Comments (68)

C 92 wrote on April 25, 2007 4:08 PM:

If DOJ is so concerned about fraudulent voter registration drives, then why haven't we heard any convictions or indictments called on the Rick Santorum's campaign's hiring of canvassers who turned in hundreds of pages of fraudulent petitions to get the Green Party on the PA ballot?

http://www.politicspa.com/pressreleasedetailed.asp?id=5001

Partucularly since Santorum even supplied his own campaign and government-paid staffers to do the fraudulent work?

m/story/2006/8/7/135432/2984

Scott L wrote on April 25, 2007 4:12 PM:

Sounds like Bush should make him the next AG. Heres to the leadership of the Banana Republic of the United States.

pat wrote on April 25, 2007 4:21 PM:

thank god for an independent judiciary

steambomb wrote on April 25, 2007 4:24 PM:

"However, one cannot be convicted of a nonexistent crime."...

Well actually.... you can
If Biskupic is prosecuting you get convicted then you have to take it to the appeals court for truth, honesty and justice.

Disbarr the fucker!

bordersmuggler wrote on April 25, 2007 4:30 PM:

C 92:
We Pennsylvanians got wise to Santorum's lunatic ways and put him to pasture where he has plenty of time to think about the Green.

OT, but interesting. Kucinich Files Articles of Impeachment Against Cheney.

http://www.alternet.org/story/51043/

kaleidescope wrote on April 25, 2007 4:34 PM:

The quoted excerpt refers to the District 2 Court of Appeals. If this is accurate, this means it was the Wisconsin intermediate level appeals court. The appropriate FEDERAL appeals court is the Seventh Circuit.

So what this tells me is that the case was brought in STATE, not federal, court. It is highly unlikely a US Attorney would bring an enforcement action in state court. And that probably means that it was the new wingnut Republican Wisconsin Attorney General who brought the case, not the wingnut federal United States Attorney who brought it.

Anonymous wrote on April 25, 2007 4:42 PM:

The charges were brought by the Racine County District Attorney, I believe.

lysias wrote on April 25, 2007 4:44 PM:

What's the political allegiance of the Racine County District Attorney?

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 25, 2007 4:49 PM:

C 92, I've been reading up on Scott J. Bloch and Bloch is another GOP scumbag who gets his kicks fucking over Democrats.

Bloch openly gloats on the US Office of Special Counsel website (link below) about sticking Nevada Speaker of the House Richard Perkins, a Democrat, with $600k in legal bills. Nice, huh?

Bloch is also going after an up and coming NJ star, Mark Holmes, the Executive Director of the East Orange Housing Authority in East Orange, New Jersey. Holmes, of course,is a Democrat.

I'm going to track down info on this fat fuck and see what we can do about him. I found a bunch of records with his name on them but I can't find a record of the 12/06 $1,000 contribution his wife, Catherine, made to Senator Brownback.

Check "butterscotch" for the Scott J. Bloch property records and I'll let you know when I have the rest of the reocrds in hand.

NCProsecutor wrote on April 25, 2007 4:55 PM:

Hmm. Paul, I don't think this prosecution was brought by the U.S. Attorney's office. It looks to me as though the defendant was prosecuted by Racine County DA Michael Nieskes, who is (shockingly) a Republican.

Run Up The Score wrote on April 25, 2007 5:06 PM:

Exactly how the hell are these people getting convicted in the first place? Why does the Appeals Court have to keep cleaning up these messes?

William Ockham wrote on April 25, 2007 5:07 PM:

Here's a minor bit of trivia. Damien Jones is mentioned in the DOJ document dump. Check out page 3 of DOJDocsPt36-070320.pdf (that's OAG000000821).

The bad news, at least for Racine, is tht Project Vote has 600 more voter applications that will be mailed today, according to Damien Jones, the group's Racine and Kenosha coordinator.

Reader wrote on April 25, 2007 5:08 PM:

Read the AP story.

Steve wrote on April 25, 2007 5:12 PM:

Regrettably, Paul, you seem to have missed the boat on this one, as this prosecution had nothing to do with Biskupic or the US Attorney's office. As the AP story notes after mentioning Biskupic's name: "The appeals court ruling shows other prosecutors have struggled with the cases, too."

JHM wrote on April 25, 2007 5:14 PM:

Wait a minute - isn't it illegal now to register anyone suspected of intending to vote for a Democrat? I think there's something in the legislative history of the Patriot Act about that.

Rebel wrote on April 25, 2007 5:18 PM:

Any more questions why Biskupic's name was removed from the purge list?

Bushrod McCorkle wrote on April 25, 2007 5:30 PM:

Whats the source for this prosecution being "one of the voter fraud prosecutions Biskupic's office pushed, as part of a joint task force his office created with local prosecutors"? I don't see it in this article either.

noshrub wrote on April 25, 2007 5:32 PM:

How about the fake company out of Arizona that the Repugs used in 2004 to "register" people to vote. Can't remember the name of the company, but some of you sleuths out there might. They were "registering" people (copying ACORN) and then tossing the registrations. Any indictments for that?

Comic Book Guy wrote on April 25, 2007 5:32 PM:

"This time, it was one of the voter fraud prosecutions Biskupic's office pushed, as part of a joint task force his office created with local prosecutors to investigate whether Democrats had conspired to steal the 2004 election."

Um, I do believe that sentence explains how this particular case is related to Biskupic

David wrote on April 25, 2007 5:32 PM:

Maybe now a judge will overturn Ann Coulter's voter fraud conviction. Oh, wait... She was never convicted. I forgot only those likely to vote democrat were.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 25, 2007 5:32 PM:

C 92, How do you know Scott J. and Catherine A. Bloch did not take out a mortgage when they bought their $425k Alexandria VA house in mid-2002?

Did you read Bloch's WH bio (link below)? He's got seven kids. Maybe he did make a lot of money in Lawrence Kansas as an attorney but still - $425k cash for a house? Come to think of it, we never did figure out where Kyle Sampson came up with $425k in cash for his Arlington house in June 2004.

How can a guy like Bloch afford to move to Washington DC and take a fairly low paying government job? I don't how old his kids are but Bloch was born in 1958 so he's no youngster.

Curious.

Bushrod McCorkle wrote on April 25, 2007 5:39 PM:

"Um, I do believe that sentence explains how this particular case is related to Biskupic"

It does if Paul has a source, I suspect he does but AP doesn't connect this case to the task force.

C 92 wrote on April 25, 2007 5:45 PM:

Fairfax County records show two transactions in 2002 with the affected Bloch property...

Only the second one records Bloch's name as owner, but also reflects a $0 purchase price. Could be a screw up or inconsistency on the part of the county which is why I'd like to see the actual documents.

Assessor records right now read:

Date Sales amount Buyer
07/11/2002 $0 BLOCH SCOTT J
03/27/2002 $425,000 (none listed)
06/22/1984 $163,900 CHASE ROBERT W
08/18/1980 $129,950 (none listed)

So I'd like to know who bought the place on 3/27/02 for $425k. Maybe it was his wife and the 7/11 was a transfer?

Even though he's a gov lawyer with 7 kids, his wife must come from $ because she gave $1k to Brownback's campaign on 12/06. Why blow a grand when you've got seven mouths to feed?

Anonymous wrote on April 25, 2007 5:46 PM:

Part of Rove's plan is offensive - to politicize voter fraud cases, hoping to steal elections by keeping opponents from voting, being able to vote, or having their votes counted.

Part of Rove's plan is defensive - to politicize claims about voter fraud in general. By debasing the coinage of such claims, he guts the impact of the inevitable disclosures about his Shoppe's dirty tricks. He also lays the foundation for spurious arguments that allegations against his Shoppe are just payback or "fishing expeditions" on the one hand, or that Republicans and Democrats are just engaging in the same behavior. That such things are "just politics", a falsehood that Shrub uses to explain all his lies.

Anonymous wrote on April 25, 2007 5:48 PM:

I think the argument is that Biskupic arranged a joint federal-state task force to combat "voter fraud" and that his case was pushed by that task force, but was prosecuted by state officials.

TheraP wrote on April 25, 2007 5:48 PM:

Mrs. P.

There must be a federal housing program for these poor folks who came in on bush coat-tails.

You could be on to something -"sticky" (code word).

lestatdelc wrote on April 25, 2007 5:52 PM:

Agreed with others who posted up-=thread. This is not "another questionable prosecution brought by U.S. Attorney for Milwaukee Steve Biskupic has been reversed by an appeals court." Since this was brought by Racine DA's in a State District Court.

Paul needs to post a mea culpa on mixing it up, and write a retraction.

David in NY wrote on April 25, 2007 5:54 PM:

Wow!!! This is even more stunning than the other case. They let him take back his guilty plea. That hardly ever happens. They're really pissed.

Anonymous wrote on April 25, 2007 5:56 PM:

Uh, actually, obviously, there was a crime of voter fraud. But this dude used the "I'm incompetent, not a criminal" defense, which worked.

Of course, most of the people writing comments here would simultaneously say that anyone in Bush's administration claiming the same thing should still be prosecuted (Alberto Gonzales?).

Hypocrisy knows no party affiliation, apparently.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 25, 2007 5:57 PM:

C 92@April 25, 2007 05:45 PM

I may have to sign off for the evening shortly. The beau thinks I'm spending way too much time online lately. LOL - I keep trying to tell him that I'm making the world safe for democracy but it's a hard sell.

If you get a chance, check out the archives of the Lawrence [KS} Journal-World for "Scott J. Bloch". I searched and got maybe a dozen pre-2002 stories but for some reason, I can't accesss any of them at the moment.

Comic Book Guy wrote on April 25, 2007 5:58 PM:

The case was a part of a federal/state joint task force
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=324933

David in NY wrote on April 25, 2007 6:03 PM:

"Uh, actually, obviously, there was a crime of voter fraud. But this dude used the "I'm incompetent, not a criminal" defense, which worked."

No hypocricy here. Nobody here thinks Gonzales was unaware of what was going on. If there was a crime (say, of obstruction of justice in the Renzi and Cunningham prosecutions, though I'm not sure either could be made out), Gonzales could only be guilty, like Mr. Jones, if he intended the crime to occur.

In any event, I'd say both Gonzales and Jones should be treated the same -- they should both be fired.

C 92 wrote on April 25, 2007 6:05 PM:

The country thanks you for your efforts.

The only house I've found so far belonging to the Bloch's in Kansas was one built of flowers by their daughter (from a 1999 article):

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/1999/aug/22/dream_home/

"...Mary Bloch, 9-year-old daughter of Catherine and Scott Bloch, has created a sunflower house and invited me to visit it. The oval shaped structure stands in the back yard under the shade of tall trees. Sunflowers form the outer walls of the house and morning glory vines fill in the side spaces. The rapidly growing vines eventually will create a flowering ceiling..."

ohiomeister wrote on April 25, 2007 6:07 PM:

Thank goodness this guy could afford to get a lawyer and fight! You've got to imagine that not so many people in his situation can. It's not like working for ACORN registering voters is a high-paying job. We need a Democratic lawyers network to fight back against these cases and rep voter registration folks pro bono.

Comic Book Guy wrote on April 25, 2007 6:08 PM:

Preliminary findings of Joint Task Forcepg 3,C3 also pg 4 http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/electionfraud.pdf

anwaya wrote on April 25, 2007 6:18 PM:

How dreadful. Say, can't they fire USAs for bad performance? I mean, when it really happens that a USA is a political hack making up the law, rather than as cover for the program to politicize the DoJ.

jen wrote on April 25, 2007 6:29 PM:

Digby's got another one of those "must reads" today. Although it's not a surprise (what is anymore?), I have to admit it never occured to me that Gonzo was the fall guy for rover...

Job Description: Lighting Rod

by digby

Greg Palast, who has been writing about the "voter fraud" fraud for years, writes an interesting piece today arguing that Gonzales is irrelevant to the deeper problem within the DOJ with respect to voting rights.

I was struck particularly by this:

"We’ve been here before. Gonzales is getting Libby’d. Takes the bullet for Karl Rove and the White House. If you wondered why the Republican jackals like the sinister Senator Specter piled on Gonzales — it’s because they were told to.

These guys learned from Richard Nixon. In 1973, when Nixon was getting hammered over Watergate, he threw the Senate Committee his Attorney General, a schmuck named Richard Kleindienst. Famously, Nixon’s own Rove, a devious creep named John Erlichman, told Nixon to leave the Attorney General, “twisting slowly in the wind.”

Rove and Bush are doing the Nixon Twist on Gonzales...." ~ read on:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/job-description-lighting-rod-by-digby.html

rapier wrote on April 25, 2007 8:04 PM:

In the end these vote fraud cases are so widely dispersed and really rare that they could not effect any but the very tightest elections. I'll qualify that by saying they couldn't in the short run. In the long run if left to multiply they could have stronger effects.

It's a small element in the grand strategy that the Radical Republicans cooked up and that is now in tatters.

Small that is unless you happend to end up in jail, bankrupt and ruined like the woman who had her conviction reversed two weeks ago. I'm pretty surprised she hasn't stepped forward to speak on this and it's a shame.

When this WI story broke there was said to be another woman in jail. An ex felon, so not sympathetic, who mistakenly registered somehow, in some way, but who never voted, as I recall. This stuff isn't exactly the Holocost but still it stinks.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 25, 2007 9:14 PM:

C 92 - Read this 10/18/01 Lawrence Journal-World story by Dave Ranney about Bloch's first appointment in the Bush administration (link below).

Bloch moved his family to DC for a position on a newly created task force? How much could that pay? Plus his wife has had another baby since then.

"Lawrence lawyer takes job in D.C."

Task force examines faith-based initiatives

A Lawrence lawyer is headed for Washington, D.C.

Scott J. Bloch, a partner in the Stevens and Brand law firm, has accepted a counselor's position with the U.S. Justice Department's Task Force on Faith-based Community Initiatives.

Bloch said he'll soon be measuring faith-based initiatives' compliance with the First Amendment for U.S. Deputy Atty. Gen. Larry Thompson.

"The task force office was created by executive order to remove barriers to local faith-based and community organizations accessing federal funding for charitable works," Bloch said. "It's a very interesting office, and it's new so new, its contours are not yet clear."

He added: "I'm tremendously excited about working in this administration and in the Department of Justice."

Bloch's new duties begin Nov. 5. A Lawrence native, Bloch, 43, graduated from Kansas University Law School in 1986. He joined Stevens and Brand in 1986.

For the past five years, Bloch has been an adjunct professor at KU law school, teaching a course on trial advocacy.

Bloch and his wife, Catherine, have six children, ages 2 1/2 to 17. He said he hoped eventually to return to Lawrence.

"I consider this home. I have deep roots here," he said. "My father grew up here, my grandfather, Albert Bloch, was an art professor at KU. My grandmother still lives in the house my father grew up in."

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 25, 2007 9:38 PM:

The Blochs sold some properties in 2002 so maybe that's where the money for the Alexandria came from. One of the properties appears to have been their primary residence.

In 2000, Scott and Catherine Bloch ran for GOP committeeman and committeewoman in Lawrence's 12th precinct and apparently lost both races. It looks like Catherine Bloch won the spot in 1998 but Scott Bloch lost.

How did Scott J. Bloch get selected for the faith-based task force? Brownback, maybe?

From the 2/19/03 LJW:

"Scott Bloch has been named deputy director and counsel for the Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives. He previously was associate director in that office since joining the Bush administration in 2001. Before joining the Bush administration, Bloch practiced law in Lawrence for 15 years with the law firm of Stevens & Brand, LLP."

How big a deal is this faith-based task force?

Bloch must be expecting some kind of big payoff after he leavs the Bush administration but from where and who?

C 92 wrote on April 25, 2007 9:46 PM:

Mrs. P:

Shall we move this conversation back to the caf?

I found the address in Lawrence, Kansas. The house in VA was definitely a trade up, but not overtly suspicious. I understand the DC housing market is very expensive.

Anonymous wrote on April 25, 2007 10:18 PM:

Mrs Panstreppon is kicking ass and taking names! Keep it up Muckrakers. Shine the light of day on these scumbags! Bring their crimes out into the open.

Richard L. Adlof wrote on April 25, 2007 11:03 PM:

I move that we all write letters to the respective creditialing Bar Associations for Biskupic, Bloch, Gonzales, Gooding & Sampson requesting investigation, review and action regarding the questionable actions and integrity displayed by each of these (insert the plural explicative of your choice).

Don't bother to second the motion . . . just write the letters.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 25, 2007 11:35 PM:

Well, well, well. What have we here?

Scott J. Bloch founded the Albert Bloch Foundation in or around 2001 and he heads up or did head up Templeton Productions, the fund-raising arm for the documentary Bloch is or was making about his grandfather, Albert Bloch, an artist(link to 4/7/02 Lawrence Journal-World story, "Grandson making documentary about artist-grandfather", below).

The Albert Bloch Foundation 990s are available online at the Foundation Center's 990 Finder and the EIN# is 481216501.

After skimming through the Albert Bloch Foundation 990s, I have some questions.

In 2001, Anna Bloch who, according to the LWJ story, is Albert Bloch's second wife, contributed paintings, watercolors, etc. by Albert Bloch valued at $24k to the Albert Bloch Foundation. (Albert Bloch died in 1961.)

Anna Bloch's 2001 contribution was the initial and only contribution of Albert Bloch's works made to the Albert Bloch Foundation.

In 2002, the value of Anna Bloch's $24k art contribution was revalued at $2.3 million. A somewhat vague explanation for the dramatic increase in value is offered in Attachment 3 on page 18 of the Foundation's 2002 990.

Attachment 3 seems to avoid attributing Anna Bloch with having made the 2001 contribution of Albert Bloch's art. The 2002 990 also does not provide the names of the foundation's officers including the president although Attachment 3 refers to the president.

Attachment 3 also states that the revaluation of Albert Bloch's art was determined in 2003 by the Foundation's president under the supervision of its Board of Directors, whatever that means. The unnamed Foundaton president again revalued the art collection in 2004 and in 2005. If Scott J. Bloch is the president of the Albert Bloch Foundation, is he qualified to value art?

As far as I can tell, Scott J. Bloch's name is listed only once in the Foundation's 990s. His name and home address are on the 2001 extension request. The corporate registration for the Albert Bloch Foundation does not provide the names of any officers or directors.

Anyone who has followed me so far knows that I am wondering who actually got the $2.3 million charitable tax deduction. I don't have enough information to determine if Scott J. Bloch was up to any monkey businesss but you have to wonder when the inital value of an art collection is increased from $24k to $2.3 million well after the fact.

The Foundation reported selling a Bloch painting, "March of the Clowns", to the Jewish Museum on 1/19/02 for $74,000, the painting's supposed book value. But on its website, the Jewish Museum indicates that the painting was a 2001 acquisition. Which is it?

Two of the three other paintings sold by the Foundation were sold at relatively modest prices. One with a book value of $6.5k sold for $6.5k in 2003 and one with a book value of $5k sold for $10k in 2005. Another painting with a book value of $17k was bought by the "East Huron Street Gallery" in 2004 for $50k.

I'm not a tax expert but I suppose selling one painting anually could lend support to the valuation of the art collection. Again, what's in it, if anything, for Scott J. Bloch?

And how's that documentary coming along, Scottie?

steambomb wrote on April 25, 2007 11:53 PM:

Posted by: Mrs Panstreppon
Date: April 25, 2007 05:32 PM

Much of what you have been posting is why I firmly believe that Bloch has been put up to this faux investigation of Rove. This investigation is ment to shield rove and others from having to testify before congress.

jimbo92107 wrote on April 25, 2007 11:54 PM:

Biskupic should be disbarred immediately, then charged with fraudulent prosecution. When will that happen?

Mrs P wrote on April 25, 2007 11:56 PM:

C 92 - Oops! I just noticed your comment about moving the Bloch investigation over to the TPM Cafe. You are right, of course, and that's where I should have posted all of this business about the Albert Bloch Foundation.

Should we summarize what we have on Bloch so far in the Cafe and if so, where? In the same thread as the Beth Sturgeon info or a new one?

BTW, Anna Francis Bloch was born in 1913 and she appears to have transferred ownership of her house in Lawrence to the Albert Bloch Foundation in 2005.

I don't like Scott J. Bloch and I am perfectly willing to believe that he is capable of the worst sort of unethical conduct as in swindling old ladies.

Hats off to the Lawrence World-Journal! Without the LJW story, we wouldn't know a thing about Scott J. Bloch's interest in art.

Mrs P wrote on April 25, 2007 11:57 PM:

C 92 - Oops! I just noticed your comment about moving the Bloch investigation over to the TPM Cafe. You are right, of course, and that's where I should have posted all of this business about the Albert Bloch Foundation.

Should we summarize what we have on Bloch so far in the Cafe and if so, where? In the same thread as the Beth Sturgeon info or a new one?

BTW, Anna Francis Bloch was born in 1913 and she appears to have transferred ownership of her house in Lawrence to the Albert Bloch Foundation in 2005.

I don't like Scott J. Bloch and I am perfectly willing to believe that he is capable of the worst sort of unethical conduct as in swindling old ladies and claiming unwarranted tax deductions.

Hats off to the Lawrence World-Journal! Without the LJW story, we wouldn't know a thing about Scott J. Bloch's interest in art.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 26, 2007 12:41 AM:

Since I already sent this thread way off topic, I want to note that, according to the WSJ, Renzi was being wiretapped but a leak at the end of October 2006 forced the end of the tap.

That was the second time that month that a leak ended a wiretap in an investigation of a member of Congress. Unnamed parties in DC had been wiretapped for four months in the Curt Weldon investigation.

The prime leak suspect in the Weldon case is USA-DC Jeff Taylor. Taylor took office at the end of September 2006 and three weeks later, the Weldon investigation was leaked and everyone being wiretapped knew to shut up.

Maybe someone should ask AG Gonzales about how his leak investigations are going.

Robin wrote on April 26, 2007 1:32 AM:

How about the fake company out of Arizona that the Repugs used in 2004 to "register" people to vote. Can't remember the name of the company, but some of you sleuths out there might. They were "registering" people (copying ACORN) and then tossing the registrations. Any indictments for that?
Posted by: noshrub
Date: April 25, 2007 05:32 PM
_________________________________________

Noshrub, not sure if anyone answered you yet. The group was Sproul & Associates, and they did their dirty work in AZ, UT and OR. I contacted the OR SOS, and was told that the state's DA did an investigation and did not come up with any evidence to charge this goon. The feds didn't even look at it.

BTW, Oregon's USA is K. Immergut, and she rose to fame and power by being Ken Starr's helper. Immergut is the one who did the lewd and detailed deposition of Monica Lewinsky.

Whistler wrote on April 26, 2007 2:17 AM:

> ... and learned that he'd once been
> on a list of U.S. attorneys to be fired.

Once!? I'd say he's back on it; especially after everyone who has ever been convicted by him calls for a re-trial. Not to mention, suing him on a personal basis. Maybe he can teach at Badling's alma mater, once his career has been flushed? If even they'll want anything to do with him?

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 26, 2007 8:37 AM:

Paging C 92 - From the Counterbias website (link below):

"Is it any surprise that Mr. Bloch has ignored competitive recruitment practices by unilaterally hiring his investigators from among new graduates of Ave Maria Law School? Is it any surprise that Bloch hired Alan Hicks, his son's former headmaster, for a one-year, $112,000 position that produced one - that's one - four page memo? (Alan Hicks left his headmaster position after the cover-up of a predatory priest scandal had been exposed.)"

One of the Lawrence Globe-Journal articles mentioned that Bloch was recruiting at Kansas U. so what's with Ava Maria Law School? I neer heard of it.

And who the hell is Alan Hicks? is this story true?

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 26, 2007 8:41 AM:

C 92, You know your way around DC docs. Can you find this one on Bloch's nomination?

[108 Senate Hearings] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access] [DOCID: f:91041.wais] S. Hrg. 108-318 NOMINATION OF SCOTT J. BLOCH

This link from Ask.com doesn't work:

www.washingtonwatchdog.org/rtk/documents/cong_hearings/senate/108...

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 26, 2007 9:11 AM:

C92, "...Bloch hired Alan Hicks, his son's former headmaster, for a one-year, $112,000 position.."

If this story is true, did Hicks get the job in lieu of tuition? I think we need to find out where Bloch's children go to school and if the schools were the recipients of an inordinate amount of federal faith-based funding.

rlegro wrote on April 26, 2007 9:50 AM:

Biskupic did handle some voter fraud cases, but THIS one isn't among them. The actual details, from the Racine Journal Times:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/2efhza

rlegro wrote on April 26, 2007 9:58 AM:

P.S.

TPM Muckraker is probably conflating this case with the Prude case, which WAS handled by Biskupic. Appeals court result on that one pending. A good column on the case is at the Madison Capital Times. The salient point of the piece:

> The federal appeals court in Chicago has not yet ruled on her [Prude's] appeal. But Federal Judge Diane Wood at a hearing expressed the same incredulity at Biskupic's charge as other judges on the appeals court did regarding the [Georgia] Thompson case.

> "I find this whole prosecution mysterious," said Wood. "I don't know whether the Eastern District of Wisconsin goes after every felon who accidentally votes. It is not like she voted five times. She cast one vote."

The entire column is available via:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/yunwxm

rlegro wrote on April 26, 2007 10:08 AM:

Comic Book Guy:

You're wrong when you say, "The case was a part of a federal/state joint task force."

That group involved Milwaukee County's DA and Biskupic and the article you cite clearly notes that their investigation was limited to Milwaukee and its suburbs. Racine is not among them, and is in another county with another DA who acted independently ... arguably, of course, under the same lure of sensationalism that marked the GOP's statewide effort to cast doubt on the election. And if you go to later news accounts (URLs posted above), you'll see that the Milwaukee investigation produced almost nothing. The voter fraud hype is all mostly BS. No effort by Democrats to steal votes in Wisconsin. Now, concerning Republican efforts in other states, we refer you to the Conyers report.

madmatt wrote on April 26, 2007 10:24 AM:

"The appeals court said he was guilty of poor supervision but that is not a crime."...if it was poor alberto would be heading to jail!

C 92 wrote on April 26, 2007 10:38 AM:

A private foundation... Very interesting. That might explain the grand to Brownback.

Can we move this back to TPM Cafe?

malcontent wrote on April 26, 2007 10:40 AM:

The Republican machine is one huge example of the psychological theory of transference: they accuse their political opponents of the very things they do as a way to distract attention from their crimes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transference

I love the security code word: crime

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on April 26, 2007 11:00 AM:

C 92, Yes, let's move this Bloch stuff to the cafe but do you want me to start a new thread or post in "Bounced Emails: Part II"?

I have to tell you - Scott J. Bloch is really starting to get on my nerves. I can't access the full-size image of the painting by Albert Bloch, "March of the Clowns" (1941) on the Jewish Museum website but I can see enough of the thumbnail version to know it is a criticism of the Nazis (link below).

You have to wonder if Scott J. Bloch was only interested in how much his grandfather's art collection was worth, moneywise. Did Bloch ever really look at "March of the Clowns" and think about what his grandfather was saying about the Nazis?

How could Bloch prevent the federal government from protecting homosexuals if he understood what "March of the Clowns" was all about? The answer is that Scott J. Bloch just doesn't get it, does he? It's all about the money with Scott J. Bloch.

Reading the LWJ story about the Albert Bloch Foundation, I got the impression that Scott J. Bloch's father changed his name to Black to get ahead in his career. Was that because Bloch's father was concerned about being identified as Jewish and being discriminated against? If so, Scott J. Bloch should be ashamed of himself because he knows firsthand about discrimination.

As an aside, I was going through some old Abramoff stuff this a.m. and I am thinking about starting a Naftasib thread. What most people don't realize is that Naftasib has financial ties to the US military through one of the early right wing think tanks. I can't think of the name right now but Gregg Hilton headed it up.

You don't happen to know anything about Gregg Hilton, do you? I read that his father's name is Augustus (Gus) Hilton but that's about all I know. Gregg Hilton seems to keep a very low public profile these days. Why?

ohiomeister wrote on April 26, 2007 12:06 PM:

Ava Maria is a sketchy right-wing, supposedly Catholic law school. It was founded in Michigan by the right-wing Domino's Pizza founder, I think Tom Monaghan. He's connected to dozens of wingers.

Mrs P wrote on April 26, 2007 12:58 PM:

Thanks, OM. C 92 and I are putting together a thread about Bloch at the TPM Cafe (link below)and the info will be useful.

Alice Weiss wrote on April 26, 2007 6:49 PM:

Connections btween fed and state prosecutors. in my experience (Louisiana)very common especially in drug cases in which for the first time federal prosecutors began checking out state cases, federal agency cops, DEA, Tobacco and Firearms, FBI, worked with state cops. Often if the case looked juicy the feds grab it. Remember they have "supremacy" under the USC. Anyway this became a way of doing business, so it's no surprise to me that a state prosecution follows the same twists as the federal prosecutions especially where the DA has Repbulican connections. And the thing about USattorneys is that their jurisdiction is district wide --usually half a state--and they can promote prosecutions across municipal lines. In any event the really interesting case is the Prude case. Talk about small fish. DOJ used to be a great department. I took 10 eigth amendment suits (prison conditions) in the 80's and they really helped out. No they are bottom feeders.

Dan wrote on April 30, 2007 7:49 PM:

"The supervisor of a voter registration drive did not commit a crime during the 2004 election when he failed to stop others from submitting fraudulent voter registration forms, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday."

I find this state most interesting. It's almost an admission that others were submitting fraudulent voter registration forms. And I'm sure that if the supervisor had been a republican and the U.S. Attorney had been a democrat, this case would have sustained.

LawrenceKansan wrote on May 1, 2007 3:40 PM:

Wow, I check TPM posts on Attorneygate several times a day, EVERY day, and I didn't realize until just now that an important attorneygate player (Scott Bloch) had a connection to my hometown (he went to college here and worked for a law firm here before moving to the DC area to serve Bush), or that his step-Grandmother lived right up the street from me! I've now tried to find everything about him I could on the internet, including my hometown newspaper LJWorld.com. One thing that has struck me is that his beloved Grandmother's frequent letters to the editor seem to paint her as wonderful, interesting, compassionate person--and Bill Clinton fan! I wonder what she thinks of her Grandson's politics. Wow, I had no idea a famous reknown artist (Scott Bloch's grandfather) lived and painted just up the street from me in a historic Lawrence neighborhood!

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on May 2, 2007 8:35 AM:

LK, I caught your comment almost by accident. C 92 and I compiled info about Scott J. Bloch in a TPM Cafe theread that should interest you. Link below.

Do you know anything about Lawrence filmmaker, Tim De Paepe, and his documentary, "Shades of Gray" about gay life in Lawrence? De Paepe is the one working on a documentary with Scott Bloch about his grandfather, Albert Bloch.

BridgetAnjellla wrote on January 11, 2008 1:25 PM:

Feliz ano nuevo