Reply #7: Fake voting rights activists and groups linked to White House

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In March 2005' Congressman Bob Ney held a U.S. House Administrative hearing at the Ohio Statehouse where a general counsel for the brand new voting rights group' the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR)' told the Congressional committee that the voting problems in Ohio were the result of the NAACP paying people with crack in order to entice them to register to vote. ACVR's general counsel' Mark F. "Thor" Hearne' turned out to be the former national general counsel for Bush-Cheney '04' Inc.' with no history of working in a voting rights organization. Hearne relied on a lawsuit filed against the NAACP in Wood County' Ohio "alleging fraudulent voter registration under the Ohio Corrupt Practices Act."

Hearne wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice in March 2005 claiming there was "substantial evidence to suggest potential criminal wrongdoing by organizations such as Americans Coming Together ("ACT")' ACORN and the NAACP – Project Vote." "We understand that local Ohio law enforcement authorities are pursuing criminal prosecution against some of the individuals involved in this activity' which activities include paying crack cocaine for fraudulent voter registration forms'" Hearne wrote.

Cliff Arnebeck' the attorney representing the NAACP' denounces this as a deliberate racist disinformation campaign to divert attention from Ohio's election theft. "crack cocaine' the NAACP – Hearne and the Republicans are using racist code words'" Arnebeck said. The Wood County case was withdrawn in June 2005' but not before it was revealed that the plaintiff' Mark Rubick' had been "indemnified" and held "harmless" by an obscure group' the Free Enterprise Coalition' with ties to the Republican Party. Signing as the "Authorized representative" for the Coalition was one Alex Vogel.

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2005/1289