Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters
Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters#0
Posted: 10/30/06 at 3:48pm
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2006 B5
11 voter recruiters face charges.
By CHRISTIAN BERTHELSEN
AND CH'RISTINE HANLEY
Times staff Writers
The defendants in the felony registration fraud case were working for Republicans in O.C.
The Orange County district attorney's office has charged 11 people with fraudulent voter registration stemming from a Republican registration drive this year that resulted in dozens of Democrats unwittingly being signed up as Republicans.
Those charged had been paid as much as $10 for each voter they registered as part of a Republican Party effort to recruit more voters in central Orange County. The area includes the district represented by Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a regular target of Republicans, and a competitive state Senate race.
The cases were filed Tuesday, and three defendants were arrested Wednesday and. Thursday. They are in custody and are scheduled to be arraigned today and Monday. The district attorney's office refused to release any information about them, including details usually available, such as the names and charges.
Sources said a news conference was scheduled for Monday, a week before the Nov. 7 election with Republican Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, who is locked in a tight election battle with Democratic state Sen. Debra Bowen.
"The only thing I can say is it is our policy to not make comments on pending matters, and I don't have any information to share at this time," said Susan Kang Schroeder, spokeswoman for Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas. "That's all I'm saying."
A spokeswoman for McPherson declined to comment.
Frank Barbaro, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, issued a statement Thursday congratulatmg Rackauckas on the arrests.
"Hopefully, these arrests are a good first step toward discouraging those who would try to suppress' the democratic' process, and we are hopeful that more preemptive action will be taken in the future," Barbaro said.
The prosecution highlights problems that can occur with signature-gathering and voter registration campaigns in which the workers are paid by the signature. Campaign watchdogs have derisively called it a "bounty hunter" system that creates incentives for often transient, low-paid workers to pad their results to make more money.
The case has been an embarrassment for the Orange County Republican Party since it first became known in February. The charges come as the party finds itself reeling from a letter linked to GOP congressional candidate Tan Nguyen that was sent to Latino voters this month in what has been described as an effort to keep them from the polls in next month's election.
Nguyen is running against Sanchez.
In both cases, Republican officials have quickly distanced themselves from the actions.
The voter registration charges cover at least 37 instances in which Democratic and Green Party voters and even one noncitizen were registered as Republicans. Each defendant was charged with felony counts of fraudulent completion of registration affidavits. The defendants are all low-level workers who circulated registration cards.
No charges have been filed against the companies or executives whom the Republican Party hired to conduct the Registration drive, or party officials.
As many as 100 cases were turned over to prosecutors. In other cases, invalid phone numbers and incorrect addresses had been filled in on the forms.
Orange County election officials discovered the allegedly fraudulent registrations during a routine review in February, and Democrats conducting their own registration drive found more. Barbaro said he forwarded 500 complaints to prosecutors.
Scott Baugh, the chairman of the county Republican Party, said he received complaints from people who received letters welcoming them to the party and that registration workers were fired for being too aggressive or submitting faulty paperwork. The actions did not benefit the party, he said, because the voters would not vote Republican, and it cost the party money to pay the signature gatherers.
The recruiters were working for Bader & Associates, a Newport Beach petition consulting firm contracted by the-Republic can Party to register voters, and a subcontractor.
Tom Bader, the company owner, said Thursday his firm was never under investigation and cooperated fully.
christian.berthelsen@ latimes.com
christine.hanley@latimes:com
Joined: 12/31/69
re: Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters#1
Posted: 10/30/06 at 3:52pmI think it's the other way around.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
re: Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters#2
Posted: 10/30/06 at 3:59pm
Nope. 11, maybe 12 Republican voter recruiters are facing charges that they lied to Democratic voters, getting them to sign up as Republicans. Sounds like something they would do.
God, they are getting desperate
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
re: Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters#3
Posted: 10/30/06 at 6:17pm
DEMS in NYC & state have a few skeletons in their closet so I would not have this fantasy that all DEMS are as clean as the driven snow. I live in NY & can tell you for a fact they are not
While we are at it, how about the election of JFK in 1960 where dead people voted & some shenanagins in Texas? What about the West Virginia primary that JFK's daddy bought for him or Bobby wiretapping Martin Luther King both during JFK's & LBJ's term ?
How about the Dixiecrats voting against the civil rights bill & the republicans were the ones that got it passed?
There are many good Republicans & Democrats & a score of bad ones on both sides of the aisle. To continue to perpetrate the fantasy that all Republicans are bad & all DEMS are good is pure fantasy. I acknowledge there are a number of bad apples in the Republican barrel but doubt those on the other side of the aisle can or want to
re: Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters#4
Posted: 10/30/06 at 7:03pm46 years ago.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
re: Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters#5
Posted: 10/30/06 at 7:15pmMaybe with any luck, Dakin will be arrested
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
re: Republicans busted for lying to Democratic voters#6
Posted: 10/30/06 at 11:42pmI'm still waiting for an 'excuse' from Dakin.......
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