| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"SarcasticInk.com" |
| Date: |
02 Sep 2006 04:47:13 PM |
| Object: |
No illegals here? - Phony GOP voter forms prompt state investigation |
Friday September 01, 2006, By ROBIN HINDERY, Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO (AP) The secretary of state's office said Friday that it
would investigate allegations that signature gatherers paid to sign up
voters for the California Republican Party submitted registration forms
containing fake names.
``If credible evidence of wrongdoing is found, we will work with local
law enforcement to vigorously prosecute to the fullest extent of the
law,'' Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said in a statement.
McPherson announced his investigation after the GOP said a routine
screening of registration forms yielded some ``questionable patterns.''
``Together with the vendor, we figured out some kind of fraud was being
perpetrated,'' said party spokesman Patrick Dorinson, referring to the
party's principal, Southern California-based voter-registration firm,
California Grassroots Mobilization.
The internal investigation found that several voter-registration
workers from an unidentified Southern California subcontractor had
created fake individuals in registration documents they submitted to
party headquarters two weeks ago.
The subcontractor has since been fired, Dorinson said.
He would not say exactly how many signature gatherers were implicated,
only that it was ``more than a couple and less than 15.''
The party submitted its findings to McPherson on Thursday.
The latest investigation comes six months after San Bernardino County
prosecutors in March announced an investigation into more than 3,000
apparently fraudulent voter registration cards submitted to the state
GOP.
In April, McPherson and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer
announced a related inquiry into allegations of voter registration
fraud in Riverside and Orange counties.
Riverside County officials said they received voter-registration cards
with problems that included missing driver-license or
state-identification numbers. In Orange and San Bernardino counties,
residents complained they were improperly registered as Republicans.
Some of the cards from Orange and San Bernardino counties were
collected by Tom Bader and Associates, an Orange County
petition-gathering firm whose contract with the GOP has since been
terminated, said Adam Aleman, executive director of the San Bernardino
County Republican Party.
The firm's president, Tom Bader, said he supported the inquiry.
``If anybody should be shown to commit a fraud, (the investigation) is
a good thing,'' he told The Associated Press.
The apparent fraud prompted the state GOP to suspend a so-called
``bounty'' program under which it had paid private contractors $3 for
each person they registered as a Republican, Aleman said.
The investigations in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties are
continuing, officials say.
State Democrats have their own bounty program in which volunteers
affiliated with party clubs or committees are paid $4 per registration
form.
Democratic Party officials say that unlike the Republicans, their party
has not been investigated for fraudulent forms, largely due to their
policy not to work with private contractors.
``If you're going to use private vendors, you're going to run into
these problems,'' said former state Sen. Art Torres, the California
Democratic Party chairman.
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| User: "AnAmericanCitizen" |
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| Title: Re: No illegals here? - Phony GOP voter forms prompt state investigation |
02 Sep 2006 11:21:01 PM |
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On 2 Sep 2006 14:47:13 -0700, "SarcasticInk.com" <brilliant@sarcasticink.com> wrote:
SACRAMENTO (AP) The secretary of state's office said Friday that it
would investigate allegations that signature gatherers paid to sign up
voters for the California Republican Party submitted registration forms
containing fake names.
``If credible evidence of wrongdoing is found, we will work with local
law enforcement to vigorously prosecute to the fullest extent of the
law,'' Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said in a statement.
While they're at it, I hope the look into and vigorously prosecute to the fullest
extent of the law any illegal immigrants that have signed up to vote for either
party. Is that too much to hope for you think? ...AAC
Fortunately for the American people, many members of Congress realize they are
representing 280 million Americans, not 28 million illegal aliens....AAC
.
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