Leo Berman, Texas State Legislator, Introduces 'Birther' Bill

Texas State Representative Leo Berman (R) furthered his campaign against President Obama Tuesday, a man that he has before characterized as "God's punishment on us," by introducing a bill that would require future presidential and vice-presidential candidates to produce "the original birth certificate indicating that the person is a natural-born United States citizen" to the Texas secretary of state.

Berman told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that the bill, House Bill 295, is a compulsory step to take in order to correct an alleged gap in the law that allowed Barack Obama, who he believes could be foreign-born, to run for president.

"This bill is necessary because we have a president whom the American people don't know whether he was born in Kenya or some other place," Berman told the Avalanche-Journal. "If you are running for president or vice president, you've got to show here in Texas that you were born in the United States and the birth certificate is your proof."

Legislators in Arizona added an amendment with similar intent to a bill earlier this year, a measure that ended up being passed by the state House. Florida, Missouri, and Oklahoma also tackled kindred legislation, though all of them failed due to insufficient support. With the recent wave elections rippling through state legislatures, however, this is a pursuit that could meet a different fate in future sessions.

A poll released over the summer shed some light on just how prevalent a concern the Obama birth certificate issue was. In that survey, more than a quarter of respondents said that the president was either "definitely" or "probably not" born in the United States.

The "birther" bill was just part of a busy legislative day for Berman. According to a local report, he also "pre-filed seven anti-illegal immigration bills on Tuesday morning," ranging from making English the official language of Texas, to a harsh, Arizona-style immigration enforcement bill.

Comments

[SCStoday]

12:34 AM on 01/17/2011

He can't get any publicity any other way than to rehash that garbage. He is a sample of the type that votes in that part of Texas.

[MisterCee]

04:02 PM on 01/16/2011

I thought since Obama's mother was an American citizen, her children would always be considered America regardless of where they were born?

[ZappaFreak]

10:55 AM on 01/16/2011

Yes sir-ree, they grow them big in Tejas!

People like this are the reason why there should be an intelligence test before being allowed to run for public office. People like this man are dangerous to the TRUE meaning of democracy...which certainly escapes those lacking the capacity to reason or understand simple truths.

ZF

[stonemann]

12:24 AM on 01/16/2011

What does he mean by "The American People?" I thought the state of Hawaii laid this to rest. Speak for yourself pal.

[Kevins]

11:38 PM on 01/15/2011

Ten gallon hat where a quart would do?

Honey, you're wasting your hat.

[HearMeNow1959]

07:34 PM on 01/15/2011

This guy's website bio says he's on the board of the historically African-American Texas College. Is this true? How does this happen and how do they allow a birther to remain on the board?

[Veneita]

09:43 PM on 01/15/2011

probably frenemies. If the college is in his district and it's a public college, it only makes sense for them to have him on their board.

[NICOLAS DANIELS]

05:00 PM on 01/15/2011

This whole "birther" thing started with Hilary Clinton challenging OB during the primaries. She didn't have much luck with it...
Any state law that messes with who can and can't be President, is 'rhetorical' at best and probably unconstitutional.

[cenzo77]

02:58 PM on 01/15/2011

This same guy was on 360 on CNN, and was confronted with all of the actual evidence and offical documents that prove Obama was born in Hawaii. Berman squeamed and squirmed and still tried to say that it still hasn't been proven and that the facts that he states come from some bloggers web site. He wasn't interested in the truth!

[ByronW]

01:59 PM on 01/15/2011

I cant believe that we are still talking about this. If there was even a scent of truth in this do you think George W. Rove, Cheney, and Ashcroft (AG by the way) would have found this out and stopped Obama in his tracks. This is just what is wrong with this country, lets not work on the hard stuff lets just play politics. And Nero played his fiddle while the empire crashed down upon him.

[Peter Boehringer]

12:12 PM on 01/15/2011

Texas is a great state, but when guys like this get elected it just seems smaller.

[bungholio]

12:01 PM on 01/15/2011

G-Gosh, Mr. Berman! I didn't know god was a right wing conservative! Thanks fer tellin' me!

[Estebando]

10:44 AM on 01/15/2011

The birther argument is overcooked. Seriously, the FBI and CIA never stepped in with any intelligence to prove Obama was born outside of the states, nobody in the Judicial branch can prove that any birther claims are legit, and during the election, the Clintons and McCain couldn't find enough evidence to even muster discussing this issue outside of responding to the public's questions... enough already.

[jm03087]

07:16 AM on 01/15/2011

Imagine what the rest of the civilized world thinks of the US when, as we are facing SERIOUS issues that will shape the quality of life in our country for generations, we have fools like this focusing on this foolishness. This man and his ilk are utter embarrasments and do not deserve to be on the political stage. He slaps on the hat, wraps himself up in the flag, and imagines himself to be a patriot - he is anything but. A true patriot would recognize and respect the president as our elected leader instead of working to undermine our democracy. DISGRACEFUL

[ranchero42]

11:12 AM on 01/15/2011

'Texas Against the World' has been a theme for Texas FOREVER.

[chicagurl]

01:42 PM on 01/15/2011

F&F jm! Couldn't have said it better myself.

[amd02148]

03:40 AM on 01/15/2011

It's really sad that a man his age is so ignorant, such intense hate and racism makes people totally irrational, for the last time noone has their original birth certificate, the state holds it. Who voted him in? politics is in a sad state of affairs if Leo Berman was voted in a State Legislator.

[bogey1]

12:59 AM on 01/15/2011

as long as there is talk about more extensive background checks so that whacko can't buy guns, shouldn't there be a mental competency test to serve in congress?

i want to see this guy put some square blocks into square holes and some round blocks into round holes