[Vision2020] GOP Operative Arrested for Voter Registration Fraud

[Saundra Lund]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fraud20-2008oct20,0,3842357.story

>From the Los Angeles Times
Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case
Mark Jacoby, who owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party,
violated state laws with his own registration, authorities say.
By Evan Halper
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 20, 2008

SACRAMENTO - The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired
to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario
over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently
registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no
longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all
signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young
Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters
in California and other states.

Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department
late Saturday came after dozens of voters said they were duped into
registering as Republicans by people employed by YPM. The voters said YPM
workers tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen
penalties against child molesters.

The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member
of the GOP.

Dan Goldfine, an attorney for Jacoby, on Sunday denied any wrongdoing by his
client and called the charges "baseless."

He said the arrest outside an Ontario hotel, which involved seven squad cars
and nine police officers, was part of a "long pattern of harassment against
Mr. Jacoby for an entirely valid voter registration effort."

Goldfine said the case that prosecutors are bringing against his client
involves charges that are rarely pressed.

Jacoby was released on bail Sunday evening from the West Valley Detention
Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Goldfine said.

After complaints by voters and Democratic Party officials, several agencies
launched investigations into Jacoby's activities. They included the Los
Angeles County district attorney's office, which issued the warrant for his
arrest earlier this month on felony charges of voter registration fraud and
perjury.

"We contacted people at the addresses where he registered, and they have no
idea who he is," said Dave Demerjian, head deputy of the public integrity
unit at the L.A. County district attorney's office.

Goldfine said his client does business in many states, traveling frequently,
and his permanent address has been his parents' Los Angeles County home,
where he received mail and registered to vote.

Demerjian said his office is continuing to investigate allegations that YPM
workers improperly re-registered voters with the GOP.

Several dozen voters recently told The Times that YPM workers said they had
to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California
initiative law. Other voters said they had no idea their registration was
being changed.

YPM has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country.
Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the
activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm
was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit.

In a written statement Sunday, the state Republican Party called the charges
against Jacoby "politically motivated." The party said the charges do not
support accusations from voters and Democratic officials that YPM has been
duping voters into joining the GOP.

The statement accused Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who announced the
arrest, of "using her office to play politics."

Bowen is a Democrat.

evan.halper at latimes.com