Oh Come On, here...."Center for American Progress"and Hillary Supporters do Voter Suppression?

[KoKo]

What kind of people are these people that they would do it to their Grassroots Activists?

When I think of the money I've given to Progressive Sites...that I'm gonna need..it makes me crazy.

WHY?

[Sadie5]

1. HMmm!

Are you speaking of those bus loads of young people the BO campaign bussed in to vote in Indiana who actually lived in Illinois? I hope someone stops this practice.

[KoKo]

2. Dirty Tricks...by Dems...Dirty Tricks by Repugs...Amazing...so little response.

but then now that we know what we know...what else is there to say? It could make one :crazy: ...but then isn't that the point.... (Irony Alert)...for what I said.

[izzybeans]

3. So he bussed them in huh?

Uh huh?

WTF are you thinking?

[KoKo]

4. North Carolina AG Opens Investigation of Robo Calls

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/nonprofit_womens_voices_women.php

North Carolina AG Opens Investigation of Robo Calls
By 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.

[brentspeak]

5. Hey, genius...how come the words "Center for American Progress" aren't in that linked article???

[KoKo]

6. John Podesta, (Founder of Center for American Progress) from article...

FACING SOUTH EXCLUSIVE: D.C. nonprofit aimed at women voters behind
deceptive N.C. robo-calls
<http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/04/facing-south-exclusive-dc-nonprofit.asp>

Some have also questioned the ties between Women's Voices operatives and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton. Gardner, for example, contributed $2,500 to Clinton's HILLPAC on May 4, 2006, and in March 2005 she donated a total of $4,200 to Clinton, according to The Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org. She has not contributed to the Obama campaign, according to the database.

Women's Voices Executive Director Joe Goode worked for Bill Clinton's election campaign in 1992 as a pollster; the group's website says he was intimately involved in "development and implementation of all polling and focus groups done for the presidential primary and general election campaigns" for Clinton.

Women's Voices board member John Podesta, former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, donated $2,300 to Hillary Clinton on April 19, 2007, according to OpenSecrets.org. Podesta also donated $1,000 to Barack Obama in July 2004, but that was well before Obama announced his candidacy for president.

"The reports from other states are very disturbing, especially the pattern of mass confusion among targeted voters on the eve of a state's primary," Democracy North Carolina's Bob Hall tells Facing South. "These are highly skilled political operatives -- something doesn't add up. Maybe it's all well-intended and explainable. At this moment, our first priority is to stop the robo-calls and prevent the chaos and potential disenfranchisement caused by this group sending 276,000 packets of registration forms into North Carolina a few days before a heated primary election. We need their immediate cooperation."

While Hall says his group has "begged" the group to stop the mailings, Women's Voices has refused to do so -- even though the mail-in voter registration deadline for the primaries passed April 11.

State election officials say they are bracing for the deluge of confused phone calls and complaints that are sure to follow.

[KoKo]

7. From Daily Kos ....letter to John Podesta from fellow Alumnus ....

This is outrageous. I have long been a fan of John Podesta, since he went to my tiny, relatively unknown but completely awesome alma mater (Knox College). Here's the letter I'm sending him today:

April 30, 2008

Dear John:

I read today, with immeasurable shock and disappointment, that Women’s Voices, Women Vote, an organization on whose board you sit, has been involved in suspicious attempts to mislead and disenfranchise black voters in several states over the past several months, most recently this week in North Carolina. (Details can be found here: http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/04/facing-south-exclusive-dc-nonprofit.asp)

As a fellow Knox alum, I expected better from you. I have told countless people with great pride that John Podesta went to MY college. Remember when you took over Old Main? Do you remember the 1970 version of yourself? What were you fighting for then? Fairness? Equality? Everyone’s right to have their voices heard? Does the 2008 version of you still stand for these things?

In case you are unaware of the situation, WVWV has robo-called black North Carolina voters (using the name “Lamont Williams”) with the message that they need to return a voter registration packet, despite the fact that North Carolina does not register voters by mail, the voter registration deadline in North Carolina is April 11, and many of these voters are already registered (but the calls make them think they are not).

It is a Class I felony in North Carolina "to misrepresent the law to the public through mass mailing or any other means of communication where the intent and the effect is to intimidate or discourage potential voters from exercising their lawful right to vote."

I hope against all hope that you did not have prior knowledge of these incidents, and that these voter disenfranchisement efforts have not, as some have suggested, been coordinated by the Clinton campaign. I urge you to break all ties with this group and publicly renounce their tactics.

Regretfully,

Stefanie
Knox College Class of
Posted by stefanielaine
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