As the state readies to launch a new effort to scrub suspected noncitizens from the voter rolls, one key question remains: How many county supervisors of elections will join the effort after they essentially torpedoed a similar purge last year?

Speaking to the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee on Monday, Secretary of State Ken Detzner said the process this time would be helped along because it uses the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database.

WASHINGTON -- Among the many rules I grew up with, two stand out. The first was never call someone a liar, which was considered the worst possible character indictment one could issue. The accuser had best be prepared to fight or be fleet of foot.

The other was a dictum so oft-repeated that it is permanently tattooed on my brain: "If you'll lie by omission, you'll lie by commission."