Koch-Backed Group Accused Of Voter Suppression In Wisconsin Recall Elections

Koch-Backed Group Accused Of Voter Suppression In Wisconsin Recall Elections

Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch, has been accused of attempting to suppress Democratic voter turnout in the Wisconsin Senate recall elections.

Patch.com reported that Charles Shultz, a Democrat who lives in the 10th Senate District, received an absentee ballot application form last week from AFP that contained incorrect information on it. The form instructed him to mail it back to the wrong location by Aug. 11 -- two days after the recall election in his district between Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R) and Shelly Moore (D) is set to take place, on Aug. 9.

www.vxec.com...

He wasn't the only one to get the Flyer..The Koch PAC AFP, who has admitted to sending the flyers, won't say how many they sent out, but reports are rolling in.

PDF of the Flyer here. It has the wrong return date Aug. 11th (the election is Aug. 9th) and instructs them to send the Ballot to the wrong address.

www.politico.com...

The Flyer was distributed to elderly Democrats in the relevant districts.


North Hudson Man Files Voter Suppression Complaint Against Americans For Prosperity
hudson-wi.patch.com...

AFP Wisconsin ballots have late return date
www.politico.com...

Americans For Prosperity Accused Of Voter Suppression In Wisconsin Recall Elections
www.huffingtonpost.com...

Apparently this is not the first time Americans For Prosperity has tried it's hand at voter suppression in Wisconsin..
www.onewisconsinnow.org...

Whatever side of the political aisle you lean toward, I hope we can all agree that stealing elections is not OK.

The Koch brothers must be feeling very secure to engage in such blatant illegal activities. The AFP President of WI essentially dismissed the wrong date and mailing address as a "Typo" and refused to answer any other questions as to why it was sent to Democrats and how many were distributed or to whom.

Of course they are. It's what they do. They already own the governor of the state...and much of the legislation that has passed there came through ALEC.

They are trying to make it more difficult for people to vote...that's all there is to it.

And before some idiot tries to state that not everyone should have that right...THAT'S BULL#.

If you are homeless, poor, are a multibillionaire....you have every right to your vote and the bare minimum should be needed to cast it.

Whether you like it or not, or hate what someone believes in, they have every right to cast their vote.

It's not voter fraud we need to worry about....it's ELECTION FRAUD.

reply to post by David9176


Yes. I am just taken aback by how blatant it is and how the Americans For Prosperity President doesn't feel the need to comment or explain the Flyers.

If the Koch Brothers and Americans For Prosperity can do this without a peep of complaint from authorities, what does that foreshadow for next years national elections?

Have we abdicated our democracy entirely to corporations now?

According to Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board, individual county district attorney's offices are responsible to enforce any laws that relate to state voting. There are (my count) 72 counties in Wisconsin - although less than this total are included in the Senate Districts (2,8,10,12,14,18,22,32) which are in the process of the upcoming recall elections and regular elections. IMHO, this represents a significant financial hurdle (cost of investigation, lawyers, etc.) for all above affected jurisdictions to consider whether to investigate alleged voting fraud. i.e. I'd be surprised if this goes anywhere.

reply to post by surfin4it


Depressing. In short during hard times it seems cheaper for WI to let the Koch Brothers buy the government.

Originally posted by Indigo5
reply to post by surfin4it

 

Depressing. In short during hard times it seems cheaper for WI to let the Koch Brothers buy the government.

So, it sounds like you're afraid the "Koch Brothers" might have more money to buy this and other elections than the unions do?

It's still fraud no matter who does it.

reply to post by centurion1211

So, it sounds like you're afraid the "Koch Brothers" might have more money to buy this and other elections than the unions do?

Unions have never been weaker. Union membership is at an all time low for the last 30 years. You are beating down something that is barely alive. Unions are on death row in this country.

Look at the decline of unions and the middle class, they go hand in hand. Yes, unions can be corrupt and are succeptable to the power that money brings....but they are no match for the corporations that control our country. They have been under constant attack...even when at their weakest.

Originally posted by David9176
reply to post by centurion1211

 

So, it sounds like you're afraid the "Koch Brothers" might have more money to buy this and other elections than the unions do?

Unions have never been weaker. Union membership is at an all time low for the last 30 years. You are beating down something that is barely alive. Unions are on death row in this country.

Look at the decline of unions and the middle class, they go hand in hand. Yes, unions can be corrupt and are succeptable to the power that money brings....but they are no match for the corporations that control our country. They have been under constant attack...even when at their weakest.

Unions poor?

Hasn't stopped the unions from pouring money first into the legislative fight, and now into the recall elections in Wisconsin.

Of course the union's reason for doing so is obvious.

Forcing all workers to join and pay dues to get and keep their jobs is the union's lifeblood.

Originally posted by centurion1211

Originally posted by Indigo5
reply to post by surfin4it

 

Depressing. In short during hard times it seems cheaper for WI to let the Koch Brothers buy the government.

So, it sounds like you're afraid the "Koch Brothers" might have more money to buy this and other elections than the unions do?

It's still fraud no matter who does it.

Whether the Unions "buy" elections is not relevant and makes the clearly illegal Voter Suppression by the Koch Brothers no less illegal.

It is a child who responds with "So and so does the same thing!" when they are caught by their parents acting immorally.

Adults deal with the issue at hand and assign responsibility where it belongs.

If you would like to debate unions, start a thread about unions.

This thread is about the crimes of the Koch Brothers and now with the addition of your infantile post attempting to deflect the issue, we can include the topic of Conservatives who excuse their crimes as a tangent to the discussion.

reply to post by Indigo5


sad to see things like this can happen and there's not a peep about it in the MSM...

reply to post by Indigo5


Sorry, but the only thing "infantile" in this thread was your last post.

Leaving the unions out of the issue in Wisconsin would be like leaving the democrats out of a discussion on the efforts raise the debt ceiling.

It would be totally one-sided, and just like your last post, would not deny ignorance.

um oh now where did i hear that the koch brothers employ over 50 thousand union people?

hrmm oh and all not at the taxpyer expense unlike oh whats that state now? oh yeah wisconsin.

seems to me that if unions have millions they get to throw at whatever poltician they want(democrats) seems to me they arent poor and they are charging too much in dues oh agian all at the taxpayers expense.

gotta love that "socialistic" goodwill.

reply to post by David9176

Unions have never been weaker. Union membership is at an all time low for the last 30 years. You are beating down something that is barely alive. Unions are on death row in this country.

And that is very apparent from their desperate attempts to spread lies to try to slander their opponents. But that is the history of labor unions not only in the US, but globally. They have always used violence of one means or another to get their way.

You know I'm sure the US Attorney General will be all over this case of voter suppression. I really am. I am sure of this because DOJ REFUSED to prosecute the New Black Panther party for voter intimidation after armed NBP members showed up at a polling place in '08. Eric Holder has proven himself to be the most ineffective and seditious member of Obama's cabinet. I am nearly100% positive he will be personally involved in this, and I only say nearly because there is an off chance he might be to busy trying to cover his ass from "Fast and Furious".

reply to post by Indigo5


And the dirty tricks continue. Here's another interesting story. Article dealing with "How To Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative" by Allen Raymond.

You know, Richard Nixon ended up with Watergate, because he wanted the dirt on alleged kickbacks Florida convention vendors had given to the Democratic Party. Vendor kickbacks...sounds quaint in today's cesspool of corruption.

reply to post by jefwane


So, if I understand what you said... this could escalate into a Federal offense?

That's unlikely.

The lawyers who are District Attorneys, and federal prosecutors are elected... or am I wrong?

They are biased and subservient to the sources of the money that elected them. Am I stupid, or is this a corrupt system?

The United States of America is a hotbed of crime within its governments - and a warning to the rest of the world of how shrill democracy is actually totalanarialism.

reply to post by Indigo5


Hopefully, they will be charged, and more people will learn how corrupt our system can be. Bump.

S&F& :up

Originally posted by jefwane
You know I'm sure the US Attorney General will be all over this case of voter suppression. I really am. I am sure of this because DOJ REFUSED to prosecute the New Black Panther party for voter intimidation after armed NBP members showed up at a polling place in '08. Eric Holder has proven himself to be the most ineffective and seditious member of Obama's cabinet.

It was the Bush administration that dropped the charges. Facts are inconvenient to idealogical passions.

It's what Republicans do

Once there is no Socialisms or unions to hate who are you going to blame???

Oh ya, the people making minimum wage...

But then, who you gonna blame?