Posted on 11/02/2010 4:58:59 PM PDT by Qbert
LAS VEGAS — A lawyer for Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle has filed a complaint with the Justice Department alleging illegal voter intimidation on behalf of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's campaign.
The complaint is based on an article, which appeared Tuesday morning in National Review, that alleged Reid's campaign worked with sympathetic executives to put pressure on union casino employees to vote.
Supervisors were instructed to track down employees who hadn't voted and find out why, according to e-mails obtained by reporter and conservative blogger Elizabeth Crum.
Reid's campaign offered money and buses to get the workers to the polls, proposed that Reid personally intervene and told the bosses at Harrah's to "put a headlock" on supervisors to make sure they got workers out to vote, according to the e-mails between an unnamed Reid staffer and Harrah's executives. A casino executive distributed a spreadsheet with the names of employees and asked supervisors to track whether they'd voted.
Angle lawyer Cleta Mitchell decried what she called "union intimidation tactics" and called on the Justice Department to investigate possible election law violations.
Reid's campaign said the e-mails show no malfeasance, pointing out that Crum told Fox News she didn't think "anything either illegal or unethical was done here."
"This 'report' by a right-wing blogger who's literally been embedded within the Angle campaign has no credibility on its face,” said Reid campaign spokesman Kelly Steele. “That being said, given Sen. Reid's work to strengthen the state's top industry, it should come as no surprise that casino employees support his reelection."
Most casino workers on the Las Vegas Strip belong to the 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union, the largest local of the international Unite Here and a powerful political force in Nevada.
In the correspondence reported in National Review, the Reid staffer e-mailed Harrah's lobbyist, Jan Jones, a Democratic former Las Vegas mayor, to say the campaign would do "anything, name it" to help the company get its workers out to vote.
"We connected with Culinary, and the problem seems to be with the midlevel supervisors," the Reid staffer wrote to Jones. "They simply are not cooperating and listening to upper management." The staffer went on to ask, "Would it help to have the senator call Gary and help give you the backing you need?"
The e-mail was forwarded to other Harrah's execs by Marybel Batjer, the company's vice president of public policy and communications, with the note, "Please see the messages below that Jan has received from the Reid campaign."
Batjer continues, "She asked me to reach out to you to PLEASE do whatever we need to do to get the supervisors to know that there is NOTHING more important then [sic] to get employees out to vote. Waking up to a defeat of Harry Reid Nov. 3 will be devastating for our industry's future. I know everyone is working hard, but somehow the effort is not getting through the ranks."
Mitchell called the e-mails "a concerted scheme to violate the rights of Harrah's employees which clearly interferes with these employees' rights to cast a secret ballot for the candidates of their choice, without fear of reprisals, recriminations, job loss, or other adverse employment actions."
The Angle camp cited a federal statute that makes it illegal to intimidate, threaten or coerce voters. The campaign filed a similar complaint with Nevada state authorities.
Angle has previously complained of alleged voter fraud, but Nevada officials looked into the charges and said they found nothing amiss. Mitchell denied that the campaign was raising doubts about the process to lay the groundwork for a challenge to unfavorable election results.
Both campaigns have lawyers preparing strategies for a possible recount in the closely fought contest.
If Reid is 48:47 in exit polls and knowing how skilled the RATS are at stealing elections, my hopes are fading fast.
I am guessing my sarcasm went right over your head.
I am so disgusted at having given Coons a easy victory
and let Reid avoid a sure defeat.
Not that it will matter to you, but I contributed to both O”Donnell & Angle campaigns, because I knew they were both
underdogs, especially O’Donnell.
I suggest you rethink yourself before posting.
Seems like you are a PelosiTroll.
Sarcasm? You defended you remarks in posts #8 and #10. Now you’re trying to run from what you said. I don’t buy it. Stick it!
Hear the laughter?
We are laughing, but not *with* you.
Troll.
Nuff said.
Obviously you are using words too big for your own comprehension.
Troll, Nuff said.
You obviously don’t know what a troll is. Or isn’t.
You sound like a pre schooler with a new word. You don’t know what it means but you’re sure gonna use it every chance you get.
Troll
Nuff said.
I know you’re begging me to say “I know you are but what am I”....
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