[Vision2020] McCain Employing GOP Operative Accused of Voter Registration Fraud

[No Weatherman]

They were overworked and tired.

Besides, I thought voter fraud didn't bother anyone in this forum.




On 10/21/08, Saundra Lund <sslund_2007 at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> McCain Employing GOP Operative Accused of Voter Registration Fraud
>
> Sam Stein
>
> October 20, 2008 05:03 PM
>
> John McCain's campaign has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican
> operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states.
>
> According to campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin
> campaign, the RNC and the the California Republican Party, made a $175,000
> payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for purposes of "registering
> voters." The managing partner of that firm is Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP
> operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing
> Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even
> spearheading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to hinder the Democratic
> ticket.
>
> In a letter to the Justice Department last October, House Judiciary
> Committee Chairman John Conyers said that that Sproul's alleged activities
> "clearly suppress votes and violate the law."
>
> That Sproul would come under the employment umbrella of the McCain campaign
> -- the Republican National Committee has also separately paid Lincoln
> Strategy at least $37,000 for voter registration efforts this cycle -- is
> not terribly surprising. Sproul, who has donated nearly $30,000 to McCain's
> campaign, has been in the good graces of GOP officials for the past decade
> despite charges of ethical and potentially legal wrongdoing.
>
> But his involvement with the Republican Party's voter registration efforts
> has the potential to create a political and public relations headache at a
> time when McCain can ill-afford one. For weeks the Arizona Republican and
> his allies have been seeking to tie Barack Obama to the community
> organization ACORN, which they have accused of potentially committing
> massive voter registration fraud. Sproul's contract with the GOP ticket --
> in addition to news of Republican officials attempting to suppress
> Democratic turnout in California -- raises, for some, questions about
> McCain's own efforts.
>
> "It should certainly take away from McCain's argument," said Bob Grossfeld,
> a progressive political consultant based in Arizona who has followed
> Sproul's career. "Without knowing anything of what is going on with ACORN,
> there is a clear history with Mr. Sproul either going over the line or sure
> as hell kicking dirt on it, and doing it for profit and usually fairly
> substantive profit."
>
> As Republican Congressman Chris Cannon summarized during a joint hearing for
> the subcommittee on commercial and administrative law back in May 2008: "The
> difference between ACORN and Sproul is that ACORN doesn't throw away or
> change registration documents after they have been filled out."
>
> Indeed, Sproul's history is filled with allegations of political misdeeds.
> During the 2004 election, Sproul & Associates (the former name of Lincoln
> Strategy) was accused of attempting to destroy forms collected by Democratic
> voters in Nevada. That same year in Oregon, Sproul & Associates allegedly
> instructed canvassers to only accept Republican registration forms in
> addition to destroying those turned in by Democrats.
>
> In Minnesota, meanwhile, Sproul's firm was accused of actually firing
> workers who brought back Democratic registration forms, while other
> canvassers were allegedly paid "$13 an hour, with the $3 bonus for every
> Bush, undecided or Ralph Nader voter registration." Similar problems related
> to Sproul & Associates popped up in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
>
> All of this was executed, it seems, through an elaborate web of deception.
> As Salon.com wrote back in 2004:
>
> Canvassers were told to act as if they were nonpartisan, to hide that they
> were working for the RNC, especially if approached by the media... In
> letters the firm sent to the libraries, Sproul misrepresented itself as
> America Votes -- a left-leaning national voter registration group not
> affiliated with Sproul -- but said that it was interested in registering
> "all those who wish to register to vote." Shortly after Sproul canvassers
> began working the libraries, though, patrons began complaining that the
> canvassers were being especially inquisitive about their political leanings,
> and some were pushing people to register as Republicans.
>
> Sproul has denied those charges, claiming often that his registration
> efforts were bipartisan and that any suggestion otherwise was nothing more
> than the testimony of disgruntled former employees. He did not return a
> request for comment for this article.
>
> But there has been a wide array of public complaint over the scope and
> nefariousness of his activities. Sens. Patrick Leahy and Ted Kennedy sent a
> letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004 asking that the Justice
> Department "launch an immediate investigation into the activities of Mr.
> Sproul and his firm." Three years later, members of Congress still weren't
> satisfied. Rep. Conyers complained in an Oct. 2007 letter that the Justice
> Department was not closely scrutinizing Sproul's efforts. "The alleged
> misconduct described by many witnesses," he wrote, "clearly suppress[es]
> votes and violate[s] the law."
>
> Indeed, those who have followed Sproul's rise in Republican circles argue
> that the pattern of behavior is too hard to dismiss as anything other than
> ethically-blurry, brass knuckle tactics.
>
> "The biggest single thing is that he is a true believer," said Grossfeld.
> "He might take this as a compliment, but he is as committed to the worldview
> and the neocon approach to life as any operative I have ever run across. He
> is absolutely devoted to whatever that ideology is and as a byproduct of
> that he will look for every opportunity he can, I believe to further his or
> his client's agenda."
>
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/20/mccain-employing-gop-oper_n_136254.html
>
>
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