Rove admits to running polls for the campaign from the WH!

[DoYouEverWonder]

Remember during the 2000 Campaign, when Al Gore allegedly made a couple of fund raising calls from the WH? The repugs even had a special investigation because this was such a serious violation of campaign laws.

----------------------

Here's was what candidate George Bush had to say about it at the time:


Bush Condemns Clinton-Gore Failures

Bush drew sharp distinctions between himself and Gore by reminding voters of the vice president's "no controlling legal authority" defense against charges that he had made improper fund-raising calls from his White House office.

"In my administration, we will ask not only what is legal, but also what is right, not just what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves," he told a wildly enthusiastic audience in the Steel City.

"In my administration, we will make it clear there is the controlling authority of conscience," Bush said.

http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/10/26/220822.txt


So here we are four years later, when last night Karl Rove made a rare appearance on the Brit Hume Show. During this interview Rove give details about his own polls that he is conducting. Since Rove is a top administration official within the White House, this is a clear violation of campaign laws. But if you reread Bu$h's statement above, you will see that it is clear that neither he nor Rove care much about the law. It doesn't seem to dawn on them that the law applies to them too.


HUME: But you suggest, though, that you've been able to make such judgments about the nature of the undecided voters. How have you been able to do that?

ROVE: Well, I get all the individual state polls that we've been doing and take a look at the...

HUME: You're talking about your own polling?

ROVE: Right. Right.

HUME: And how big a sample have you been able to put together?

ROVE: Well, 300 and some-odd, 400 people. Based on looking at 6 percent to 8 percent of the battleground states, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that we've asked.

[blondeatlast]

1. I'm beginning to think these people are not just evil, they are profoundly

STUPID.

Another good catch, DoYouEverWonder.

Perhaps you should start your own blog or newspaper. Your weekend catches were extraordinary!

[Frodo]

2. What charge are you making?

Fund raising from a federal government office is technically illegal. Polling is not.

[cynatnite]

3. Maybe it's just me...

But this doesn't say that he's doing this stuff from the white house. It just says that he does it, but not from where.

I know he's a close advisor and he probably does a lot of questionable things from the white house, but this doesn't admit anything.

Sorry, but it doesn't look like much to me.

Cyn:)

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. His full time job is at the WH

and there is no indication that he has an office anywhere else or that he goes to Campaign Headquarters to conduct his activities.

Fund raising is only one item prohibited by the Hatch Act. Most other 'political' activities for a campaign are also prohibited.

Only the president, vice president, and appointees requiring Senate confirmation (such as Cabinet secretaries) are exempt. The original Hatch Act forbade government employees to raise funds, give partisan public speeches, or volunteer for any candidate or party. In 1993, with President Clinton's backing, the act was amended to allow all these things, so long as they are done outside the workplace and government employees don't exploit their positions for political purposes.

[wishlist]

4. Excellent point- political and campaign operations from WH is wrong

I have not heard this brought up before but it does seem like a valid criticism for so much political activity directed by Rove to be conducted in the White House at taxpayer expense. You are right, they certainly made a big issue of Gore using his office for some political phone calls. The Bushco/Rove WH is certainly engaging in a lot more political activity that what Gore got attacked for doing.

With this secretive White House though, anything goes and there is no accountability or oversight.

[kentuck]

6. I would think it unseemly, if not illegal, to run any campaign from WH...

Whether running polls or making phone calls for money...

[On the Road]

7. Are You Referring to the Same Law that Al Gore was Charged with Breaking?

To the best of my knowledge, that refers to fundraising rather than other campaign activities, and does not apply to any activities which do not take place on government property. It didn't sound like Rove specified his physical location.

Is there another law which would prohibit a presidential adviser from participating in a campaign?

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. It's called the Hatch Act

and yes it is the same law that they tried to use against Gore for allegedly fund raising from the WH.

However, from the beginning people have had questions about the legality of Rove's job in the WH. It is the first time that a president has had someone who basically runs his campaign on full time staff in the WH.

Rove's admission to Hume, indicates that he is doing the polling himself, which I assume means someone on his staff does it for him.


http://www.osc.gov/ha_fed.htm

These federal and D.C. employees may not-

* use official authority or influence to interfere with an election
* solicit or discourage political activity of anyone with business before their agency
* solicit or receive political contributions (may be done in certain limited situations by federal labor or other employee organizations)
* be candidates for public office in partisan elections
* engage in political activity while:
* on duty
* in a government office
* wearing an official uniform
* using a government vehicle
* wear partisan political buttons on duty

[On the Road]

10. Ah, It's "POLITICAL ACTIVITY"

not just fundraising that's banned. Boy, that really puts Rove's job in a different light.

[cheezus]

9. So THAT'S why he asked lawyers how much torture they could get away with!

"In my administration, we will ask not only what is legal, but also what is right, not just what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves," he told a wildly enthusiastic audience in the Steel City.

[Cocoa]

11. don't they do polls in "The West Wing"?

[Jack Rabbit]

12. Big deal

I'm shocked, shocked, I say, that political campaign would be run from the White House.

This is no more important that Gore making a couple of phone calls from the White House. Frankly, there is no way to control that kind of thing and there should be some allowance for it. Expect facets of President Kerry's re-election bid to be run from the White House in four years.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how does this rate with Bush's lies to get into Iraq or lost jobs in the last three and a half years? Or even Bush campaign connections to "independent" character assassins? It doesn't rate.

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Well, you know in the grand scheme of things

that little burglary at the Watergate was not big deal either. But it did end a presidency.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. That's because the little burglary wasn't just a little burglary

There is nothing illegal or sinister in itself about a political campaign taking public opinion surveys and evaluating the data. A burglary is a crime on its face.