Ohio Democrats all play dumb about cash-for-votes scheme
Nobody knows nuttin’ about the blatant cash-for-votes scheme involving the Ohio University College Democrats and the Athens County Democratic Party in Athens, Ohio.
They are all playing dumb and/or pointing fingers at each other. If it walks like a voter fraud scheme and smells like a voter fraud scheme, well, you know. Via The Athens News:
Ohio’s top Democrat this morning chided Athens County Democratic Party Chair Susan Gwinn for allegedly running a campaign that promised $5 cash bonuses to Ohio University student Democrats for helping to get out the vote. Meanwhile, the county party’s treasurer said he knew nothing about the program and doesn’t approve of it.
In an unusually strongly worded statement, Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said, “The Ohio Democratic Party had no role in this stupid idea, and I urge Athens County Chairwoman Susan Gwinn to suspend the program immediately and not issue any payments that may have been planned. I call for a complete investigation and prosecution for any wrongdoing in this case.”
In the latter respect, Redfern appears on the same page as Athens County Republican Party Chair Pete Couladis, who issued a release Monday night asking the county Board of Elections and county prosecutor to investigate an alleged offer by the College Democrats to pay people to vote.
As the story developed overnight, however, it became apparent that the get-out-the-vote financial inducements were for getting others to vote, rather than paying people directly. The latter question is the apparent focus of an ongoing investigation Athens County Prosecutor C. David Warren, who earlier today said he’s looking into whether it’s illegal to pay canvassers to bring in other voters.
A representatives for the College Democrats said Monday that an e-mail cited as evidence has been misconstrued, and that nobody intended to offer anyone money to vote. In a follow-up news release late Monday night, Chris Mullen, communication director for the College Democrats, seemed to lay the blame for the get-out-the-vote cash bonuses on the county party.
“The GOTV (get-out-the-vote) program that has triggered the false reports was an effort by the Athens County Democratic Party to compensate volunteers financially for their time spent canvassing,” Mullen wrote. “This program was sponsored by the county Democratic Party, and was not originated by the College Democrats.”
He added that the OU College Democrats have not raised or spent any money to pay volunteers. “To date in this election cycle, no member of the group has received a dime for his or her canvassing work,” Mullen wrote. He said any questions about the program should be directed to Gwinn.
Gwinn could not be reached for comment Monday night or Tuesday morning. However, she told the Columbus Dispatch Tuesday that any plan to pay get-out-the-voter volunteers never went past the discussion stage. “The whole situation has been blown out of proportion,” she told the Dispatch. “I have no idea why (Galan) wrote that e-mail. There’s really nothing going on here.”
Tell it to Athens County law enforcement officials. They’re now investigating. At the state level, though, there’s not much hope. Democrat Gov. Ted Strickland is soft on corruption. And remember that last fall, Ohio was up to its eyeballs in voter fraud cases while ACORN-friendly Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner was found guilty of election law violations two times.
More here.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- The City Square
- The Baltimore Reporter
- The Baltimore Reporter
- Democrat corruption: It’s not just a Cuyahoga County thing « Buckeye RINO
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: ACORN Watch, Voter fraud
Doug Ross @ Journal
» Barney Frank on the Rule of Law
Doug Ross @ Journal
» Stupak: the Sanctity of Life is Important to Us, Which is Why We Will Slash Care for Old People and Further Enslave Children to Massive DeficitsLegal Insurrection
» David Frum Says We're To BlameStop The ACLU
» Dan Benishek: the alternative to Bart Sell-out Stupak
Um, they wouldn’t be ‘volunteers’ if they get financially compensated.
Oops, I forgot to consult my Merriam Webster New Liberal Dictionary.
Nevermind.
I’m shocked, shocked to find out that there’s corruption going on in the Democrat Party.
Even more shocked to find out that a Democrat politician in Ohio has a record of ignoring it.
I don’t think they’re playing…
From local politics to national, all politicians seem to think their constituents have the intellectual capacity of an old pair of shoes.
Scum, the lot of them.
According to this story:
http://www.ohiogop.org/press/articles/2009/11/chairman-dewine-calls-strickland-demand-resignation-athens-county-democratic-
….the Athens Democrat County Commissioner Susan Gwinn is already under indictment for money laundering and corruption….but the Governor is too busy to ask her to resign.
“playing stupid”? I’m in Ohio. They aren’t playing. Political stupidity is what we do.
Now we know the value of a vote for a democrat. About the same as a low-end foot-long ’sammich from subway.
Five… five dollar….five dollar voter fraud
we are a banana republic, where’s jimmah carter to poll watch? soon we will have chavez style votes. why is it that it is ALWAYS democrat groups committing these frauds? i guess another political core group of the democrat party are crooks, theives, and scoundrels.
Hey, if they can bury this, they can cheat another election. So it’s in the democrats favor to pretend nothing happened.
Scene from Planet of the Ohio Democratic commitee HQ:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRG6ahCs_t0
….the Athens Democrat County Commissioner Susan Gwinn is already under indictment for money laundering and corruption….but the Governor is too busy to ask her to resign.
Yup. Dems = innocent until guilty. Republicans…I digress.
What’s so BS about this is the fact that $5 would seem to, first, violate minimum wage laws and, second, would be in no way a sufficient incentive to lure college students to canvas. It’s either actual (freebie) volunteers or some on the real wage payroll.
Yet you couldn’t swing a cat a few years ago without hitting some sniveling Democrat going on about how the 2000 election was stolen, and new voting machines were needed.
Thousands of counties spent millions on new machines, and the sniveling continued or got worse.
Some 5 minute senator gets elected with growing voter fraud throughout the nation, and not a peep from the same group of whiners.
The left has ceded what little credibility they may have had and will have no credibility until stuff like this stops.
That includes serious investigation and prosecution of ACORN/SEIU, and flunkies like this county chairman.
Color me shocked. Not! Nothing spells fraud like paying college students to participate in GOTV efforts. Can we call this the “new volunteerism?”
Money talks, especially to those who need their dirty work done by college students.
It would be great if one of the “volunteers” sues for failure to honor the contract. Not sure on all the legality (Chap?), but it would be spectacular. Perhaps the Ohio Dems could be brought up on RICO charges for an organized criminal enterprise.
“To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell’s heart, I stab at thee; For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee” – Herman Melville
KKKKHHHHHAAAAANNNN!!!!
It is a Party tradition. But that man of Honor, Integrity and Perpetual Victim-hood Eric, the New Black Panhter Party thugs did Nothing Wrong, Holder will be all over this I am sure. Assuredly that man of Honor, Integrity and Perpetual Victim-hood Eric, the New Black Panhter Party thugs did Nothing Wrong, Holder is no coward.
But Ohio did give the nation Dennis Kucinich-alien abduction-implants? V does start tonight! Sadly the home of Robert Taft wanders. We in Arizona will send them John McCain to help
Move along. Nothing to see here.
Besides, even if they were paying college democrats to get out the vote, how is that different from ACORN affiliates being paid to do the same? Yes, they do promise to be non-partisan to get federal money. But everyone knows that their get-out-the-vote efforts are concentrated in highly democratic, inner city neighborhoods only. We’re speeding down the slippery slope…