Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips is under criminal investigation by state police in Indiana

[applegrove]

Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips is under criminal investigation by state police in Indiana for potential election fraud involving fake ballot petition signatures.

https://www.politicususa.com/2024/02/03/dean-phillips-election-fraud.html/amp

"SNIP.........

ABC57 reported:

Indiana State Police and several other organizations are investigating potential election fraud in St. Joseph County involving Presidential candidate Dean Phillips.

St. Joseph County Clerk Amy Rolfes held a press conference Friday morning laying out the details. According to Rolfes, the St. Joseph County Clerk’s office allegedly found a number of fake signatures on petition forms for Phillips’ candidacy in the May primary. These signatures did not match records in the Statewide Voter Registration System, Rolfes said.

“So, we had 530 voters who had signed petitions, 530,” Rolfes said. “And of those 530, according to our due diligence, or protocols, or following the process, we found 19 that were valid.”

..........SNIP"

[Buns_of_Fire]

1. What happened to him?

I'd heard from people on DU who live in his district that he was a decent congressman. Now, he's just a nudge away from a "no labels" RFK Jr. type. The triumph of Ego over Id? Affluenza? 'Tis a puzzlement.

[Ford_Prefect]

2. Too much time looking in the wrong mirror? Hubris of the disaffected? Too many people whispering in his ear?

Far too much time online and far too little in the world of groceries with consequences.

[tanyev]

10. Maybe he got an offer ($$$) he couldn't refuse.

[RandomNumbers]

13. I've often believed a somewhat intelligent, and unscrupulous person

could play the "campaign finance cash" game with pretty much assured good ROI. (relatively speaking - pretty sure I do better at a real job than I would do as a candidate, myself.)

Never tried it myself (I fail at least one of the qualifications in my subject line, I hope), but after seeing some clearly non-competitive people running for various offices, and learning how campaign cash can be legally used, it seemed fairly apparent.

[Scruffy1]

3. The lede is misleading.

The people he hired to do it obviously screwed him. I just don't get why his Quixotic and hopeless running gets so much resentment. I thought it was a Democratic election race, not a Coronation. Biden will be nominated no matter what. Dean has voted with Biden 100% in the house. He still has the right to run. He is nothing like No Labels or RFK. I,m thinking he will drop out shortly.

[LymphocyteLover]

6. I'm not sure many people resent him. More it's just he's a pointless joke who has atrracted a bad crowd

[dsc]

8. I do resent him

like I resent all bigots. His hatred of the elderly is disgusting.

[LymphocyteLover]

21. Oh, I didn't see that. What did he say?

[dsc]

33. It is his entire campaign

Biden's old therefore he needs to go. He literally has no policy complaints at all.

[Demsrule86]

17. It is not pointless. This guy trashed Biden on the Weekend today.

This hurts our ticket.

[LymphocyteLover]

20. Yes. I don't know if Phillips is intending to hurt Biden or is just being used by people who want to damage Biden

[Demsrule86]

27. He knows what he is doing.

[edisdead]

35. He is my congressman. I resent him.

He should be doing his job not running a pointless campaign.

[Cha]

48. "Wild that Dean Phillips has essentially quit being a congressman and.."

Link to tweet

[Demsrule86]

49. He has missed 89% of the votes.

[LymphocyteLover]

53. OK! I stand corrected! Probably did not have enough coffee in me when I made my post!

[Demsrule86]

14. Or he is being paid by the right to trash Biden. W

Welcome to DU.

[yardwork]

22. It doesn't matter if it was contractors; he's still responsible.

[comradebillyboy]

34. Just because he can doesn't mean he should.

Exactly what is he accomplishing other than smearing Joe Biden?

[Torchlight]

50. I doubt 'coronation' and 'wide popular support' are the same thing

any more than 'annointed' and 'strong, popular, and insighful' were.

[mopinko]

4. anyone who cant get the number of sigs required isnt fit for office.

him and williamson have been crying about ballot access. they’ve both missed deadlines. for anyone who has ever been a part of a campaign, it screams sore loser.

i’m so glad they both got creamed yesterday.

[PortTack]

7. My sentiments too!

[mopinko]

9. pretty widely held by anyone who's ever walked the walk.

[yardwork]

25. And they got rejected by the loyalest of loyal Democrats.

I hope this is the end of both their campaigns.

[Demsrule86]

28. I do too.

[LiberalFighter]

41. It is not that difficult in Indiana to get 500 valid signatures.

Especially if you have the support of labor. Which apparently he doesn't.

[mopinko]

42. yeah, the number made me gag.

how can u not manage 500 valid sigs?
if he got 1000, it wouldnt have been questioned.

[samnsara]

5. dont mess with Joe!

[former9thward]

11. What does that mean?

[edisdead]

36. I think it means look at last nights results.

[former9thward]

44. I don't think so.

The OP is about Phillips supposedly being investigated by the government.

[edisdead]

54. Huh

I didn’t read that post as them insinuating Joe would use his presidency immorally.

[former9thward]

12. The headline is clickbait BS.

Dean Philips is not under investigation. He was not wandering around Indiana collecting signatures. Some signature gathering company got the signatures. Anyone who has ever been involved in political campaigns knows there are bad signatures -- and yes, false signatures -- in every ballot petition gathering. That is why you try and get about 50% more than the minimum to account for that.

[RandomNumbers]

15. 19 out of 530 were good. (according to the OP)

Based on your own reply, that far exceeds the number of bad signatures one would expect.

Sure maybe someone he hired screwed him. Doesn't say much for his ability to hire people. Or maybe it was just bad luck. Either way, he never had a chance, and if his reason for running is "Biden is too old", that's a pretty sucky attitude, so expect a little pushback.

[former9thward]

18. Many of these signature gathering companies are very shady.

They pop up every two years and then disappear. They hire semi-homeless types and pay them cash on a per signature basis. 19/530 would be exceptionally bad. Probably someone who got a few signatures, got tired and faked the rest somehow.

[RandomNumbers]

19. I'm pretty sure our county party and/or major candidates do their own review

before submitting their signatures.

There are certain "tells" that one person has signed multiple times. I guess someone really good could get past that, but your scenario doesn't describe someone "really good".

Dean Phillips apparently doesn't have sufficient staff to take care of these things.

[yardwork]

23. See mopinko's post above. Getting enough valid signatures is step one.

If a candidate can't do that, they're not going to succeed at the rest of their campaign. It's a sign that they're not a viable candidate.

[former9thward]

26. I believe in democracy.

High and unreasonable signature requirements are not democratic. Just the opposite.

[yardwork]

31. I don't have an informed opinion on that.

However, this is the current requirement, and if he can't meet that requirement he's not going to do well meeting future hurdles.

[dsc]

37. this isn't a particularly high one

They ask for 500 signatures in each CD. A CD is over 700k people at this point so it is less than 1/10 of 1% of the people in a CD. Even in fairly heavily GOP districts this shouldn't be all that onerous.

[former9thward]

45. Have you ever tried to get signatures in the middle of a Midwest winter?

I have. Its not easy.

[dsc]

51. He could have, and frankly should have

started the process months ago. This isn't an unreasonable ask to be honest.

[LiberalFighter]

43. Not the way it has been handled in Indiana.

Campaign staff along with county parties handle it. And they have access to voter database either with the state party or the state voter data.

In this case they should have gotten more than enough signatures in either Elkhart or St Joseph counties for the district.

[former9thward]

46. No, the county party is not going to give data bases to Phillips.

And county party staff are certainly not going to help.

[LiberalFighter]

47. Having access does not mean they are in possession of the voter database.

County Parties don't have staff in most cases. They do have officers. And they do have volunteers that can and do help. Not necessarily someone like Phillips.

If those involved in the petition drives have the right abilities they can access the state government voter registration database.

By the way. I regularly access voter registration files in several different states.

[Demsrule86]

16. Dean phillips has no reason to stay on the ballot. I saw him on the

weekend. He has missed 89% of the votes too. He trashed Biden. Dean Phillips is dead to me. I believe he is finished politically.

[yardwork]

24. He's not showing up to vote?!

That's disgraceful. Campaigning is no excuse. All representatives campaign constantly - most manage to show up for work, too.

He's lazy and egotistical.

[former9thward]

29. Obama missed 80% of the votes in the Senate when he was running.

It happens with both parties and is accepted.

https://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/02/obama.missed.votes/

[yardwork]

30. Thank you for this reminder of how unfairly Hillary Clinton was treated.

[dsc]

38. She was in the Senate as well and missed a ton of votes

she was treated unfairly but this isn't an example of that.

[yardwork]

39. That's not what I was referencing.

If you read the article at the link, it's a reminder that Obama blasted Hillary for a vote that he actually missed.

Ancient history, I know.

[Beakybird]

32. Clickbait sucks, but false headlines are fucked up.

Dean Phillips is NOT under criminal investigation. There is a criminal investigation that involves his campaign or the company that tried to gather signatures for his campaign.

[Captain Zero]

52. They might as well; they aren't stopping speeders.

Dean should just drive really fast out of Indiana, state police will never stop him.