Author Archives: J Christian Adams

Bumbling or Bundling Hypocrisy: “Senate Democrats Snag Campaign Cash From Lobbyist-Bundlers”

Well-heeled federal lobbyists are quietly helping embattled Democrats raise serious campaign cash ahead of November’s midterm elections, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of federal records.  During the 15-month period between January 2013 and March 2014, Democratic candidates and groups easily raised more money from lobbyist-bundlers than Republicans did—about $3.7 million versus $2.5 million.

No other political candidate or group received more money from lobbyist-bundlers than the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which raised nearly $2.6 million from them despite regularly criticizing lobbyists and Republicans who associate with them.
Link to the Daily Beast

Chairman Patrick Leahy orders Senate hearing on partisan written VRAA

Senator Leahy waits until the VRAA is dead in the House of Representatives and then orders a hearing on the VRAA in the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 25.  One year from the date, the Supreme Court found the coverage formula under Section 4 unconstitutional.  Why would the Democrats expect any bipartisan cooperation in playing partisan political games with voting and race issues.   

Link to press release.

GOP turns over evidence of voter fraud in Alabama primary



Was it the signs, the hotline, or the $1,000 reward that encouraged Alabama primary voters in both parties to say something if they saw something and report suspected voter fraud:


 


Bill Armistead, the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, said the GOP’s efforts to gather information on voter fraud paid off…


 


The allegations include: voters receiving primary ballots in the mail without request; voters asked to vote absentee but who were only given the Democratic option; a candidate helping voters fill out ballots; and a voter finding out, in person, that her ballot had already been cast as an absentee ballot.


Armistead said reports and complaints came from both Republicans and Democrats.


 


The Alabama Secretary of State’s office told FOX6 News they also received reports of suspected voter fraud.


Orlando Sentinel calls protection of Corrine Brown’s majority minority seat a “broken promise” to Florida citizens

The Orlando Sentinel takes a cheap shot at Florida Republicans by focusing their ire on their attempt to protect a majority minority seat protected by the Voting Rights Act.  If the Republicans have broken up the seat, the redistricting plan would have likely drawn an objection and expensive lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act and been condemned by the same Orlando Sentinel editorial board.  The Orlando Sentinel doesn’t want to explain the complexities of federal civil rights laws to it’s readers; they simply want to make boogeymen out of the Republican legislative leaders.    

We wanted to believe that leaders of the Florida Legislature would respect the will of state voters after they passed the Fair Districts amendments to the state constitution in 2010. Now, we have serious doubts.  Voters approved the two amendments to put an end to legislators’ long-standing practice of drawing irregular districts with partisan politics in mind to ensure “safe seats” for Democrats and Republicans. The point was to stop political mapmakers from carving up cities and counties, based on the voting habits of residents, to let politicians choose their voters, instead of the other way around.

But in the first round of redistricting that followed passage of the amendments, legislators in 2012 ended up approving maps that perpetuated gerrymandered districts, such as one for U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat, that snakes through eight counties. Brown’s district concentrates Democratic voters within its boundaries, keeping her seat safe, and making it easier to elect Republicans in the surrounding districts.

….Regardless, it’s clear that legislative leaders didn’t honor their promises to operate openly and aboveboard when redrawing the state’s political maps. Voters have good reason to feel cheated — and to be mad as hell.
If this nonsense is what the redistricting trial comes down to in Florida, the state court should throw out the case. The majority minority seat of African-American incumbent Corrine Brown was absolutely protected under different sections of the Voting Rights Act.  Unfortunately, the Orlando Sentinel shows their ignorance and partisan bias by repeating Democratic Party talking points. Florida Republicans did not insert politics into redistricting when protecting one of few minority districts in the state; they were simply following federal law.  

Evidence of voter fraud leads S. Texas judge to order new election in contested city race



Yes, voter fraud exists – as South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley continues to prove – and yes, it changes the outcome of elections:


 


A judge called for a new election in a heated Weslaco city commissioner race. In November 2013, Lupe Rivera won the election against Letty Lopez by 16 votes. Lopez quickly filed a lawsuit claiming at least 44 votes were illegally cast for Rivera.


 


The suit claimed nearly two dozen out-of-district voters registered to vote at in-district homes belonging to Rivera’s friends, neighbors or relatives. The suit also claimed that more than 20 mail-in ballots were illegally cast for Rivera…


 


During his review, the judge rejected Rivera’s “home is where the heart is” residency standard. Some of the disallowed ballots were cast by voters claiming Rivera’s childhood home as their address. It’s a two-bed, one-bath home. Others were disallowed because the voters listed on the ballot testified that they did not, in fact, cast those votes.


 


Defendant Rivera’s attorney, who just happens to be Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa, plans to appeal.


Left wing Professor of Economic Policy Robert Reich says “free” Mississippi Voter ID is not affordable

The Christian Science Monitor may want to ask columnists to do a bit more research.  And this was our Secretary of Labor?  He knows nothing of what he speaks.

First the headline states: Mississippi’s new voter-identification law suppresses those who cannot afford the cost of a photo ID,  writes Robert Reich.  
And the so-called expert in Economic Policy Robert Reich launches into the misleading and false narrative.  What about free is “unaffordable” to the poor and suppressing those unable to afford “free.”  What a load of idiocy.  
Mississippi used its new voter-identification law for the first time Tuesday — requiring voters to show a driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID at the polls.

The official reason given for the new law is alleged voter fraud, although the state hasn’t been able to provide any evidence that voter fraud is a problem.

The real reason for the law is to suppress the votes of the poor, especially African-Americans, some of whom won’t be able to afford the cost of a photo ID.

Robert Reich at the University of Iowa, Sep. 7, 2011.jpg