Misleading Fliers May Hurt GOP Among Black Voters

[qanda]

Misleading Fliers May Hurt GOP Among Black Voters

By Ovetta Wiggins and Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 9, 2006; Page A46

The misleading fliers distributed on Election Day by poor, out-of-state workers suggesting that top Republican candidates had the backing of key black Democrats do not appear to be illegal but could have a lasting impact on the Republican Party's efforts to attract African American voters, political experts said yesterday.

The fliers included a "Democratic Sample Ballot" suggesting that voters back Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele, both Republicans. Entitled "Ehrlich-Steele Democrats," it pictured three influential Democrats -- Wayne K. Curry, Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson and Kweisi Mfume -- and said at the bottom, "These are OUR choices." Curry had endorsed Steele but not Ehrlich, and neither Johnson nor Mfume had endorsed either candidate.

"They have said that Democrats have taken black votes for granted, but that flier tried to take black people for fools," said Michael Fauntroy, an assistant professor of public policy at George Mason University.

State law does not generally prohibit making misleading claims on campaign literature, several experts said yesterday, but election law might have been violated if the workers who distributed the fliers were hired by a political committee that is not registered to engage in campaign finance activity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/08/AR2006110802525.html

Here's a link to the story, including the misleading flier, on DailyKos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/6/192457/153