Julius Henson ordered to pay $1 million for 2010 election robocall
Source: Baltimore Sun
Political consultant Julius Henson must pay the state $1 million for putting out 112,000 robocalls intended to discourage black voters from going to the polls on Election Day 2010, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
"Voter suppression in Maryland will not be tolerated," Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said in a statement. "The court's opinion and damages award will hopefully make political consultants think twice before using these types of illegal dirty tricks again."
Henson violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act with the "express purpose of suppressing the votes of a minority group in a contested statewide gubernatorial election," U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake wrote in a 13-page memorandum. Blake also found Henson's employee Rhonda Russell guilty in the civil case
Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-henson-robocall-fine-20120529,0,749730.story
At least Maryland recognizes voter suppression?
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)and permanent loss of HIS OWN voting rights.
MADem
(135,425 posts)But he did get convicted in a separate criminal case on one count of conspiracy--he might do time for that...?
Smith has said Henson will seek a retrial on the conviction.
Henson faces sentencing June 13 on the conspiracy count for failing to include an authority line on the call, which would have altered recipients that it was paid for by Erhlich's campaign. He faces up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine in that case.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I bet he's .
These penalties need to be much more immediate and much more of a deterrence.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,656 posts)God knows he's not the one who "hatched" the plan, but he clearly was only too happy to stab a whole lot of people in the backs, ethically, for the right-wing.
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Paul E. Schurick, campaign manager for republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
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Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)what a dispicable pos.