Salon.com Guide to GOP's Dirty Election Deeds of 2006

[Hissyspit]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/11/21/cheat_sheet/

The GOP's dirty deeds of 2006
Salon's guide to robo-calls, push polls, vigilantes and other murky dealings from this year's elections.
By Alex Koppelman and Lauren Shell



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Fortunately, politicians in several states and the U.S. Senate are taking steps to criminalize some of the more heinous tricks played this year. Before any of the bad deeds from this election are forgotten, here's Salon's Cheat Sheet -- our top 10 list of dirt.

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The progressive group that wasn't

Bob Casey, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, isn't your typical Democrat -- pro-gun, pro-death penalty, antiabortion -- but he was running against a Republican, Rick Santorum, who made him look positively liberal by comparison.

Still, there was ample room for anyone who wished to attack Casey from the left -- and there were plenty who did. Like the people behind the Progressive Policy Council, a self-described nonprofit organization that popped up just before the election to denounce Casey's conservative stances. But the group, which appeared to have no signs of actual life other than mailers sent out attacking Casey, may not have been as "progressive" as advertised: It's represented by the former deputy general counsel to President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign, who has also worked for the Dole campaign and the Republican National Committee.

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And last, but not least -- vigilantes

On Election Day, a posse of three men in Tucson, Ariz., proved that the Wild West still lives.

The group, which was three strong, and allegedly composed of two anti-immigration activists, Russ Dove and Roy Warden, carried a camcorder, a clipboard -- on which, they said, was information about a proposed law to make English the state's official language -- and a gun. While one man would approach a voter, holding the clipboard, another would follow, pointing the video camera at them. The third would stand behind, holding his hand to the gun at his hip in what activists on the other side called classic voter intimidation tactics in a precinct one local paper had previously declared the bellwether of the area's Hispanic vote.

It's not the first time Dove and Warden have been accused of this type of act. Dove, who is a convicted felon and former militia member, patrolled Arizona's polls in 2004 as well, and Warden has publicly burned a Mexican flag (for which he was charged with in arson) and acknowledged that he sought a concealed carry permit for a gun, partly in hopes of enticing a local police officer to attack him and force Warden to use deadly force in self-defense.

MORE AT LINK

[philb]

1. widespread systematic illegal dirty tricks in many states in 2004 by Repub operatives

There were widespread, systematic, illegal dirty tricks in minority areas of many counties of many states in 2004
carried out by Repub operatives to confuse minorities about their proper polling place,
and in conjuction with widespread late changes in minority polling places and new promulgations that those who vote in the wrong precinct don't get their vote counted; there was a huge conspiracy by partisan election officials and party operatives to cost hundreds of thousands of minorities their vote.
Also widespread illegal purges of legal minority voters.
Similarly allocation of too few voting machines and machines that were inoperable to minority precincts resulted in
offical low turnouts, even though the precincts had extremely long lines. That is, the problem was official malfeasance, not voter apathy. This made huge impacts in Florida and Ohio, but also in other states.

www.flcv.com/summary.html

[philb]

4. FBI called to investigate Robo-Calls and other dirty tricks. What have then done?

In Virginia, the FBI was looking at complaints of an apparently orchestrated series of phone calls in the hard-fought U.S. Senate race between Republican George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb. Some voters reported they got calls telling them to stay home on Election Day, or face criminal charges.
The voter group MoveOn offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for voter interference, which is a federal crime. www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/31826.php


In Maryland, sample ballots suggesting Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich and Senate candidate Michael Steele were Democrats were handed out by people bused in from out of state. Democrats outnumber Republicans in Maryland by nearly 2-to-1. www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/31826.php


Across the country, Democrats accused Republicans of sponsoring automated "robo-calls" that have infuriated voters. The recorded calls, which reached a fever pitch in the days leading up to the election, automatically dial and re-redial, promoting or trashing a candidate. Some voters have reported being awakened in the middle of the night by such calls, and said that after they hung up, the phone rang again. Federal rules bar election phone solicitations after 9 p.m. www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/31826.php

[philb]

2. Details of Robo- calls by GOP in close races in many states. Are these punishable?

One widespread controversy involved the use of “robo-calls,” or automated telephone calls, in the weeks preceding the elections. These calls, the vast majority of which were paid for and authorized by the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), were reported in at least 53 competitive House districts. The NRCC-sponsored calls typically began with an automated voice saying, “Hello, I’m calling with information about ,” not revealing that they were sponsored by the GOP until the end of the call, which left residents under the impression that the call was from a Democratic candidate if they hung up before the call was over. Indeed, numerous Democratic campaign offices around the country received complaints and requests to halt the calls. In addition, many voters later expressed that the calls led them to oppose Democratic candidates at the polls.

This robo-call tactic, while considered unethical by many, also has potential legal implications. FCC regulations require makers of prerecorded phone messages to, “at the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call.” Also, telephone solicitations to residential subscribers “before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.” are prohibited. Many citizens reported being woken up by robo-calls as late as 2:30 a.m. In several states, such as Indiana and New Hampshire, the calls were ordered to cease because they violated state law. On November 6, the day before the elections, Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.) asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, FCC chairman Kevin Martin and FEC chairman Michael Toner to probe whether the NRCC calls violated federal law. The FCC would neither confirm nor deny an ongoing investigation into the matter, while a representative from the FEC said that the agency has no record of a complaint. Congresspedia also contacted the Justice Department, but has not yet received a response.

Robo-calls were reported in the following states in the days and weeks surrounding the elections: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) responded to the robo-call reports by introducing the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2006 last week. The bill would make it illegal for anyone to knowingly attempt to prevent others from exercising his or her right to vote by providing deceptive information (i.e. robo-calls that do not make their sponsor clear). Violators would face a criminal penalty of up to one-year in prison and a fine of $100,000.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/5494

[philb]

3. Lots of RoboCalls by RNC to Dems in areas with close races; also other illegal dirty tricks

RoboCalls by RNC harassing Dem voters in areas with close races in Florida like Broward and Sarasota/Manatee

5367 Voter Intimidation Problem Other Problem Broward Florida MLK Elementary, Deceptive automated phone calls (see Sarasota thread)

http://eirs.cs.net:8080/EIRS_WEB/Reporting/displayUSReport.do

lots of mass mailings to minorities in Bernalillo Co. New Mex, telling them the wrong polling place again
Edited on Thu Nov-23-06 03:00 AM by philb
as in 2004, to cause them to not get their vote counted ; affected Madrid race

The DU software does not allow posting the full URL
so go to http://eirs.cs.net:8080/EIRS_WEB/Reporting/displayUSReport.do
and click on New Mexico, then Polling Place problems


huge problems in 2004
www.flcv.com/newmex.html


RoboCalls in many areas of many states with close races- see polling place by state