was void because no provision was maze
for primary
Sanders said the District Committee
must call primary because that is the
only way candidates may qualify" Asked
if his election provided for a primary:
he replied in the negative and added
only the District Committee has
authority to call a primary
Asked if other candidates had not
refused to enter his election because
they believed it illegal, he replied he
had their S nsSe In ahe
One of the outside" candidates. John
S. Nelson, sent a message to the COM
mittee yesterday urging it not to recon-
mend the seating Of either Mrs. Kemp
or Sanders.
"A bitter fight between Long and
Sanders factions has been going on
in this State for some time" Nelson
informed the committee. "and 1t is easy
| to see the first election was held for
the special purpose OF beating the Sand.
ers faction by electing Mrs. Kemp, that
the other election was held for the spe-
cial purpose of beating the Long faction
by eiecting Mr. Sanders. and that both
elections were called and held with a
total disregard of the rights of the three
independent candidates or the rights OF
the people as more than half of the
qualified voters plainly showed that they
were not in favor of either election by
refusing to 60 to the polls and vote"