NEW: Former GOP operative explains why Republicans will use foreclosure lists to block voters
Originally posted 2008-09-15 10:17:05 -0600 - a subject dear to many of us - standingup
Published this morning the next in what is becoming a series about the GOP's voter suppression tactics this election cycle:
Former GOP operative explains why Republicans will use foreclosure lists to block voters
By Eartha Jane Melzer, Michigan Messenger 15-SEP-08
Unfair but "probably" legal, using foreclosure lists provides cheap and effective strategy for McCain campaign
Last week we reported about Republican plans to use home foreclosure lists to block voters from the polls after James Carabelli, chair of the Macomb County Republican Party, told Michigan Messenger that on election day Republican volunteers will “have a list of foreclosed homes and make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses.”
Republican leaders have since disavowed plans to use foreclosure lists as part of their plan to challenge the eligibility of some voters, but an attorney for the party, Eric Doster, did confirm that the party would use returned mail to challenge voters based on residency. As veteran Republican activist Allen Raymond told Michigan Messenger in a recent interview, holding down Democratic turnout is a key part of Republican strategy for victory in November.
Raymond knows about Republican campaign tactics.[1] For almost a decade he managed campaigns for Republicans running for state and national office. In the 2002 New Hampshire elections, he ran a phone-jamming operation aimed at blocking elderly people from arranging rides to the polls, an illegal action that he says was approved by the highest levels of the party. He spent five months in federal prison. Earlier this year Raymond published a book about his life and work as a Republican operative, titled “Confessions of a Republican Operative: How to Rig an Election.”[2]
As for our report that the Michigan GOP planned to use foreclosure lists to block likely Democratic voters, Raymond said: “It's a very good tactic. It works.”
“It is actually a very smart thing to do," he went on, "particularly in this climate with so many foreclosures.”
The rest of the article can be found at this link.
Comments
luaptifer
September 15, 2008 - 19:05
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Allen Raymond in several hours of interview
Velvetrevolution.us interviewed Allen Raymond on the release of his newly published book "How to Rig an Election", in January, 2008.
Because he was recruited to the New Hampshire phone-jamming operation by DCI Group and related principals, I've made some study of those interviews and recommend that like-minded folks check them out, linked below including transcript summaries and the videos themselves.
This is how Raymond described DCI Group:
"So your party is the only party that can save the country from the mess that your party created?" - attrib. Jon Stewart
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"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." - Thomas Jefferson
carol white
September 15, 2008 - 20:21
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Does the Obama Campaign Have Any Remedy for This
I passed the first article on this onto the local Obama office and they sent it to up the chain to central head quarters. It should fuel the outrage of people who face foreclosure AND HAVING THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE CHALLENGED.
carol
rba
September 15, 2008 - 22:06
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Ohio
looks to be ahead of the curve on this one. Blurb and links here.