Voter-Fraud Complaints by GOP Drove Dismissals

[maddezmom]

Source: Washington Post

Voter-Fraud Complaints by GOP Drove Dismissals

By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 14, 2007; Page A04

Nearly half the U.S. attorneys slated for removal by the administration last year were targets of Republican complaints that they were lax on voter fraud, including efforts by presidential adviser Karl Rove to encourage more prosecutions of election- law violations, according to new documents and interviews.

Of the 12 U.S. attorneys known to have been dismissed or considered for removal last year, five were identified by Rove or other administration officials as working in districts that were trouble spots for voter fraud -- Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; New Mexico; Nevada; and Washington state. Four of the five prosecutors in those districts were dismissed.

It has been clear for months that the administration's eagerness to launch voter-fraud prosecutions played a role in some of the firings, but recent testimony, documents and interviews show the issue was more central than previously known. The new details include the names of additional prosecutors who were targeted and other districts that were of concern, as well as previously unknown information about the White House's role.

The Justice Department demanded that one U.S. attorney, Todd P. Graves of Kansas City, resign in January 2006, several months after he refused to sign off on a Justice lawsuit involving the state's voter rolls, Graves said last week. U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic of Milwaukee also was targeted last fall after complaints from Rove that he was not doing enough about voter fraud. But he was spared because Justice officials feared that removing him might cause political problems on Capitol Hill, according to interviews of Justice aides conducted by congressional staff members.




Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/13/AR2007051301106_2.html?nav=hcmodule

[MagickMuffin]

1. How about that, was getting ready to post this and wellllllllllll!

Interesting article however, I noticed that they referred to vote fraud and election fraud.

As we well know there is a BIG difference in the two.

Voter Fraud: to suppress the votes, i.e. caging lists, intimidation, stealing the vote from them (electronic voting machines) etc. etc.

Election Fraud: to rig the votes to achieve the outcome of the candidate you want to win, i.e. Absentee ballots, electronic voting machines, etc. etc.

I THINK KARL ROVE MADE THE LIST AND GAVE IT TO MONICA, so she could give it to Kyle and Gonzo....

:popcorn: This is going to get REALLLLLY interesting......

[maddezmom]

2. I think Rove through Goodling and Nowacki made the list

:D

[niceypoo]

11. Now we know whay Gonzo couldnt remember who made the list

Because he is under orders to protect Rove

[L. Coyote]

14. US Attorney Firing: Voter Fraud, Medicare Fraud, WHICH IS IT ???

Why were USAs fired? I discovered this new possibility:

May 10, 2006 - USA Carol Lam's Litigation: Health and Human Services Seeks to Bar Medicare and Medicade Payments to Nation's #2 Hospital chain.
May 11, 2006 - Kyle Sampson e-mails deputy White House counsel William Kelley, re "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam ....

What is really behind the complete take over of the DoJ by politicos? $$$$$$$$$$$$

Lam = prosecuting Medicare Fraud, not voter fraud. AND, linked Congressional corruption!!
Carol Lam was ousted and she was prosecuting big medicine = Novation, Tenet, et.al.
The same thing was going on in MO, investigation of a company Gonzales' former firm represents.

=======================================================================
DO NOT for one minute think that this was JUST about vote suppression!! Try to see the BIG PICTURE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Placing politicos in DoJ jobs subverts more aspects of the law than voting rights.
The 'voting fraud' SMOKE SCREEN is now being used to SMOKE SCREEN
the real reasons WHY politicos infiltrated the Justice Department?

MORE: US Attorney Firing: Voter Fraud, Medicare Fraud, WHICH IS IT ???
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x853813

MORE: 30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x877011

[EST]

3. Ah, I would like to argue with you, here.

Obviously, we don't have as common an understanding of the different terms as we thought.

Voter fraud: Fraud perpetrated by voters, such as multiple registrations, incorrect registration, selling one's vote (this used to be a common problem where I grew up,) voting while dead (could be voter fraud, election fraud or vote fraud,) and multiple identities. This particular crime seems almost non-existent, now, except for people such as Ann Coulter and in certain areas of Chicago.

Vote fraud and election fraud can almost be used interchangeably, with emphasis toward caging lists, destruction of registration files, and fraudulent collection of voter registrations heading the "vote fraud" column, while "election fraud" seems more toward machine "malfunction," vote switching, precinct switching, intimidation of voters, "losing" voting records, fraudulent counting/reporting, denial of resources, denial of adequate observation, and so on.

I would not make a point of this, but it does appear that there are going to be some huge legal issues arising from all the criminal enterprise that has taken place and no doubt will take place. These definitions need to get nailed down, now. I thought they were, but it appears I was mistaken.

[MagickMuffin]

4. Not in the Mood to Argue, but here's some more info.....

I was trying to put out a quick reference to the two distinctions in the article and I suppose I didn't do very well with my definitions (shouldn't post when I'm sooooo tried). I didn't realize it would provoke someone into having an argument with me over it. While you bring up some interesting points I think this is an interesting explanation as well.

Election Fraud versus Voter Fraud

Lorraine C. Minnite, PhD of Barnard College, Columbia University just published a major article explaining voter fraud. Here distinctions between voter and election fraud are critical:

Voter fraud is the “intentional corruption of the electoral process by the voter.” This definition covers knowingly and willingly giving false information to establish voter eligibility, and knowingly and willingly voting illegally or participating in a conspiracy to encourage illegal voting by others. All other forms of corruption of the electoral process and corruption committed by elected or election officials, candidates, party organizations, advocacy groups or campaign workers fall under the wider definition of election fraud.

Voter fraud is the retail while election fraud is the wholesale corruption of elections.

http://www.advancementproject.org/pdfs/alerts/PoliticsofVoterFraud.pdf

Below is the link where I found the pdf by Lorraine Minnite:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/print.html?path=HL0703/S00474.htm

I agree with you about defining the terms so there isn't a misunderstanding in the future....

Peace,MM

[Demit]

6. Looks like your source agrees with EST: voter fraud is fraud by the voter.

Which was my understanding of it too. I'm afraid your first definition was exactly wrong, which didn't provoke argument so much as, necessarily, correction.

[EST]

7. Thanks. To both of you. n/t

[truedelphi]

28. In an administration wherein Up is Down, Down is Up, Right is Wrong,

And last night's improtatnt political decisions are forgotten

There is a great difficulty is nailing anything down.

Putting the screws in a twisting snake is not only womething requiring the best and the brightest, it involves intuition

[EST]

36. Despite the plaintive bleat from virtually all republicans and a

disappointingly large number of democrats that we must "move on from here" and forget the past, there is a duty or, perhaps, a behavior we owe society and that behavior includes, as its most important point, responsibility.

That responsibility applies whether it be for an accidental golf ball through a window to the lying a nation into a war of a million deaths in support of misguided empire. Our entire society is built around the concept that one accept and acknowledge both responsibility and accountability, voluntarily or under pressure. It's called the rule of law.

It seems to me that we need considerable precision in order to be, ourselves, responsible in our demands and tasks. Our duty to society is clear and we must not allow these slithering snakes off the hook through expediency or lack of precision.
These crooks need to wind up in prison. We have no need of their help in bringing about the necessary solutions

[coalition_unwilling]

20. The more interesting question, imho, is why the other 93

US attornies were retained. What services did each of them render the BFEE that ensured they were not targets for dismissal. And why isn't the MSM asking this obvious question???

[Peace Patriot]

5. The "voter fraud" scam was a Rovian backflip PR maneuver to blacken the

phrase "election fraud" before it was on everybody's lips and minds as a Republican crime. He knew what their plans were. He drew them up. He knew "election fraud" charges would be made. Creating the phrase "voter fraud" taints "election fraud" with a vaguely false or conspiratorial meaning because "voter fraud" was false. And in that case, he went further, and pressured US Attorneys to bring cases of "voter fraud" for which there was no evidence, or very little evidence--just to get the phrase out there, and to give it a disreputable ambience. To pollute the news narrative with false phrases is a Rovian signature. He did the same thing with Bush's AWOL from National Guard service. He succeeded in tainting Kerry's medaled and honorable service, so that "service" would have a blackened and confused connotation. In the GA Senate election in '02, he put ads on TV smearing Max Cleland as a friend of Osama bin Laden--Max Cleland, a paraplegic who left three limbs in Vietnam. That is the more classic technique--assessing your opponents strength (that Cleland was a wounded vet, who risked his life in war and was permanently disabled by it), and to preemptively attack on that very issue--patriotism--with lies and confusing allegations. But I mean a slightly different kind of putrid, cowardly, deceitful propaganda that twists the meaning of words before words can catch up with your crimes. It applies to the Cleland smear in the sense that the Bush Junta doesn't give crap about "terrorism" except to use it to make ungodly profits and gain more power; they were grossly negligent if not complicit in 9/11, and the Bush Cartel had a long friendship with bin Laden and funded Al Queda in the '80s; they never intended to catch him and quickly turned their attention to stealing Iraq's oil by horrendous violence. In sum, the Bush Junta are "terrorists." And so, Rove calls Cleland a friend of "terrorists"--something that could not be more untrue.

Another example is the Rovian phony "illegal immigrant" issue--another issue they were pushing on US Attorneys. The people who don't belong there, who are unamerican, and who are worthless leeches on us all--are the Bushites. Not hard-working immigrants who actually contribute something and believe in the American Dream. It is the Bushites who are stealing us blind, and brutalizing people--torturing prisoners--killing masses of innocent people. They are vile scum. The "illegal immigrants" are actually quite virtuous, and very often have strong family values and many admirable qualities. Rove deflects the vileness of the Bushites, and their illegitimacy, by preemptively scapegoating another group as somehow bad and illegitimate.

It's the Puritan preacher man, fulminating about "sin" from the pulpit, who is a secret lecher. The sermons are flak, meant to cover up his sexual activity or his sex crimes.

But with Rove it's more than hypocrisy. It's a conscious strategy of mind-boggling reversals and preemptions, intended to change the meanings of words, and spread confusion. Voter fraud. Election fraud. Bush as 'Christian' is another one. Could there be anyone more un-Christian than Bush, a billionaire who can't get enough money for himself and his buds, who told an audience of fatcats that he liked being there "with the haves and have-mores," who tortures and slaughters people for profit, with no sign of remorse, who lusts after more and more power? He is the exact opposite a Christian. Jesus lived with the poor, preferred the company of the poor, and preached generosity, love and non-violence. Rove has succeeded in changing the meaning of the world "Christian." It has begun to mean wingnut and bloodthirsty Crusader. Bushites cheat, steal, lie, and kill, and this has always been their program. Ergo, Rove set out to associate it with Christianity, which, in its modern form, has become humanistic and ecumenical--a great achievement of the Christian religions. I was just reading about a Catholic nun, advocate of the poor and protector of the forest, in the Amazon in Brazil. She was just shot dead by a rightwing hit squad. That, to me, is a Christian--someone with love in her heart, who puts herself at risk for others. Rove tried to coopt that kind of halo for the purpose of stealing from the poor and killing them.

The Bushites are a stewpot of sexual licentiousness. Rove knows this (they are spying on everybody). So what does he do? He makes gay marriage an issue, to make the Bushites look virtuous and to preempt any disclosures of their low sexual morals. The irony is that gay marriage is an indicator of faithfulness, or real loyalty and commitment. But Rove knows well how to twist things around into their opposite meanings, and, what is more, how to get those opposite meanings, out there, in the news stream and in the public consciousness. The Bush regime is the most immoral government we have ever had--taking all their crimes together. But who is immoral--in their perverted PR game? Faithful, committed, truly loving gay couples.

Voter fraud. Election fraud. How many people are now confused about which is which? One is virtually non-existent. The other was a fascist coup, and the worst political crime in our history.

[blondie58]

8. excellent rant. Peace Warrier

I have nothing but disgust for Karl Rove. He is a truly evil man.
You pinned it down and this is easy for them as the media is complicit to their mission. Thank goodness that we have the news on the Internet now, all the more reason that we need to stay vigilant to ensure net neutrality.

Thank you.

[19jet54]

13. Nevada fraud issues...

... I can only address my Nevada experiences, all else is hearsay: The GOP here put "watchers" at the polling places (curious they only were in black or poor areas) to look for voter fraud. The net result was to intimidate black or poor voters to not show up period. The other known issues were that GOP gathered new voters with a push for "voter registration" but threw away all Democratic cards and only kept GOP cards. (Nevada now has a law preventing this) Now "that" is election fraud in my opinion. The GOP used "voter fraud" scare tactics to enact "election fraud" thru these tactics.

Now, who is to blame? I agree with the "Peace Patriot" post that this current group in power claim to be Christians, yet are in every way, the Anti-Christ. The current evangelicals seem to believe that it is OK to lie, cheat, steal and even kill to implement a "Christian Government" of power - Sounds like Al Qaeda, Taliban or Iranian politics to me? I guess the war on terrorism requires us to fight fire with fire? GOP Hypocrites!!!!

A new GOP tactic when discussing war funding is to remove a white kerchief and start waving it - the Democratic tactic should be to remove a red (blood stained) kerchief and start waving it? END THE WAR NOW - THE BLOOD IS ON GOP HANDS!

[shanti]

15. spot on assessment!

:thumbsup:

[Diane R]

24. I wish I could recommend and kick this post. Excellent. Deserves' its own thread.

[Dumak]

27. He was also implanting

He was also implanting the idea that voter fraud is mainly committed by the left. Any time the MSM tries to do a story on voter fraud, they seek out cases to associate with the left, while they will not mention the Ann Coulters and the groups of Republicans helping out the elderly fill out their absentee ballots in their nursing homes, or the Republicans that pay voters to vote a certain way.

He gives the Republican followers a rationale to accept election fraud as an offset to all the left-wing voter fraud.

[kiteinthewind]

35. You are spot on, Peace Patriot!!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[L. Coyote]

42. Still waiting for DoJ to reply about "evidence" of election fraud...... deck chairs.

from several fronts that I have communicate to, informing of election fraud evidence I possess.

I'm sure they will be getting back to me really soon, any day now, maybe today yet, as soon as all their deck chairs are in order.

[truthisfreedom]

43. Brilliant observations.

Thanks for the post!

[madrchsod]

9. nothing is going to happen to rove

he`ll leave in 2009 and either set up his own company or work for one of the corporate donors to the republican party.

[L. Coyote]

41. How about Librarian, working on Bush's papers with Laura?? n/t

[sabra]

10. k & r

[meow2u3]

12. Voter fraud = code for "heavy Democratic turnout"

Funny how there's no "voter fraud" in heavily repuke districts :shrug:

[wordpix]

38. right, heavily repuke districts have election fraud, not voter fraud

:puke:

[usregimechange]

16. kick

[LSK]

17. these guys are the master of projection

They say Dems dont support the troops while the underfund them and send them to needless slaughter.

They say they will save social security while trying to push a program that will kill it.

They say George Soros funds the left wing media while the Mooneys and Murdock really do exactly that with FOXNEWS and the Washington Times.

Now they say that Dems commit voter fraud while they have engaged in systematic voter fraud.

Unbelievable.

[Diane R]

25. Exactly.

[underpants]

32. Pre-emption is the model

Voter fraud by US?!??! Oh no we have to talk about YOUR voter fraud first how is it that you all think you can get away with such voter fraud?? What makes you think....


as read by Hannity or whomever.

They keep the ball out of their court and anyone who would dare point that out clearly is a liberal elitist media type who hates America

[krkaufman]

18. Great reporting: "in districts that were trouble spots for voter fraud"

From the article:

Of the 12 U.S. attorneys known to have been dismissed or considered for removal last year, five were identified by Rove or other administration officials as working in districts that were trouble spots for voter fraud -- Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee; New Mexico; Nevada; and Washington state. Four of the five prosecutors in those districts were dismissed.

So it's *known* that there was voter fraud? Rather than "in districts with allegations of voter fraud", "alleged voter fraud", etc? Might it not be possible that all the allegations of voter fraud were seeded by the Republican machine, and that no actual voter fraud had occurred?

[underpants]

31. They already established that they had claimed as such

see the long rant above

Basically they assert that there is voter fraud and then the article uses that assertion as the basis for another claim. It is much like when they leaked to the NYT and then they all went on the Sunday morning shows citing their leak as supporting the accusation they were about to make.

[krkaufman]

33. Not sure what you're saying. The article starts by making a declarative statement ...

... of voter fraud "trouble spots", failing to qualify the scope as "allegations of..." voter fraud. Right out of the gate the authors create a deceptive frame, which taints the remainder of the article. (This is all I was saying.)


And I agree Re: the analogy between the "voter fraud" issue and NYT self-referencing; I was just making that point to my Mom this morning. The Rove machine instructs operatives to make phony voter fraud accusations to the "authorities", followed by Republican politicians pointing to the charges as evidence of fraud. Same sort of bootstrapping done in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion.

[underpants]

34. We are saying the same thing

by "established" I meant that they set the frame so that that point is not questioned and then built upon to make the second point.

[truedelphi]

45. As I lie down to die over this

My dying thought is "I hate him but Gawd he was brilliant"

We have to string up Rove before we string up the others - Bush's fried brain could never have gotten out of a large paper bag without the Rove boy tellin' him what to do.

[krkaufman]

47. THAT is the truth.

And that is what makes Bush so dangerous. He's so unbelievably clueless, intellectually lazy and amoral, that he can be easily manipulated by the skillful Machiavellis that have surrounded him -- specifically Rove and Cheney.

[wordpix]

39. repukes were obvioiusly looking for "voter fraud" among the poor & people of color

in those districts. Note some of those districts were swing states, swinging more blue from red than the other way around.

:grr:

[krkaufman]

46. Yep, that was the plan.

Or maybe just a coincidence. :)

[jasmeel]

19. This paragraph of the article pissed me off!

"The behind-the-scenes maneuvering to replace U.S. attorneys viewed as weak on voter fraud, from state Republican parties to the White House, is one element of a nationwide partisan brawl over voting rights in recent years. Ever since the contested 2000 presidential election, which ended in a Florida recount and intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court, both political parties have attempted to use election law to tip close contests to their advantage."

Have BOTH political parties really used election law to tip the scales??? I am not aware of a case involving dems trying to stop repukes from voting. All the dem efforts have been around trying to get people the opportunity to vote. WTF are they talking about. Shit like this pisses me off because it makes this voter fraud business sound like a game. We're talking about black soldiers fighting in a useless war in Iraq being denied the right to vote and poor communities without enough voting booths! Damnit!

[renate]

21. Rove is WELL KNOWN to pin his own guy's or party's weakness on the other one

The swift-boating of a war hero is the clearest example but it's his classic tactic and has been for years.

The media KNOWS this. If Karl points his finger at something his opponent is supposedly doing, they should AUTOMATICALLY assume that he is making the accusations out of thin air while trying to hide that exact same thing himself.

I don't blame the reporters--after Bill Moyer's special the other week, it's obvious that the decisions about which slant to take in an article come from above. But it's upsetting that a person reading about this issue for the first time is going to come away thinking "Why shouldn't Rove go after voter fraud? Sounds good to me! Yay for Karl Rove and damn that liberal media."

[Morgana LaFey]

30. It pisses me off too

OUR side has been trying to get all our votes counted. If that's "trying to use election law to tip close contests to their advantage," then so is running for office at all.

But, hey! At least it's "fair and balanced" coverage, making one party look just as guilty as the other. Bullshit.

[EST]

37. You'll notice, in his craven attempt to implicate both parties,

the author supplies an example of the republicker attack, but does not provide any proof for his asertion that the democrats do it too. Disgusting.

[wordpix]

40. that's right---Dems are not suppressing votes, repukes are. That's ELECTION FRAUD.

Where are the investigations into Ohio '04 irregularities among others?

[truedelphi]

44. Tip of my hat to you! I remain pissed off

Ever since my first foray into the election machinery situation (circa April-May 2004)

Sept through Dec 2004 - Spending hours chatting with Andy Stephenson.

And in Jan Feb 2005 Attempting to report the goods I had on an employyee of the Marin County Registrar of Voters' Office when she tried to block a young activist booth in Marin City, Nov 2004.

The FBI (which we now know was corrupted to fit the parameters assigned it by the WH) would not take my compalint despite the fact that the woman (and the Registrar's Office that employed her) was guilty of violating US Civil Code.

[Auggie]

22. What bullshit

[Auggie]

23. Dupe

[whistle]

26. We know that if Karl Rove was involved, the outcome was going to smell like dead fishes

[dogday]

29. But it is not partisan mind you, that would be illegal

Sure it is not :sarcasm: