[Vision2020] GOP Operative Arrested for Voter Registration Fraud

[No Weatherman]

Darn it.

I was hoping that the GOP could steal California this year.

Never mind that the Democrats have held the state by 20% since Reagan
left office.



On 10/21/08, Saundra Lund <sslund_2007 at verizon.net> wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
>  =======================================================
>   List services made available by First Step Internet,
>   serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>  =======================================================
>