Feeney Sent Letter to Ashcroft About Dems Intimidating Rethug Volunteers

[Helga Scow Stern]

kk897 referenced this article in a thread the other night.

"A group of 50 Republicans in the House led by Representative Tom Feeney of Florida sent a letter on Oct. 7 to Attorney General John Ashcroft suggesting the existence of "a plan to intimidate volunteers who were supporting their candidate" and requesting an investigation."

We need to be prepared. This strategery may be coming after the inauguration in the form of a "bipartisan vote fraud hearing" to silence international and other claims of vote fraud.

Clipped from
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/26/politics/campaign/26breakin.html?pagewanted=print&position=
(no longer available free)

Wednesday, October 27, 2004 10:53:01 AM:

Republicans Claim Democrats Are Behind Office Attacks
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Citing incidents of violence at Bush campaign offices around the country, Republicans are asserting Democratic partisans have deliberately tried to intimidate voters, potentially storing ammunition for future arguments about the fairness of the election.

Yesterday, the Bush campaign provided a list of more than 40 examples it said had occurred since July, including the burglary from campaign offices of several items: two laptop computers in Seattle; a banner in Thousand Oaks, Calif.; petty cash in Spokane, Wash.; as well as break-ins last Friday in both Flagstaff, Ariz., and Cincinnati.

Also included were examples of lesser crimes including the defacement or theft of supporters' lawn signs as well as broken windows, slashed tires, shots fired, bullet holes and thrown eggs at campaign offices.

In addition, the campaign's "timeline of protests, violence and intimidation against Bush-Cheney '04" also lists 15 mostly nonviolent but sometimes confrontational protests organized by the A.F.L.-C.I.O. at various Bush campaign offices on Oct. 5 to deliver petitions protesting changes in the rules for overtime pay. In one effort to force their way into an Orlando campaign office, union protestors sprained the arm of a Republican field director.

"I don't know if it is an organized effort or not," Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said. "But clearly these are attacks targeted at Republican voters, which attempt to intimidate them into not expressing their views and participating in the political process."

On Oct. 11, former Gov. Marc Racicot of Montana, chairman of the Bush campaign, sent a letter to John Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., suggesting a possible connection between the labor protests and other incidents. "I hope you will put an end to protest activities that have led to injuries, property damage, vandalism and voter intimidation," Mr. Racicot wrote.

Denise Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the A.F.L.-C.I.O., called the allegations "outrageous," accusing Republicans of "trying to confuse the issue about who is really blocking voters' rights on Election Day."

Republicans and Democrats are dispatching armies of lawyers to polling places to lay the groundwork for fights over reports of voter fraud and intimidation if the election proves close. But Republicans, who typically benefit from smaller voter turnout, are more focused on charging fraud and challenging potential voters.

Voter intimidation is typically raised by Democrats, who benefit from higher turnout. This year, Republicans have made public a Colorado Democratic Party handbook suggesting that even without immediate evidence of intimidation, Democratic operatives might launch "a pre-emptive strike" by having local minority leaders discuss the issue.

In response to the Bush campaign's incident list, Democrats countered with a list of 19 incidents aimed at the campaign of Senator John Kerry, including a bullet that was fired into a supporter's house, graffiti at campaign offices, the smashing of a mailbox bearing Kerry campaign stickers and the theft of a laptop in Norristown, Pa.

Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Kerry campaign, called all the events isolated incidents. "There is a lot of passion, and we shouldn't let these incidents taint what appears to be one of the most energetic electorates in decades," he said.

The Bush campaign is much more focused on the issue. It has set up a hot line to collect information about any examples of "intimidation or harassment" of Republican voters or "destruction of Bush-Cheney property."

A group of 50 Republicans in the House led by Representative Tom Feeney of Florida sent a letter on Oct. 7 to Attorney General John Ashcroft suggesting the existence of "a plan to intimidate volunteers who were supporting their candidate" and requesting an investigation.
END

This seems really important, especially in light of this creepy inside view provided by Pacifist Patriot on why the press is not covering yesterday's hearing:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x133119

[verdalaven]

1. This is really rich

Maybe we should go over all the incidents involving the Repubs pre election, such as shredding Dem voter registration cards in NV and (?) NM......How about the subversive way the GOTV Repubs were signing up college students, having them sign petitions for some cause, only to have themselves being registered to vote as a republican?

They got nothin'.

I say, yeah, Feeney, let's investigate ALL the charges. See what comes out.

[Sanity Claws]

2. Feeney!

He's the one who is supposed to have the voting machines rigged. Unbelievable -- he learned at the feet of the masters, Rove and Bush. Accuse the other side of what you're doing yourself

[Patsy Stone]

4. Projection

is an old insanity tool...

[Patsy Stone]

3. Send this to some MSM Winger and complain

about the clearly partisan manner in which they have chosen to complain. I would actually use Ney's own words from that facachta response he gave about the "faux hearing."

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Bring 'Em On , Hooters Boy, Bring 'Em On

Oh, I can wait to see this crew fall.

The arrogance is beyond belief.

[skids]

6. Yeah, geat morale folks but...

Who's going to put together the response to this?

Folks, and I'm only griping at those who know who they are, the others can ignore me... we need you to do more than just read news articles and comment here on DU. We need as many people doing research, compiling data in the many different forms we will need to have pre-arranged to deal with things just like the above.

Pick up thy web browser, don thy spreadsheet, and fight!

(Oh, and Ojai Person -- good find, thanks :-)

[Helga Scow Stern]

7. Thank heavens for Demopedia to help make it accessible.

We do have a lot to do here!

On edit:

Let's start an entry gathering these reports. "Voter fraud" is what they accuse us of, among other things.

[rockedthevoteinMA]

8. Sounds like KKKarl

It sounds like his M.O. I bet he was behind most of it. Have you all seen "*'s Brain"? (Dumb question I'm sure you have) Remember how in it he bugs his own office? I bet he did 90% of it - so he could use this against the dems when the fraud stuff came up.

(Just speculation)

[JunkYardDogg]

9. So, Where can we report the Sodomizing of America by Bush

Nuff said

[wildflower]

10. This might not be so bad...

If it leads to a bipartisan effort towards vote reform (to include the voting machines).

But that's putting aside the 2004 election, which is another ball of wax.

[kk897]

11. hey, thanks for bringing this up again...

I collected a lot of such articles before the election. There was definitely a Plan B in effect, and if it starts to look like our movement is gaining legitimacy, look for all this crap to come flying back at us.