Posted on 01/25/2006 8:01:36 PM PST by John Lenin
Democrats and the Kerry campaign engaged in election fraud and dirty tricks in Wisconsin— so where’s the news media?! Where’s the 24 hour coverage? Where’s the ‘Culture of Corruption’ headlines? Where are the protests demanding every vote be counted?!
The standard Democrat line is that Republicans 'steal' elections. Republicans must be corrupt because Democrats never lose fair elections. But when we look closely at the real fraud, it's committed by Democrats. Imagine that.
MILWAUKEE -- It was a third-rate political caper uncovered by a vigilant night watchman, a scheme that some suggest goes far deeper than the low-level suspects rounded up by police.
But unlike the 1972 Watergate burglary, the fallout from an Election Day 2004 sabotage plot here is more farce than drama. Five local Democratic activists are accused of slashing the tires on Republican-rented vehicles, crippling the party's poll watching and get out the vote efforts in a state that was vital in a close presidential race.
The trial has pitted Democrat against Democrat: Defense lawyers say the young men are taking the fall for a plan hatched by out-of-state operatives, insinuating that it was part of a nationwide dirty tricks campaign to defeat President Bush.
~chicago tribune
This was a planned operation by Kerry campaign workers. This was not just a single rogue or anti-social individual who felt like committing an act of vandalism, this was a planned operation by paid staff of the Kerry campaign, with both in-state and out-of-state workers. Sons of prominent Democratic officials no less.
What are the chances that if this had been 'Bush campaign operatives' who came in from out of town to set this up, with the children of Republican officials doing the dirty work, that this wouldn't be front page news-- every single day of their trial? The silence from both the mainstream media and the Democratic Party is deafening.
Something key about the bias in this very story (the portion I quoted) is that it gets several facts wrong. It would never be characterized as, "more farce than drama," if these were Republicans. Certainly, not with the over arching importance attached to every single Democratic vote (which must be counted!). Secondly, these were dedicated paid campaign workers not activists. Activists are people who show up at protests of the world bank and the WTO with hoods on, prepared to throw rocks and molatov cocktails at Starbucks. No one can hold the DNC or the Kerry campaign responsible for crazed 'activists', but these people seem to be in fact employees of the Kerry Campaign.
Count Every Democrat Vote (twice if need be)?
I think Kerry should stand up and make a statement about this very real despoiling of democracy in Wisconsin. Why hasn't he made any statement about the fear and the disenfranchisement in Wisconsin? Is it possible that he had knowledge of this activity? Was this a national effort? Does every vote count only when the vote is for a (D)?
Kerry should disavow this activity and come clean about any involvement or knowledge his national campaign had. It's obvious that Republican voters can fear that they will be prevented from getting to the polls in Wisconsin directly because of the Kerry Campaign. Having shown such passion for "counting every vote" and ensuring that everyone has a chance to vote, certainly he could at the very least comment on this?
Yet, thousands upon thousands of Americans still fear that when they walk into the polls to vote, there is a very real chance that their vote will not be counted or they will lose the opportunity to vote at all because they are forced to stand in line for hours due to a shortage of machines.
...Senator John Kerry is committed to making sure that all Americans have faith in future elections that the votes they stand in line to cast are counted. ~JohnKerry.com
Their votes should be counted, -IF- they can get to the polls after his campaign workers slash your tires!
Kerry only seems concerned when a democratic voter is being menaced by illusory Republican 'voter intimidation' or Republican 'dirty tricks', frequently alleged but never shown to be true. How many times have you heard of Republican 'activists' slashing the tires of the DNC's get out the vote vehicles? Or printing up 'extra' ballots in order to pad the margins of victory?
The GOP rented more than 100 vehicles that were parked in a lot adjacent to a Bush campaign office. The party planned to drive poll watchers to polling places by 7 a.m. and deliver any voters who didn't have a ride.
A criminal complaint said the defendants originally planned to put up Democratic yard signs, placards and bumper stickers at the Republican office [Right. Wink. Wink. I suppose they planned to spread sunshine and lollipops too.] in a scheme they called "Operation Elephant Takeover." But the plan was dropped when they learned a security guard was posted at the GOP office, the complaint said.
One witness told investigators the five defendants, dressed in "Mission Impossible"-type gear, black outfits and knit caps, left the Democratic Party headquarters at about 3 a.m. on Nov. 2, and returned about 20 minutes later, extremely excited and talking about how they had slashed the tires.
Rick Graber, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin said the stunt threw a wrench in its get-out-the-vote effort. Moreover, he said, Wisconsin was one of the most highly contested states, where Kerry ultimately won by a little more than 10,000 votes.
"When you're looking at a margin of only 10,000 votes, every person counts," Graber said. ~findlaw
Though the Wisconsin Democratic Party says it has done nothing wrong, Democrats and the Democratic Governor of Wisconsin are no stranger to election fraud and illegality in Wisconsin. Far from the recent attempts to smear Republicans by making Abramoff an icon of the 'culture of corruption' Democrats actually know what they are talking about when it comes to corruption, because they've written so many chapters in the book on it.
Authorities investigating a state travel contract given to a major donor to Gov. Jim Doyle's campaign are also looking for links between donations from utility executives and state regulators' approval of the sale of a nuclear power plant, sources said.
The probe began after a utility company whistleblower complained to the state attorney general's office in November about possibly improper contacts last year between one of the utilities and top aides at the state Public Service Commission. ~Wisconsin State Journal ----------
Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Jambois removed himself today from the investigation of bribery at a Democratic-sponsored bingo party due to a conflict of interest, according to Chris Lato, a spokesman for the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
...Jambois is a member of the steering committee for the Jim Doyle for Governor campaign. Democratic campaign organizer Angela Arrington and Doyle supporter Frank Santapaolo also attended the event, according to Lato.
Lato said a new attorney has been assigned to the case. The RPW charged the Doyle campaign with bribing mentally disabled voters at a Kenosha health care facility with pastries, soda and money in exchange for votes.
"Food changed hands here where absentee ballots were laid out to vote. That is a felony," said Lato. "Bob Jambois did the right thing by stepping aside."
Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Thad Nation said the DPW would participate in any investigation, but dismissed allegations that Doyle had prior knowledge of the bingo party or that the event was illegal in any way. ~Daily Cardinal
----------
Numerous state legislators are facing trial due to allegations of indiscretion related to campaign finance reform at the state level.
Several state senators and representatives are accused of allowing aides to campaign on state time, spending taxpayer dollars on a private operation.
Some state legislators have already been convicted, including former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, former Sen. Brian Burke, D-Milwaukee and former state Rep. Bonnie Ladwig, R-Racine.
Chvala was sentenced to nine months in jail after pleading guilty to two felony counts for illegally running a third-party group in the 2000 elections and using state workers and resources for a 1998 campaign.
Seventeen other counts, including extortion, were dismissed because of a plea deal. ~Daily Cardinal
How to steal an election
Beyond just slashing tires, the Democratic party wanted to make sure that 'safe' blue states stayed safe for Kerry in 2004. After all, it was the most important election of our lifetimes! Way too important to lose, and apparently too important to play by the rules. "If we do not step backfrom the verge now, it may be to late to have any hope at all for salvaging our already deeply damaged democracy...." (Veterans for peace )
And also, lives were at stake! So perhaps we have a motive for the left's attempt to take a few liberties with the system in order to ensure the survival of democracy, eh?
Let me explain how I think Democrats planned to steal the election in Wisconsin.
Kerry won by some 11,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2004. A pretty slim margin. It gets even slimmer when you start looking at the possible voter fraud.
Democratic officials have failed to cover up all of the evidence pointing to voter fraud in Wisconsin, which is why the FBI will finally be investigating why the, "number of ballots cast and the number of people who can be identified as voting in the presidential election," just happen to equal about 11,000 votes in Wisconsin, according to the Journal Sentinel.
Let me repeat this, because it bears repeating: the number of ballots cast and the number of people who can be identified as voting in the presidential election in Wisconsin equal or exceed 11,000 votes.
They have 11,000 more ballots 'cast' than people who voted. Absentee ballots were not counted until weeks after the election, people were listed as voting twice... when you see an election system that is so poorly run, you have to wonder if it's on purpose-- in order to rig the election. Especially when it is Democratic officials who demand that voters should be able to register the day of the election, and then refuse to support any efforts to verify the actual identity or addresses of these voters.
Those problems ranged from registration cards that weren't processed before the election to absentee ballots that were not counted until weeks after the election.
And a new Journal Sentinel review of the city's voting records shows the system is so flawed that more than 300 people are listed as voting twice from the same address, even though each apparently was given only one ballot.
That increases the size of a gap, already at more than 8,300, between the number of ballots cast and the number of people who can be identified as voting in the presidential election, which in Wisconsin was determined by about 11,000 votes.
...The problem surfaced as the Journal Sentinel tried to check whether anyone voted twice in the election and hundreds of potential duplicates popped up, in contrast to four years ago, when the paper found no one who voted twice in the city.
...McCann's announcement comes after a series of revelations by the newspaper that have left critics worrying that the problems signal either bureaucratic blundering or widespread fraud, [or both] though they can't determine which because the system itself is so messed up.
...The Journal Sentinel found 314 cases where this may have occurred with the same address listed twice, and many others cases where people with identical and uncommon names are listed as voting at two addresses - perhaps due to reregistering at their new address on election day. ~Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It's useful if you are planning on voter fraud for the system to be in disarray. It's also useful to demand that voters not be required to show id when they vote. Of course, slashing tires can be effective as well. It's just not as sophisticated.
(For the record I also believe that any electronic voting must have a receipt and attempt to have multiple ways of verifying tallys.)
We begin to see the premeditation of this electoral corruption when we remember Democrats laying down a justification for 'having too many ballots' by saying that, "every vote must count, and every vote must be counted," and making it seem as if there is an emergency need for more ballots.
Gov. Jim Doyle calling for a state probe and County Executive Scott Walker agreeing after a noisy protest to reconsider the City of Milwaukee's request for more ballots. Doyle said later, however, that he wanted the state Elections Board to promptly investigate and determine how many ballots are needed by Milwaukee, which requested 938,000 from the county. The county agreed to provide 679,000, noting that the city had only 382,000 registered voters as of September. ~Journal Sentinel
Democrats are protesting because they're afraid that their democratically controlled state will disenfranchise them?! What to do? ...Order more ballots! Governor Doyle (D), said in the article that he'd never seen a lack of ballots like this before! Aghast, he said that it's an abuse of authority not to give the city however many ballots it thought it needed... (to rig the election!) I think that Democrats shrewdly planned to have multiple ballots available-- for voting early and often. All this guff about making sure they have 300% more ballots than they need for every registered voter is ludicrous. Just read the words of the democratic 'activist' Rashad Younger, protesting for more ballots, when he says he and his friends 'might' mess up their ballots and need to 'revote'. Sure Rashad, that explains why the election system in Wisconsin is in utter chaos and ruin, and more ballots are needed to 'fix it'.
Doyle said the eyes of the nation might be focused on Wisconsin on election day because of its swing-state status in a tight presidential contest, and he wants to make sure things run smoothly.
...Rashad Younger, president of the Marquette University Black Student Council, told Walker that he and other first-time voters might mess up their ballots and need to revote. Ballot supplies should reflect that, he said.
In fliers for their march to the courthouse for Thursday's meeting, Marquette and Milwaukee Area Technical College students accused Walker of following the path of others in history who have tried to suppress the black vote. The flier mentioned black voters disenfranchised in the Florida election in the disputed 2000 presidential race.
Walker has raised fraud concerns related to excess ballots possibly being grabbed by voters. Doug Haag, chairman of the county commission, said he worried about a repeat of an incident in 2000 when some ballots flew off the back of a city truck.
District Attorney E. Michael McCann, who attended the meeting, said he saw no connection between excess ballots and fraud because of security measures at the polls. [Imagine that.] But he added he was concerned about the propriety of some turnout drives that pay workers for registering voters. ~Journal Sentinel
What I want to know is how far the campaign, "to make sure things run smoothly," in the 2004 election went. Because Democrats used the same arguments all over the United States. They opposed identification of voters, but encouraged multiple ballots, not to mention the fact that dimples and pregnant chads are always votes for a democrat. Evidence of padding voter registration with fake voters, pre-registering ineligible voters, and other voting fraud and intimidation was rife in this last election, predominantly by Democrats desparate to regain power.
Posted by Eric Simonson at January 24, 2006 02:53 AM
Tag for later
It was the same thing in 2000, when Gore's margin in Wisconsin was less than 6,000 votes, and there were lots of reports of voter fraud.
bookmark bump
Democrats: If we can't trick the people into voting for us, we will steal it.
Another bookmark bump...
Ping
Yes, It appears that way for the last 2 presidential elections.
"The RATS literally stole Wisconsin and got away with it."
After years of practice in Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, et. al., they are virtuosos, like the lead violinist in the band.
Let's talk about who stole the last governor's race here in Washington state.
yep Rossi was robbed.
Dimpled chads and spoiled ballots are to be expected when trying to punch through a whole wad of cards with such a little stylus.
Great article by Eric (as always is the case with his writings).
EXCELLENT post. Very nice summary of events over the past few years.
I have been working on some of these issues here in Milwaukee for the past year or so with the Election Commission. Much progess has been made, but we shall see how it works in November.
My prediction has been they will steal the Governor's mansion. But yesterday's indictment might shade that somewhat.
Please ping me to similar articles. Many thanks for the post.
Bush won WI.
bump to prove to my co-worker later
"Let's talk about who stole the last governor's race here in Washington state."
There have also been reports that Slade Gorton got his Senate seat stolen the same way by Maria-Can't Do Well. Based on what I read from the last election and how long it's been going on, I think it's a possibility (and probably more).
Excellent article that you won't see anywhere in the MSM.
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