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WI GOP "Volunteers" Admit They Lied To Voters
Four people in Wisconsin who were hired by a temp agency to pass out absentee ballots and encourage voting for John McCain have admitted they were instructed to tell people that they were GOP volunteers, the AP reports.
From the AP:
The employees told The Associated Press on Monday they were hired by Allstaff Labor Group to go door to door in the Milwaukee suburbs locating McCain supporters and distributing absentee ballot request forms. Allstaff recruited them under a contract with a consulting firm hired by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to run its absentee ballot program.The workers claim they were told to say they were GOP volunteers even though they were getting paid $10 an hour. They were required to sign agreements stating they would not publicly discuss their work but said they decided to speak out because they were angry they had not been paid for the last few days. They claim they are owed between $200 and $300.
GOP spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski confirmed there was a dispute over how many hours the employees worked and said the party's vendor was working to resolve it.
Josh
Zachary
After all the voter suppression stuff is ignored, this non-story is what's on Yahoo News' front page? Pathetic.
November 4, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
A telling line from the local version of the story:
This is also bylined AP
November 4, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
If they're being stiffed for their wages, I guess in the local GOP management's mind that does make them volunteers...
November 4, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
The consultant hired by the Republican Party of Wisconsin is none other than NATHAN SPROUL, owner and operator of the Lincoln Strategy Group. In 2004, the RNC paid Sproul upwards of $8 million. Sourcewatch has the lowdown on Sproul.
Sproul is the #1 voter registration fraudster in the nation. This year, one of his associates, Meghan Cox, is working for the New Mexico Republican Party, operating as Taos Consulting LLC. TPM MR readers will recall that Mark Jacoby of YPM, a Sproul subcontractor, was recently arrested in California on a voter registration fraud.
What is curious is that the group running the Reverend Jeremiah Wright ads, the National Republican Trust PAC, amended its Statement of Organization on 10/30/08 to add "U.S. Bank" in Sussex Wisconsin as a depositary.
The NRT PAC was registered on 9/28/08 and has spent more than $6.5 million to date but has only reported raising $463k through 10/15/08. Either the NRT PAC raised $6 million between 10/15 and today or television stations are extending credit to an entity that has only been in existence for four weeks.
The other possibility is that someone or some entity has guaranteed the debt which is illegal.
I wrote about the NRT PAC today here and here.
November 4, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
This story is getting better.
As I noted above, the Republican Party of Wisconsin hired notorious vote fraudster, Nathan Sproul and his firm, the Lincoln Strategy Group, to manage its absentee ballot program.
According to the AP, Sproul in turn hired the "Allstaff Labor Group". I checked the Wisconsin Secretary of State corporate database, and the only Allstaffs registered were dissolved. In fact, two registered letters sent to Allstaff Inc. on 7/14/08 and 9/22/08 were returned as undeliverable.
The AP also reported that the Allstaff Labor Group was only one of many agencies hired by Sproul to run the GOP absentee ballot program.
Dollars to doughnuts, the Allstaff Labor Group and the other agencies are fronts set up to launder money back to Sproul and the GOP for nefarious purposes.
November 4, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nathan Sproul and the Lincoln Strategy Group are based in Arizona which probably accounts for a good deal of the stench emanating from the McCain campaign.
The Lincoln Strategy Group website has expired but a Google cache lists the names of the group's staff.
Brian Murray was chief of staff for Renzi and district director for J. D. Hayworth.
As I noted above, Meghan Cox is operating under the name, Taos Consulting LLC, has been paid at least $100k by the Nex Mexico GOP.
Jessica Pacheco previously worked as public affairs director for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce.
Garrick Taylor was a spokesperson for the Arizona Republican Party who tried to accuse the Napolitano campaign of petty theft.
The group claims to specialize in:
Campaign consulting
Political consulting
Petition circulation
Grassroots development
Grasstops outreach
GOTV
Federal and state advocacy
Crisis management
Corporate issue management
Litigation optics
Media relations
Media buying and production
Direct mail
Telephone outreach management
Trade association management
Need a dirty hatchet job taken care of? Call the Lincoln Strategy Group!
November 4, 2008 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why should they have to lie about being paid or non-paid?
November 4, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not paying volunteers for their work.. hmm... something smells fishy here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1exiyBYnJ00
November 4, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't the GOP caught in the same scam in Florida? Are they really so worried about the image that they hire extra "volunteers" because they don't have enough? The excitement level must really be high.
November 4, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, I now wonder if my husband helped to expose this lie. While I was out canvasing on Sat he said that a "volunteer" came around, handing out hate literature on Obama. My husband confronted the guy and asked him how he could "lie" about Obama. I told my husband it was likely some person who had been employed for a pittance to drop off campaign literature. He felt bad after that - for confronting someone who likely has no job.
But honestly I'm glad these folks have now told the truth.
The truth will out.
November 4, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
J.B. van Hollen, now is your time to shine.
... Oh, sh-t. Wait. It's OK if one's a Republican.
November 4, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink