Voting

Legislating Early Voting and Universal Registration Create Partisan Rifts

Kate Klonick | November 7, 2008, 12:13PM

As we spend the day recounting yesterday, there were no incidents of voter fraud in the states where the GOP made a fuss over ACORN and other voter registration groups.

In fact, voting went remarkably smoothly, despite the surge in turnout -- a result, many voter experts say, of the use of early voting in key states.

Which raises key questions -- why isn't there early voting in all states? And after all of the debate over voter registration fraud, why not just institute universal voter registration?

"The single most important thing that Congress can do right now is create universal voter registration, which would mean that all eligible voters are automatically registered," said Rosemary E. Rodriguez, the chairwoman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, in an article on the subject in the New York Times this morning.
The majority of states -- 32 -- have early-voting, with Congress discussing its expansion, the Times reports.

In fact, legislation for universal registration is already in the works in Sen. Hillary Clinton's office -- which would minimize long lines and the problems created by third-party groups like ACORN, which might sate the appetite of the GOP who has long accused ACORN of propagating voter registration fraud.

But, as the Times points out, even though making voting easier might sound like a non-partisan issue accepted by both sides of the aisle, it is anything but:

Lorraine C. Minnite, a political science professor and voting rights expert at Barnard College, said Republicans had generally resisted such efforts in part out of concern about ineligible voters like noncitizens being permitted to vote.

"But the bigger reason that Republicans have resisted expanding the franchise," Dr. Minnite said, "is that the new people who are likely to come into the electorate are more often of lower income and are people of color, who tend to vote Democratic."

Tom Jensen, a Democratic pollster based in Raleigh, N.C., said early voting gave Mr. Obama the edge for his narrow victory in North Carolina by offering his campaign more time to organize rides and get people to the polls. Mr. Jensen noted that Mr. Obama won early balloting by 178,000 votes but lost among Election Day voters by 165,000 votes.

"Obama had a great ground game," he said, "but if you only have 13 hours to get everyone out, it's much harder."

BMW

BMW Direct Candidates Predictably Lose Elections

Kate Klonick | November 6, 2008, 4:33PM

BMW Direct, the notorious direct mail firm famous for striking fundraising deals with loser candidates -- predictably lost two of its high profile races this Tuesday.

We mentioned late last week that a BMW client, Deborah Honeycutt -- a Republican challenging Democratic incumbent Rep. David Scott in Georgia -- looked to be making a small challenge to Scott and had raised almost $4.7 million through BMW Direct, though the vast majority had gone in fees back to the company.

Well Honeycutt lost her race -- by the same margin she'd lost in 2006 -- 38 percentage points. According to FEC records, Honeycutt has spent $4.3 million this election cycle, $47 for every vote she received.

As for BMW's other high-profile loser candidate, the Republican challenger to Jack Murtha in Pennsylvania's 12th District, he lost too. Touted by Michelle Malkin as a "jaw-dropping political miracle" Russell brought in almost $2.5 million through BMW Direct -- but spent more than half of that in payments back to the direct mail firm. While he pulled tighter to Murtha at the end of the race, it was more due to the Congressman's gaffes, than any awe inspired fundraising.

One last thing about Honeycutt -- it looks like she's going to have more to deal with than just a lost election. Scott has filed a federal complaint against Honeycutt for allegedly funding sleazy fliers that called Scott the "worst black congressperson."

Special thanks to TPM Reader BK for the tip.

Voting

"Voter Fraud" Van Hollen: Wisconsin Voting Goes Smoothly

Kate Klonick | November 6, 2008, 12:04PM

Though his lawsuit threatened to hold up registrations and his poll watchers threatened to create long lines and frivolous challenges, not even GOP Attorney Gen. J.B. Van Hollen's best efforts to raise the specter of voter fraud could suppress Wisconsin's voter turnout.

Wisconsin's top election official, Kevin Kennedy, estimated between 2.9 million and 3 million voters cast ballots in the election the AP reports. That's just under the number of 2004 and nearly 70 percent of the voting-age population.

"As far as voting, everything seems to be going very smoothly in the state," Van Hollen told WTMJ radio.

"We've had very few problems around the state. It appears as though the reports are that most polling places are conducting themselves very well."

Voting

Republican Poll Watchers Removed from Indiana Polling Site

Kate Klonick | November 4, 2008, 4:55PM

The Indianapolis Star has the play by play:

The removal of two Republican election workers from a Warren Township polling site - for using improper methods to challenge voters' rights to cast a ballot - has prompted local Republican Party leaders to issue a statement of regret. The two officials - an official challenger and a clerk - were removed by unanimous vote of the Marion County Election Board.

The officials were reportedly challenging voters with information obtained through party affiliation reports, which is not one of the accepted challenges such as a person's address, age or lack of ID.

"We were disappointed to hear of the incident regarding these two workers. The Marion County Republican Party was not aware of these alleged activities, nor did the Party instruct any worker to engage in such behavior," Marion County Republican Party Chairman Tom John said in a statement issued at 2 p.m.

Voting

Bogus Texts Tell Florida Students They Can Vote Tomorrow

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 4:50PM

Students at the University of Florida have received text messages falsely informing them that voting has been extended until tomorrow.

Steve Orlando, a spokesman for the university, told TPMmuckraker that the administration had heard from several students who reported having received the bogus texts. He said he then was contacted by the office of the county elections supervisor, who told him that they were aware of the messages, and asked the university to make clear to students that the messages were bogus. The administration quickly did so in an email.

Orlando said he couldn't imagine that too many students were fooled by the texts. Still, he added: "If even one student didn't know [that the message was false], that would be a terrible thing for them to miss the opportunity to vote for the first time"

Earlier today, we reported that a bogus email was sent from the account of the provost of George Mason University in Virginia, informing recipients that election day is tomorrow. Authorities are said to be investigating the source of the email.

Voting

OH GOP Preempts Election Day Results With "Placeholder" Complaints

Kate Klonick | November 4, 2008, 4:27PM

With the polls closing in just hours, the Ohio Republican party -- already thwarted in their attempts at voter suppression by the DOJ and the Supreme Court -- have continued to file complaints against Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the Wall Street Journal blog Washington Wire reports:

Republicans also raised new concerns about the counting of provisional ballots and other voting procedures. The party wants an injunction that would require Brunner to rescind some of her voting directives.

Brunner filed a motion asking to have the case consolidated with another federal suit pending in Cleveland. In the Cleveland case, the secretary of state recently reached an agreement with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless that county boards of election will have consistent standards for counting provisional ballots. Such ballots require additional checks and aren't counted until well after Election Day.

The WSJ quotes Edward B. Foley, director of the election-law program at the Ohio State University, who calls the Republicans' suit a "placeholder" in case the voting results in Ohio are close -- an idea echoed by a voting expert

Rick Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and an election expert, echoed this to TPMmuckraker saying it was "a way to have a foot in court" in the event that the vote is tight in Ohio and litigaiton is needed.

ACORN

No Restraining Order For Rogers -- Voter Intimidation Suit Continues

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 3:27PM

A judge declined today to grant a temporary restraining order against Pat Rogers, the New Mexico GOP lawyer who is being sued by MALDEF for alleged voter intimidation.

Nina Perales, a lawyer for MALDEF, told TPMmuckraker that despite the judge's decision, her organization believed it had achieved its goals, because Al Romero -- the private investigator hired by Rogers -- testified under oath that he would not go back to the home of one of the plaintiffs, Dora Escobedo, to question her about voting.

Romero's visits to Escobedo and another Hispanic woman in Albuquerque -- during which he questioned them about their right to vote -- triggered the lawsuit.

The visits were reported last month by TPMmuckraker and others.

Perales said MALDEF's lawsuit against Rogers and Romero continues, and will move to the discovery phase.

Voting

Virginia Looking Like Ground Zero For Voting Problems

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 3:03PM

Virginia, perhaps this year's most crucial swing state, is also shaping up as the center for voting problems.

For weeks, voting-rights groups have been warning that the state -- which does not allow early voting -- has not adequately prepared for the huge turnout it was likely to see on election day. Last week, the NAACP filed suit, trying to require the state to extend voting hours and provide more voting machines in heavily-populated African-American areas. But the board of elections insisted it was following the law, and the effort failed.

And so, predictably, we've already seen a slew of problems in the state today.

The Nation reports:

As of 10:30 am ET, more than two dozen polling places across the state were reported to be close to a standstill because of machine failures, lack of back-up paper ballots and other problems. Dozens of other locations were experiencing abnormal delays and long lines, raising serious questions about the ability of Virginia voters to exercise their democratic rights before the scheduled close of voting at 7 pm.

Many of these problems were concentrated in key Democratic areas of the state, including the DC suburbs and the African-American heavy Hampton Roads area.

The Nation's report adds more detail:

Some polling locations did not open on time. In others, electronic or optical-scan voting machines failed to function properly. Precincts either did not have back-up paper ballots available, or else chose to regard them as provisional ballots--something they should not do, according to election lawyers. In Richmond, where it was raining, some voters accidentally got their ballots wet, causing the optical-scan readers processing the votes to jam.

Virginia's governor, Tim Kaine, is a Democrat, and the head of the Board of Elections, Nancy Rodrigues, is a Kaine appointee.

John Greenbaum of Election Protection told the magazine: "The problems are so widespread, it's going to take action on part of state election officials to deal with problems they are facing today. If they don't, we might potentially have to seek other recourse."

voter fraud

Fox Desperately Stokes Fears of Flawed Election

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 2:22PM

Check out FoxNews.com's frantic effort to lay the groundwork for the claim that Obama's expected win is illegitimate, the product of a chaotic and fraud-prone election system and voter intimidation carried out by violent African-Americans.

At one polling site in Vermont, voters could maybe even look over and see each other's ballots! The election is ruined!

Not to pooh-pooh the importance of a secret ballot, but this is really grasping at straws.

In a way, you can't blame Fox. In stoking fears of an illegitimate election, it's only following John McCain's lead.

Voting

Call Tells Californian To Vote November 5th

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 12:43PM

Dan Daugherty, a reader in Pasadena, California, reports that he received a call on his answering machine teling him to vote November 5th.

Daugherty provided TPMmuckraker with an audio recording of the call, which you can listen to here:

Click To Play

Here's a transcript:

...is a message for (um) all people (um) in Pasadena. The (um) place for (uh) people in Pasadena is for you to vote at Jackie Robinson on Wednesday the 5th, November 5th. The (uh) ballot can be delivered on November 5th at Jackie Robinson.

Election day, of course, is today, November 4th.

California is not a presidential swing state and has no competitive statewide races, though it does have a controversial initiative -- Proposition 8, which aims to outlaw gay marriage -- on the ballot.

Pasadena is a liberal-leaning city, adjacent to Los Angeles.

Voting

WI GOP "Volunteers" Admit They Lied To Voters

Kate Klonick | November 4, 2008, 11:49AM

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.

Voting

EDITED: Calls Give Wrong Polling Location To Virginia Voter

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 11:25AM

NOTE: This post has been significantly edited since posting.

A TPM reader in Northern Virginia reports getting three different calls directing her to the same incorrect polling location, with the callers claiming to be volunteers from the Obama campaign.

Rebecca Kingery of Arlington, Virginia, a heavily Democratic area, told TPMmuckraker that all three calls directed her to a housing complex in Arlington which is not close to where she votes.

Kingery, a graphic designer who was recently laid off, answered two of the calls. The caller ID for one said "Master Replica," and listed a 925 area code, which is in the Bay Area. For the other, the caller ID said "Olude Novosiore" and had a 408 area code, which is in central California and San Jose.

Kingery said she wasn't confused about her voting location. She added that when she responded to one of the callers that she was being given incorrect information, the caller insisted that the information was correct.

Calls by TPMuckraker to the numbers that Kingery provided were not immediately returned.

After speaking to TPMmuckraker, Kingery went to cast her ballot -- at the correct location.

Late Update: TPMmuckraker has heard back from people at both of the numbers that Kingery reported seeing on her caller I.D. Both people said they were volunteers for the Obama campaign -- one in Oakland, and another in Walnut Creek, Calif. -- and that they were calling as part of a phone-bank to give legitimate voting information. One woman, Dina Bohacek, said that she gave Kingery a phone number at which she could verify her polling location.

So this appears not to have been an effort to mislead voters about their polling place.

voter fraud

Hoax Email Tells Virginia Students To Vote Tomorrow

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 10:23AM

Hackers broke into the email account of the George Mason University provost in Virginia, early this morning and sent out the following email:

Subject: Election Day Update To the Mason Community:

Please note that election day has been moved to November 5th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Peter N. Stearns
Provost

According to Dan Walsh, a spokesman for the university, the hoax message went to the entire student body -- more than 30,000 students -- and about 5000 faculty and staff.

Stearns himself quickly sent out a followup message assuring recipients that it was a hoax, which was being investigated.

Walsh said the university had contacted campus police, who are working with outside law enforcement to look into the hoax.

ACORN

No Ruling Yet On Restraining Order For Rogers

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2008, 8:47AM

The court hearing the lawsuit filed by MALDEF against New Mexico GOP lawyer Pat Rogers did not rule yesterday on the plaintiffs' request for a restraining order to be placed on Rogers, reports the Albuquerque Journal.

The plaintiffs, two Hispanic voters in Albuquerque, want Rogers and Al Romero, the private investigator and ex-FBI agent hired by Rogers, prohibited from intimidating the plaintiffs or challenging their ballots.

The judge, William P. Johnson, questioned lawyers for the plaintiffs skeptically, reports the paper, but said the hearing will continue this morning.

Rogers' attorneys argued that Rogers had hired Romero not because he wanted to intimidate voters, but because he wanted to investigate ACORN for a possible lawsuit. ACORN had registered the plaintiffs to vote. Romero's visits to one of the plaintiffs, Dora Escobedo, and to another voter, were reported last month by TPMmuckraker and the New Mexico Independent.

But Escobedo told the court that Romero came to her home and intimidated her about her right to vote, adding that he "not only threatened me, but he made fun of me."

Romero's lawyer said Romero didn't threaten Escobedo, and that he had good reason to visit her because her voter registration form contained discrepancies.

After the hearing, Rogers told reporters: "This (lawsuit) is clearly a strategy to distract Republican lawyers from the duty at hand, which is getting out the vote."

Voting

FL GOP Promises No "Frivolous" Voter Challenges in Legal Truce with Dems

Kate Klonick | November 3, 2008, 6:23PM

Specters of the 2000 election have risen in Florida, with Democrats and Republicans engaging in legal wrangling just days before Election Day.

Last week, the Florida Democratic Party joined a suit against Republicans, asking a judge to clearly define what constitutes a challenge to a voter, in anticipation of problems tomorrow.

The suit makes multiple allegations, including claims that the GOP tried to ''cage'' a Duval County voter, and that a Republican sheriff's candidate challenged approximately 300 voters. Democrats also accused Republicans of planning a ''lose your home, lose your vote'' challenge, similar to the threats allegedly made by a GOP county leader in Michigan. "Caging" refers to the practice of sending mail -- marked "Do Not Forward" -- to voters to see who has moved and prompt removal from the rolls.

But today, with just hours until polls open in the state, the two parties have reached an agreement -- putting the lawsuit on hold in exchange for a promise from state Republicans to not engage in "frivolous mass voter challenges."

From the Fort Mills Times:

That came after the GOP filed sworn statements Monday saying the state and national Republican parties "have not and will not" engage in frivolous mass voter challenges.

Circuit Judge Kevin Davey, though, will remain on standby Tuesday in case Democrats present evidence that Republicans have broken their promise.

It's still not clear what this means for Florida Democrats, since it seems to hinge on a court's definition of "frivolous."

Voting

McCain Camp Sues Virginia Over Military Ballots

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 5:55PM

Here's a possible last-minute effort by the McCain camp to throw a wrench into the vote counting in a key swing state.

The Associated Press reports:

John McCain's campaign sued Virginia's electoral board today, hours before the election, seeking to force the state to count late-arriving overseas military ballots.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to order the State Board of Elections to count any overseas absentee ballots sent by November 4 and received by local election officials as late as November 14.

McCain claims the rights of military voters are protected by the federal Uniform and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Rights Act of 1986.

The campaign's complaint says that Virginia military voters posted overseas who support the Republican nominee will be denied their right to vote unless the court grants the order.

The report adds that no hearing was scheduled by this afternoon.

Under normal procedures, military ballots would likely only be counted if their number exceeded the total margin of victory of one candidate, meaning they could affect the result. So the suit may be designed to ensure that Virginia can't be officially called for Obama early in the evening, which could depress Republican turnout in other parts of the country.

Late Update: Rick Hasen, an election law expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, tells TPMmuckraker that the suit is likely an effort to ensure that military ballots that arrived after election day -- which will likely favor McCain -- will be counted. That was an issue during the Florida recount of 2000, in which the courts ultimately ruled that such ballots could be counted. (Hasen cautioned that he hadn't yet had a chance to look closely at the suit.)

And on his blog, he asks a good question: "Why did this suit have to wait until the eve of the election?"

Voting

WI Attorney General Won't Appeal Lawsuit Before Election Day

Kate Klonick | November 3, 2008, 2:43PM

Looks like the clock has run out for Wisconsin's Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, who won't file an appeal to his lawsuit tossed out by a judge late last month.

Van Hollen, a Republican and co-chair of the McCain campaign in Wisconsin, filed the lawsuit in an attempt to force the state's non-partisan General Accountability Board to re-confirm thousands of voter registrations.

From the AP:

The lawsuit demanded state election officials verify the identity of tens of thousands of voters registered since Jan. 1, 2006, and do it by Election Day Tuesday.

. . . Justice Department officials said that day they planned to appeal, but spokesman Bill Cosh said Monday the agency realizes there's no chance of relief before the election.

ACORN

Restraining Order For NM GOP Lawyer?

Zachary Roth | November 3, 2008, 2:36PM

A hearing is scheduled for this afternoon in the suit filed last week by MALDEF against New Mexico GOP lawyer Pat Rogers. The suit, triggered by reporting from TPMmuckraker and others, alleges that Rogers hired a private investigator, Al Romero, to intimidate Hispanics in Albuquerque about their right to vote. Romero is also named as a defendant.

MALDEF, which is bringing the suit on behalf of two of the voters in question, wants an injunction blocking Rogers from conducting further alleged intimidation of the plaintiffs, and from challenging the plaintiffs' right to vote.

The hearing will occur at 3pm EST today, before U.S. District Court Judge Martha Vázquez in Albuquerque. We'll keep you posted on what happens.

Barack Obama

Leak On Obama's Aunt Violates Agency Regulations

Zachary Roth | November 1, 2008, 5:46PM

The leaking of information about the immigration status of Barack Obama's aunt appears to directly violate regulations for confidentiality laid out in a US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) memo obtained by TPMmuckraker.

As we reported earlier, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (which is the law enforcement arm of USCIS) has begun an internal probe into the leak to the Associated Press, which revealed early this morning that Obama's aunt "is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago."

The memo, written in 2005 by Joseph Langlois, director of the Asylum Division in the Office of Refugee, Asylum, and International Operations, reads in part:

The federal regulations at 8 CFR 208.6 generally prohibit the disclosure to third parties of information contained in or pertaining to asylum applications, credible fear determinations, and reasonable fear determinations--including information contained in RAPS or APSS1--except under certain limited circumstances. These regulations safeguard information that, if disclosed publicly, could subject the claimant to retaliatory measures by government authorities or non-state actors in the event that the claimant is repatriated, or endanger the security of the claimant's family members who may still be residing in the country of origin.

...

According to established guidance, confidentiality is breached when information contained in or pertaining to an asylum application (including information contained in RAPS or APSS) is disclosed to a third party in violation of the regulations, and the unauthorized disclosure is of a nature that allows the third party to link the identity of the applicant to: (1) the fact that the applicant has applied for asylum; (2) specific facts or allegations pertaining to the individual asylum claim contained in an asylum application; or (3) facts or allegations that are sufficient to give rise to a reasonable inference that the applicant has applied for asylum.

It's worth noting again that we don't know for certain the leak came from ICE, since people at other government agenicies could have had access to the information.

Still, from the available evidence, it appears ICE is the most likely source. And Dan Kowalski, a leading immigration law expert, told TPMmuckraker that there's "no question" the leak violated ICE's guidelines as laid out in the memo.

And he identified for TPMmuckraker some additional, pertinent questions, asking:

1. Did the leaker know it was a violation? 2. Was the leak politically motivated? 3. A solo action, or conspiracy of 2 or more? If the latter, who is the boss?

We'll be working to bring you answers...

BMW

Honeycutt Gives Georgia Dem a Run for His Money

Kate Klonick | October 30, 2008, 6:44PM

Remember Deborah Honeycutt? The little-known Republican running for Congress in a Democratic stronghold down in Georgia who used a shady direct-mail company to raise national money for her long-shot candidacy?

Well, Honeycutt -- who lost by 38 points last time around -- is giving Democratic incumbent David Scott a little run for his money.

CQ Politics today changed the race from "Safe Democrat" to "Democrat Favored" after recent polls gave Scott just a five point lead over Honeycutt.

And there seem to be a few familiar factors at work in Honeycutt's rise in this heavily Democratic district.

Scott's campaign alleges that Honeycutt is concealing her party affiliation -- she fails to identify as Republican on her literature and some of her mailers reportedly bear the name "Democrats for Good Government," though Honeycutt denies knowledge of the group -- causing voters to mistake her for a Democrat.

Second and perhaps, most familiarly, Democrats point to her high fundraising numbers. Despite running as a virtual unknown, she's raised $4.7 million through Oct. 15 -- a staggering number compared to Scott's $1 million.

But unlike Scott, Honeycutt has raised her money primarily through direct mail company BMW Direct which gobbles up most of the proceeds in fees. When we wrote about her in July, Honeycutt had raised $1 million in the second quarter -- and spent $736,000 in fees to BMW Direct. The real surprise here is that Honeycutt has manged to do anything with a campaign that's burning through such huge portions of its donations.

Election 2008

FEC Complaint Filed Against Palin and RNC's Shopping Spree

Kate Klonick | October 23, 2008, 3:20PM

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed an FEC complaint today against Sarah Palin and the Republican National Committee for violating federal election law in spending $150,000 outfitting the Alaska governor.

The group claims the excessive spending is a violation of campaign finance law which specifically prohibits candidates from using campaign funds for personal use.

"It is ridiculous that RNC would spend $150,000 to outfit a vice presidential nominee and her family at any time, but it is more outrageous given the dire financial straights of so many Americans and the state of our economy," CREW director Melanie Sloan said in a statement. "If the RNC had an extra $150,000 to throw around, there were better alternatives than pricey designer clothes."

Earlier this week, the RNC responded to possible violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act by stating that all of Palin's clothes would be donated to charity after the election.

Election 2008

Women's Voices Women Vote Fined for Robocalls in North Carolina

Kate Klonick | October 22, 2008, 10:36AM

You might remember the puzzling robo-calls coming from a group called Women's Voices Women Vote, earlier this year during the Democratic primary. Back then, our conclusion was, they were more incompetent than malicious -- breaking the laws on robo-calls because of ignorance rather than dirty tricks.

Well, as lawyers are fond of saying, ignorance of the law is no excuse. The AP reports that Women's Voices Women Vote was forced to pay a $100,000 fine in North Carolina for breaking the state law in May that says robocall groups must provide information on the group or a way to contact the organization.

The group also was ordered to stay out of politics until after Election Day.

"It was not our intention that the robocalls or our mailings cause any confusion as to whether any individual was already registered to vote,'' Page Gardner, the group's president said in a statement. "To the contrary, our effort was squarely aimed at encouraging registration of underrepresented voters in North Carolina for the upcoming general election.''

Election 2008

Who Needs the FEC in an Election Year?

David Kurtz | May 22, 2008, 2:15PM

Three more FEC nominees were referred today for votes by the full Senate. But, with Republicans blocking a floor vote, don't expect the deadlock at the FEC to end anytime soon.

Election 2008

Louisiana Robo Caller Unmasked!

Paul Kiel | May 5, 2008, 6:30PM

Over the weekend, there were reports of robo calls during Louisiana's 6th District special election, during which State Rep. Don Cazayoux had narrowly beaten Republican Woody Jenkins. In the calls, which went out to Baton Rouge's African-American neighborhoods on election day, a voice told voters to teach white Democrats a lesson by staying home and not voting. It signed off "Friends of Michael Jackson," according to The Advocate.

But Jackson, an African-American state lawmaker who'd lost in the primary to Cazayoux, said he had nothing to do with the calls. So whodunnit?

The answer: Darrell Glasper, who told me that he was a political independent who'd made the calls because he said African-Americans "have been loyal for so long and received so little." Glasper, an African-American, said that he was an acquaintance and supporter of Jackson's, but that he'd made the calls without Jackson's knowledge and had stopped the calls at Jackson's request. He'd made 10,000 or so by that time, he said.

Glasper's company Magnolia Computers came up on the caller ID for the robo calls, reported a reader of the local blog The Daily Kingfish. The Daily Kingfish also had a transcript of the calls:

"I'm very upset that the National Democratic Party favored Don Cazayoux from New Roads over Michael Jackson. The Democratic Party raised $850,000 for Don Cazayoux which is the only reason Michael Jackson lost in the Democratic runoff. The National and State Democratic Parties always seem to back the white democrat over the black democrat and that's wrong. A lot of us who are supporting Michael Jackson feel the National Democratic Party need to be taught a lesson. We're not voting for Don Cazayoux because we believe Woody Jenkins will be a lot easier to beat in November when Senator Barack Obama is on the ballot. You haven't heard many black elected officials supporting Don Cazayoux. On Saturday we're going to stay home and see how the National Democratic Party do without us."

"Paid for by Friends of Michael Jackson."

Glasper told me that he'd been frustrated by the Democratic Party's lack of support for Jackson when he'd run in the primary against the white Cazayoux -- there was no get out the vote operation, he said, and "without money in the community Jackson couldn't make it." But that support, he said, materialized on Cazayoux's behalf in the general election. "That's my interpretation of how they play the political games." (Of course, there's nothing remarkable in the fact that the party did not run a GOTV effort within the Dem primary but did against the Republican candidate.)

When I asked him why he'd signed off the calls "Friends of Michael Jackson," when the calls were not in fact from Jackson's campaign, he said "I'm a friend of Michael Jackson's." When I pressed, he said that the calls "may have said friends or by a friend," he can't remember.

But Glasper, who up until recently served as chairman of BREC, an agency that operates public park and recreation facilities and programs throughout East Baton Rouge Parish, was unapologetic about the calls. When I told him that the Louisiana State Democratic Party said the calls violated election law and were likely to take the matter to court, he told me "This is America, you can say what you want."

Election 2008

Update: Group Promised to Change Calls in February

Paul Kiel | May 1, 2008, 4:10PM

Since we last posted this morning, there are number of other things to update you on those calls by Women's Voices Women Vote.

First off, North Carolina officials were not the first to specifically object to the group's failure to identify themselves and instead use "Lamont Williams" on the calls. As Facing South points out, back in February, after Virginia police investigated the calls and mailings as a possible identity theft scam, the group's spokeswoman told The Virginian-Pilot that "not including information about the source of the voter registration effort was 'absolutely an accidental omission.'" She also said that the group would be changing the calls so that the group was identified as the source.

Obviously, that didn't happen. When I asked the group about that, a spokesperson told me that the failure to change the script was a "mistake" and added "we're doing our best to figure out how the old script got used."

Meanwhile, a group spokeswoman Sarah Johnson explained in a Q&A at DailyKos that the name Lamont Williams was used because that was the name of the actor reading the script. The calls using Williams' voice went to men -- because she said while the group mainly concentrates on unmarried women, they also target "African Americans, Hispanics and young people" -- and a call using a woman's voice went to women.

And finally, anti-robo call activist Shaun Dakin provides some context for the North Carolina attorney general's accusation that the group's calls were illegal because the group was not identified and did not provide a call back number. Dakin, who heads up Stop Political Calls, a group devoted to combating automated calls by establishing a National Political Do Not Contact Registry, writes that Women's Voices Women Vote is breaking the law, but pretty much everybody else does too:

The reality is that there are more than likely several campaigns and other non-profit organizations that are "failing to disclose who sponsored the call" and "failing to offer the org's contact information to get the calls to stop".

In fact, I know of no political campaign at the national level that offers voters a way to opt out of further calls.

Election 2008

Board Members from Robo Calling Nonprofit Criticize Effort, But Vouch for Group

Paul Kiel | May 1, 2008, 12:10PM

Today, two more board members from Women's Voices Women's Vote have released statements offering support of the group, which apologized yesterday for its misleading and illegal robo calls to North Carolina residents.

The first is president of USAction William McNary, who in apparent response to the reported myriad connections between the group and the Clinton campaign, makes a point of saying that he's an Obama supporter while vouching for the group. The voter registration campaign, he says, was a "mistake," but not a "malicious" one.

And John Podesta, President Bill Clinton's former chief of staff and currently the president of the Center for American Progress, has sent us this statement:

Women's Voices. Women Vote has a strong record of registering disenfranchised people so that they can participate in the political process. As a board member, I was aware of the general parameters of the group's voter registration program, but not the details of its execution. With respect to the calls and mailings made in North Carolina, I understand that remedial action is being undertaken. I agree with fellow board member William McNary that the North Carolina state calling program was a mistake of judgment and execution, and not an attempt to disenfranchise voters, and have been assured by Page Gardner, President of WVWV, that the organization will conduct a full and prompt accounting of the circumstances of the voter registration program for its board of directors.

Yesterday Tim Lux, another board member, made a similar statement.

Meanwhile, here's what the Obama campaign had to say about it:

Bob Bauer, an attorney for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign, said the calls were "extremely disturbing" and fit "the classic model of voter suppression" by sowing confusion just before the May 6 primary.

But he stopped short of saying the calls were designed to discourage voters.

"They have said it's inadvertent, and I understand it will not happen again," he said.

Election 2008

North Carolina AG Opens Investigation of Robo Calls

Paul Kiel | April 30, 2008, 6:22PM

And yet another development on those calls by Women's Voices Women Vote.

North Carolina's attorney general has just put out a press release (pdf) saying that he's investigating the calls and taking credit for having them stopped. "Regardless of the motivation, the robo-calls violated the law and they needed to stop," Roy Cooper said. He also includes a correspondence with the group's lawyer. In the letter, Cooper requests a variety of information about the calls.

Sarah Johnson, the group's spokeswoman declined to comment on the correspondence, referring questions to the group's lawyer. But she did say that the calls occurred last Thursday and Friday in North Carolina as they did in all the other 24 states (pdf) targeted by the group this April.

Election 2008

Group Missed Oregon Primary Deadline, Too

Paul Kiel | April 30, 2008, 4:15PM

As an update to my earlier post on the Women's Vote Women's Voices calls, we can show you an example of the voter registration packet the group has been sending out.

Thanks to TPM Reader PC, here is a mailer received by a reader in Oregon, one of the 24 states (pdf) where the group has sent mailers.

The mailer was addressed to PC's wife, and he says she received not one but two copies. He also notes that the mailer arrived just as the deadline to register in Oregon's presidential primary passed. That's been a persistent problem for the group, not only in North Carolina, but also in Virginia and Wisconsin. Wisconsin officials even issued a press release lecturing the group on its methods, saying that the forms would create more confusion and that voters who needlessly registered twice would have to re-register at the polling place because they'd registered past the primary deadline (Wisconsin allows same-day registration). "It's unfortunate that such groups do not inform voters of our deadlines," said Kevin Kennedy, director of the state Government Accountability Board.

So while the spokeswoman for the group told me that the North Carolina calls and mailers were a mix up, it seems that the group has gotten mixed up a number of times before.

Update: As Facing South notes, the mailers originally had language saying that recipients were "required" to mail back the form. That language was dropped after complaints in a number of states and from a number of state officials.

Election 2008

Nonprofit Women's Voices Women Vote Stops Suspicious N.C. Robo Calls

Paul Kiel | April 30, 2008, 1:39PM

Yesterday we posted about suspicious calls being made in North Carolina. The calls purported to be from a man who identified himself only as "Lamont Williams" and told people to wait for a vote registration packet in the mail and said, "All you need to do is sign it, date it and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard."

Democracy North Carolina, a government watchdog, cried foul, saying that the calls went out to "black neighborhoods" and was evidently a vote suppression tactic since the registration deadline for the presidential primary has already passed. The North Carolina state elections board got involved and asked for the public's help in determining the source of the calls, which apparently blocked caller ID from showing the number. You can listen to the call here (wav).

Now Facing South reports that a Washington nonprofit called Women's Voices Women Vote is behind the calls.

The group's spokeswoman Sarah Johnson confirmed to me that those were the group's calls and said that they were part of an effort to register three million women voters in 24 states. The fact that the calls came shortly before the North Carolina primary, potentially confusing voters, was unfortunate mistake, she said. We're "incredibly apologetic about the timing of this." The group was simply working at such a "high volume" that it was "extremely difficult to tailor the mailing to every single state's schedule," she said. The calls precede the mailers, she said, because it increases the rate of response.

The group had also let the state board of elections know prior to sending out the mailings that they would be doing so, but the letter to the board did not mention the calls. You can read that letter, provided by the group, here.

The group is currently in the process of halting the mailed packets, she said, at the request of the Democracy North Carolina and the state board of elections. The calls have also stopped.

As for why the group's calls had used an apparently fictitious persona named "Lamont Williams," Johnson first said, "as far as I know, it is a recorded message." But when I asked why the group had used that name when there is no such person working with the group, she said she did not know why the name had been used.

The group also used a female caller named "Julie," Johnson said (although she was not sure of the name). She told me that she would check to see if there was any particular reason why certain calls were made by Julie and others by Lamont.

But that practice would stop, she said. "This not identifying ourselves on the call, that's not something that is going to continue as we move forward. Our phone calls in the future will correct any confusion about the calls." When I asked if there had been any particular strategy behind not identifying the group as making the calls, she said no.

A statement released by the group's executive director is below.

Update: As Facing South notes in detail, this is not the first time that there have been complaints about WVWV's activities. There have been complaints in several states.

And in Virginia this February, the state police there even investigated the calls as a possible identity theft scam, only to find that WVWV was behind them. The calls had gone out shortly before the Virginia presidential primary.

Read more »

Election 2008

Reid Offers Deal on FEC Deadlock

Paul Kiel | April 29, 2008, 5:55PM

From Roll Call (sub. req.):

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) shipped to the White House on Tuesday a compromise plan on Federal Election Commission nominees, a deal that is likely dead on arrival because it does not meet GOP demands on Hans von Spakovsky.

"You are aware that Mr. von Spakovsky does not have majority support to win confirmation," Reid wrote Tuesday in a letter to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten. "It is my understanding that you have two additional Republican FEC candidates cleared for nomination.

"One would fill Mr. von Spakovsky's seat should he be defeated or withdrawn, and the other would fill the vacant Republican seat," Reid continued. "You already have the non-controversial re-nomination of sitting commissioner David Mason pending."

You can read Reid's letter to White House chief of staff Josh Bolten here. But as Roll Call says, Republicans have thus far refused to budge on any deal that doesn't include Spakovsky getting packaged in a vote with the other less controversial nominees. And so the FEC remains officially dormant and the complaints against allegedly outlaw campaign activity continue to pile up.

Election 2008

Robo Call Gives False Voting Info to North Carolina Voters

Paul Kiel | April 29, 2008, 3:48PM

Here's another for the annals of vote suppression. Calls have gone out to an untold number of North Carolina voters telling them that they need to fill out a registration form before they vote. Democracy North Carolina, a government watchdog that has posted audio (wav) of the call, says that the calls went out to "black neighborhoods."

It seems not to be a scheme limited to North Carolina. As Facing South reports, the same call evidently went out to some voters in Columbus, Ohio two days before municipal elections there last November, and also in Virginia the week before the Democratic primary there this February.

Here's how one reader of the Buckeye State Blog described the Ohio call back in November:

From memory, a stentorian voice reminiscent of James Earl Jones says: "Hello. This is Lamont Williams. In a few days you should be getting a voter registration form in the mail. Please fill it out and return promptly and you will be able to vote. Thank you."

Since the election is Tuesday, the message is nonsensical. Also, I can't find any information on this Lamont Williams. The caller ID was blocked ("unknown caller").

A transcript of the call released by the North Carolina State Board of Elections matches that description:

"Hello, this is Lamont Williams. In the next few days, you will receive a voter registration packet in the mail. All you need to do is sign it, date it and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard. Please return the voter registration form when it arrives. Thank you."

And in Virginia, the Washington, DC NPR affiliate WAMU reported in February that "at least a dozen people in central and southern Virginia have received automated phone calls this week telling them to expect a voter registration packet in the mail." Facing South reports that the a state elections board spokeswoman said the matter had been referred to state police, and that it wasn't clear whether the calls also claimed to come from a Lamont Williams. But certainly the parallels are suspicious.

If Lamont has popped up anywhere else or pops up anywhere else, let us know.

Must Read

Today's Must Read

Paul Kiel | April 21, 2008, 9:55AM

They've got the bark part down pat.

You heard about Freedom's Watch, the billionaire-backed, uber-connected attack group that was going to put a $250 million hurt on the Democratic nominee and a number of Congressional candidates to boot. Well, that hasn't turned out too well.

And now there seems to be no shortage of self-doubt amongst conservative insiders about their prospects for a good bite come the fall. The left has its act together, but a Swift Boat 2.0 has yet to emerge for the right.

From The Washington Post:

With Sen. John McCain facing the prospect of being dramatically outspent in the race for the White House, a collection of major Republican donors and party leaders that includes former Bush strategist Karl Rove is scrambling to catch up with the efforts of liberal groups aiming to influence the outcome in November....

This year, allies of President Bush such as Rove, billionaire T. Boone Pickens, New York financier Paul Singer and Florida developer Mel Sembler, who helped harness and direct millions of dollars to the 2004 campaign, are working to rekindle those efforts. But they are finding the 2008 landscape to be more challenging, according to Republican sources familiar with the ongoing talks....

"I hear rumblings," said Brad Freeman, a Bush donor in California. "People keep asking the question, 'What are we going to do this time?' "

Sembler, a big Bush donor and former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, confirmed that he and others are working to identify a group that could help shape the agenda for the presidential campaign and steer major donors to it. A motivating factor, he said, is the sense that Democrats are much further along in their efforts.

"They are very organized. They started a whole lot earlier," Sembler said. "We are not quite as organized. But our efforts are still going forward."

Now, maybe this is just a bunch of premature talk. After all, this is not a group that is just going to sit on its thumbs. But it does seem possible that rather than one prominent conservative attack group emerging this election, there will be a cluster who emerge at different times.

Another interesting dynamic this election will be whether Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticizes outside attack groups as he has in the past, and as he did speaking to Chris Matthews last week, and whether those groups respond. The Post's reporting suggests that McCain's criticism actually has had an impact, making conservative donors more skittish about taking the plunge. On the other hand, the McCain camp seems to be puzzled by the response:

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said Friday that he understands the cause and effect and is not bothered by it. He conceded that he has been surprised that no one group has emerged on the Republican side, in spite of the candidate's comments. "I would have thought by now someone would occupy that space," Davis said.

Freedom's Watch

Dems Accuse Freedom's Watch of Working with GOP

Paul Kiel | April 16, 2008, 11:13AM

Everybody knows what Freedom's Watch is looking to do this election: get Republicans elected. But there's a line that can't be crossed and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says that they crossed it. From The Washington Post:

Democratic Party officials said they will file a complaint today with the Federal Election Commission alleging that a conservative political group has illegally coordinated its advertising with a Republican Party campaign committee in advance of a May 3 special election in Louisiana.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the fundraising and campaign arm for House Democrats, alleges that the script for a television ad purchased by Freedom's Watch, an independent conservative political committee, can be traced to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

You can see details of the DCCC's complaint here, including a side by side comparison of an ad run by the National Republican Congressional Committee and Freedom's Watch's ad, which according to the DCCC started running immediately after the NRCC's ad ceased. There are indeed some remarkable similarities.

But Patrick McCarthy, the media consultant who put together Freedom's Watch's ad, tells the Post that there's an innocent explanation.

Read more »

Election 2008

IRS to Big-Spending Attack Groups: Ahem

Paul Kiel | April 15, 2008, 12:17PM

As we reported last week, millionaire-funded and operative-helmed attack groups looking to make a splash in the elections this year are choosing nonprofits as their preferred vehicle. Acting as 501(c)(4) organizations, the groups are allowed to attack all they want and keep their donors secret.

There's a catch, of course. The groups are nominally "social welfare" organizations, groups that are allowed to engage in political activity as long as that is not its primary purpose. That's why you see all the groups claim that they are focused on issues, not candidates, even when it's apparent that's not the case.

It's a hazy line, and one that the groups hope that the IRS doesn't explore. But as Roll Call reported yesterday, the IRS says it's taking a "close look" at whether the groups go too far.

But don't expect the IRS to step in any time soon. The IRS official tells the paper that the IRS likely wouldn't act until after the groups filed their taxes next year (by which time, of course, a president might be in the White House due in large part to a campaign by a lawbreaking group). And what happens then? Well, it's unclear:

The IRS director also agreed that -- perhaps unlike the FEC -- a broad IRS sweep of wayward nonprofits may yield better results than the recent high-profile fining of 527s by election regulators. And although the IRS is likely to just revoke a group's tax status and slap it with a fine, another source within the IRS said that serious violators could "go through our criminal investigations area ... and it could end up at the Justice Department."

Civil Rights Division

Dem FEC Nominee Withdraws, Leading to Further Delay

Paul Kiel | April 14, 2008, 3:04PM

Things were already looking pretty hopeless for the FEC, but they just got bleaker. In a letter to White House chief of staff Josh Bolten today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) says that Robert Lenhard, one of the Democratic nominees for the commission, has withdrawn his name because of the ongoing stalemate.

It will most likely take "several months" to replace Lenhard, Reid writes, meaning that it's sure to be awhile before Democrats and Republicans can agree on a batch of nominees. Not that there have been any signs of hope anyway: Democrats continue to insist that the Senate vote on vote-suppression guru Hans von Spakovsky separately from the other three nominees, and Republicans refuse to allow that.

Meanwhile, the fracas over John McCain's withdrawal from public financing goes unresolved and outside groups are mounting up without worry of any imminent harassment from the FEC.

Update: By way of explanation, Lenhard has landed a gig (sub. req.) at the mega firm Covington & Burling.

Election 2008

Nonprofits Are The New 527s

Paul Kiel | April 7, 2008, 6:09PM

Underlying that Boston Globe story I just noted is a salient fact: outside groups are increasingly taking the form of 501(c)(4) groups this year.

What does it mean? Well, for the groups it means they can take any amount of contributions from virtually any source, including corporations, provided that their ads never cross the line into explicit advocacy -- i.e. "vote for candidate X this election." And the groups never have to disclose their donors, which makes everyone involved happy. That's much more freedom than 527 organizations, like the Swift Boat Vets for Truth, had in the last election.

As David Corn reported earlier this year, the Supreme Court loosened the restrictions on 501(c)(4)s at the same time that the FEC was cracking down on 527s, making them an irresistible model.

Recently, a new 501(c)(4) demonstrated how free the groups are to operate. As we reported last week, a group called the American Future Fund has been running ads supporting Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN). The ads have the look and feel of a campaign ad, so much so that the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party filed a complaint with the FEC charging that the American Future Fund is breaking the law by claiming that it is not a political committee.

Dave Kochel, a spokesperson for the group, said that AFF is not worried: "The law is pretty clear. As long as you're not advocating the election or defeat of a particular candidate, and the ad is crafted in a way that's informative on the issues, you're on solid ground."

Read more »

Election 2008

Conservatives Planning New Attack Group for Election

Paul Kiel | April 7, 2008, 4:00PM

It's only April, but we've already begun to see a flowering of outside groups. The hyper-conservative Common Sense Issues unleashed robo-voiced push polls on more than 11 million households on Mike Huckabee's behalf. A liberal group called Campaign To Defend America has already unloaded a $1 million ad buy tying John McCain to George Bush. And the casino mogul backed conservative group Freedom's Watch is still revving its engines.

But there is much, much, much more to come. And The Boston Globe reports that Republican insiders appear to be favoring a separate vehicle to go after Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). As one Republican strategist tells the Globe, "They're beginning to put the book together on Obama."

What this new group will be called isn't clear. But it will probably be quarterbacked and funded by some of the likely suspects. Some of the bigger Swift Boat Vets for Truth funders are sure to chip in, the Globe reports. And "the chairman and founding partner of DCI Group, Tom Synhorst, is helping lead the new third-party effort this year, according to GOP strategists familiar with the plans."

As Josh pointed out last week, Doug Davenport, a partner at DCI Group, has joined Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) campaign as a regional campaign manager.

As the Globe reports, Republicans know they have lots of catching up to do:

Part of what's driving Republicans' interest in independent groups this year is the tremendous fund-raising advantage the Democratic presidential candidates have. Obama and Clinton raised nearly as much in March as McCain had overall through February.

Now, what might this group end up doing? Well, the new group is likely to closely resemble Progress for America, a DCI-run effort that ran a spate of negative ads against John Kerry, along with one memorable "positive" ad, "Ashley's Story," which showed George Bush comforting a teenager whose mother had been killed on 9/11 (“He’s the most powerful man in the world and all he wants to do is make sure I’m safe.”). The group spent over $14 million airing the ad in the last weeks of the election.

Election 2008

Appeals Court Reverses Ruling on Florida Vote Suppression Measure

Paul Kiel | April 4, 2008, 5:54PM

Hans von Spakovsky's legacy is still being felt down in Florida. From the AP:

Florida can temporarily enforce a law that disqualifies any voter registration where the Social Security or driver license numbers on the application can't be matched with government databases, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said a lower court shouldn't have ordered a temporary injunction in December that prevented Florida from enforcing an anti-fraud law that dismissed applications when matches couldn't be made.

As we reported last year, one of Spakovsky's achievements while at the Justice Department was promoting this interpretation of the law: that states ought to reject voter applications if the data did not match driver's license or Social Security records. Civil rights groups, calling the measure "disenfranchisement-by-bureaucracy," sued to halt the law in an attempt to minimize the effect on the 2008 election. A newspaper investigation found that the measure resulted in tens of thousands of voters being rejected, the overwhelming majority of them minorities.

Back in December, a district court agreed with the argument by the groups -- the NAACP, the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, and Southwest Voter Registration Education Project -- that the law ought to be halted from going into effect while the lawsuit was decided. That decision was overturned yesterday.

"Yesterday's ruling by the appellate court represents a setback for all eligible Floridians, particularly voters of color, who wish to register to vote and participate in the upcoming presidential elections," said Elizabeth Westfall of Advancement Project, one of the attorneys for the groups. But Justin Levitt, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, said that the suit would go on and that "the trial court must now consider whether disenfranchising thousands of eligible citizens because of typos, is consistent with the U.S. Constitution."

Election 2008

New Well-Connected Conservative Group Runs Pro-Coleman Ad

Paul Kiel | April 1, 2008, 6:28PM

There are already indications that the 2008 election will be remarkable for the number of outside groups weighing in with major ad buys supporting or attacking candidates. The latest: a group called the American Future Fund that's hit Minnesota with a TV ad singing the praises of Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), who's locked in an already tight reelection battle with Al Franken.

You can see the ad, which began running March 19th and will last for approximately three weeks, below. With the feel-good synthesized music characteristic of positive ads playing soothingly in the background, it lauds Coleman's legislative accomplishments ("Coleman has worked with Republicans and Democrats to make college more affordable" etc.), adds, "An independent voice for Minnesota: Norm Coleman," and ends by urging viewers to call Coleman and "thank him." The ad buy cost "well into six figures," according to Larry McCarthy, the media consultant who produced it.

Because the group has established itself as a non-profit -- the popular choice this election for outside groups wanting to spend money without restraint while disclosing little to nothing about their activities -- details on the new group are sketchy.

The Rothenberg Political Report reported last month that a number of notable conservatives are associated with the group (no one seems to head the group, exactly, as you'll see below). McCarthy, the media consultant, runs a major firm that also recently produced ads attacking House Democrats run by another outside group called Defense of Democracies.

Read more »

Election 2008

Did Spitzer Get Stoned?

Paul Kiel | March 24, 2008, 3:24PM

Well, the short answer seems to be no. But there's still plenty curious about Roger Stone's cameo role in Eliot Spitzer's downfall.

The Miami Herald reported on Friday that Stone, a veteran Republican operative with a deep bag of tricks, had sent a letter via his lawyer to the FBI in November of last year informing them that he'd learned that Spitzer frequented prostitutes. The letter stated:

"The governor has paid literally tens of thousands of dollars for these services. It is Mr. Stone's understanding that the governor paid not with credit cards or cash but through some pre-arranged transfer... It is also my client's understanding from the same source that Gov. Spitzer did not remove his mid-calf length black socks during the sex act."

Speaking to the Herald, Stone was a bit more clear about how he came to learn this: "a high-end call girl at an adult-themed club called Miami Velvet told him she was disappointed to have missed a call to entertain Spitzer." Why was Stone -- no stranger to sex scandals -- at the Miami Velvet Swingers Club (the full name, according to the website)? Well, conducting opposition research, presumably.

But back to the letter. As our timeline makes clear, the feds began their investigation into the Emperor Club's ring in October of last year, approximately a month before Stone sent his letter to the FBI.

So was the FBI asking Stone for information about Spitzer? That's not clear. According to Stone's lawyer Robert Buschel, the FBI had sought to speak to Stone, but "did not specify why they wanted to interview Mr. Stone or the subject matter." Stone's lawyers, understandably, advised Stone against speaking to the FBI on such ambiguous terms. But he apparently did reply by letter with that unsolicited tip about Spitzer's activities.

In sum, it's unclear at this juncture whether the FBI's request had anything to do the Spitzer investigation. It's also unclear whether the FBI received Stone's letter or passed it on to the agents investigating Spitzer and the Emperor's Club. But given the facts reported about how the investigation developed, it's at least clear that Stone's tip came after the investigation was well under way.