Posted on 03/21/2006 2:28:21 PM PST by mathprof
Party money bought backing in the past
St. Clair County Democratic leadership has distributed election packets to countywide precinct committeemen, which include an affidavit stating that money from the party will not be used to buy votes.
The unusual action follows the vote buying convictions in June of five East St. Louis politicians. They had helped distribute more than $70,000 received by city Democratic precinct committeemen two days before the 2004 election from the county Democratic organization.
While St. Clair County Democratic Central Committee Chairman Robert Sprague could not be reached for comment, a fax received Monday from his Belleville law office included these documents given to precinct committeemen countywide for today's primary election:
• A one-page letter from Sprague warning that money from the county committee should be used only to pay to help get the vote out, including paying workers to canvass the precincts, for advertisements and to provide transportation to needy voters. The letter also advised that precinct leaders should "keep a record of all expenses" and "under no circumstances" use party money to pay for votes.
• An "affidavit," with room for a notary's signature, stating that a committeeman or election worker swears that no party money will be used "in violation of any federal, state or local laws or regulations."
• A one-page photocopy titled "Election Crimes" that outlined federal voting laws.
Sprague's letter to the committeemen also refers to "recent efforts by the Republicans and their friends to suppress the vote of Democrats in St. Clair County..." No further explanation was offered as to whether this referred to last year's federal vote fraud prosecution under a U.S. attorney appointed by a Republican president, or whether local Republicans were suppressing Democratic voters.
Attorney Bill Zychlewicz, the St. Clair County Republican chairman, said, "I can only surmise that he (Sprague) is trying to put distance between him and the crimes that occurred in the past in East St. Louis regarding voter fraud and the general culture in that city of buying votes on Election Day."
The Democrats are even denser than I thought....they must be reminded not the break the law. WOW!
The keyword is "party" money. Money raised from bake sales, carwashes, bingo night, etc. is still fair game.
Smart.....save money by only promising to pay for the votes and then stiffing the fools....
Works well with the blacks for decades.
In related news, Political Tireslashers Anonymous of Wisconsin has just reported that its membership, curiously, all happen to be Democrats. A spokesperson for the group noted that since mid-November 2004, nobody has fallen off the wagon.
Do cigarettes count as money in vote-buying? They'd better be specific.
I am actually originally from Belleville in St. Clair county. Shenanigans from the democrats is nothing new there.
I voted for Oberweis...Do I get free ice cream?
If the Democrats don't buy votes how will they win any office? Tombstones alone won't get it.
What a state of affairs. Democrats have such a bad reputation in Illinois, they have to tell folks that they will not buy votes. Like John Kerry saying he will not trash the troops.
I notice they said that only money wouldn't be used to pay for votes - no mention of cigarettes, 40-ouncers or crack cocaine.
They didn't mind purchasing votes in 2004 when it was done in Toledo or when Michael Moore encouraged it on his website. Oh yeah, that was done to defeat Hitler.
Someone should post this on DUh to make sure that the rank and file get the message.
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