The executive director of the Arizona GOP used a Republican voter database to stalk a female grad student, the woman has alleged in a criminal complaint.
The complaint, filed last month with the local sheriff’s office and reported by the Huffington Post, alleges that Brett Mecum “is using Voter Vault to stalk.” That’s the sophisticated voter-targeting program that the GOP uses to turn its supporters out to the polls.
The woman charges that on August 29, she was having a party at home to celebrate her acceptance into an East Coast graduate school, when Mecum showed up uninvited. According to the affidavit, which HuffPo has posted:
I did not invite Brett Mecum. He is rather creepy and intimidating around women. I did not want to expose my guests to that kind of individual. I was shocked to see him show up at my party. He had never been to my house, and I had never told him where I lived. I asked him how he found my address, and he responded “I looked it up on Voter Vault, I called a staffer to look it up for me there.”
The woman, whose name was redacted from the complaint, said she felt threatened, and appeared to charge that other women have similarly been stalked.
I am concerned for my safety and the safety of other women who have either been or might be stalked by him using Voter Vault. Like me, they were likely threatened by him if they report his harassment and are afraid to come forward.
On that score, HuffPo’s Dawn Teo reports:
I have been speaking with local Republican women who approached me with disturbing stories of unwanted sexual advances, persistent harassment, and intimidation by Mecum and some of Mecum’s friends.
Mecum told an Arizona political site: “This is completely bogus. At the end of the day, I will be exonerated in all of this. This happens a lot in politics, unfortunately. When you have a high-profile job like mine, you sometimes make some enemies.”
And RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen, who is also the chair of the state party, seemed to dismiss the issue in a statement:
He used Voter Vault. The Republican National Committee owns Voter Vault….It’s a private list. We own the list. We can do what we want with the list, quite frankly.
But it’s a felony to use a voter registration database for anything other than official purposes, according to HuffPo. And of course, there are laws against stalking and harassment.
Mecum is no stranger to run-ins with the law. He was arrested this year after being photographed driving 109 miles per hour on a local freeway, but the case was thrown out by a judge who believes freeway cameras are unconstitutional.
Disqus Conversations
Click here to read the Disqus Commenting FAQ.