South Texas politiquera pleads guilty to buying votes



One down, two to go in Hidalgo County, Texas voter fraud case:


 


A local politiquera pleaded guilty on Friday morning to having paid for votes in the 2012 Donna ISD school board election.


 


Rebecca Gonzalez went before U.S. District Judge Randy Crane and pleaded guilty to one count of election fraud, court records show… Gonzalez is one of three campaign workers or politiqueras the FBI arrested in December after an ongoing investigation into vote buying during the 2012 school board election in Donna.


 


Gonzalez, Guadalupe Escamilla and Diana Castañeda had all been accused of paying voters small amounts of cash, beer and cigarettes in exchange for their votes.


 


Meanwhile, in neighboring Cameron County, the District Attorney and Elections Administrator have allied with local grassroots group Citizens Against Voter Abuse to protect election integrity and discourage voter fraud.


“Obama’s Radical Nominee”

National Review: “Adegbile is a passionate advocate for racial quotas in hiring and university admissions, and also urges that employers not be permitted to do background checks on potential hires — presumably because more African Americans have criminal records than other applicants. He has encouraged the president to nominate judges who recognize that “ratified treaties” are the law of the land. Well, no argument there, but he goes further. Adegbile wants judges who will decree that “customary international law” is the law of the United States as well, asking for God only knows what mischief. Who would decide what “customary international law” is? By what authority would it be imposed on Americans? Investor’s Business Daily reports that Adegbile supports George Soros’s campaign to create a new “progressive” constitution. If that doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, you’re not paying attention. 

It was Adegbile’s role in the case of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal that incurred the wrath of Justice Department employees, though. The union representing FBI agents, which rarely expresses itself on nominations, along with the Fraternal Order of Police and other law-enforcement groups, have written to Attorney General Eric Holder to protest Adegbile’s nomination.”

“An end to fair elections”


Proposed new IRS regulations are “a lawless attack on political speech” that would “destroy fair elections.”


 


Betsy McCaughey via Human Events:


 


The Obama administration and New York’s senior senator, Democrat Chuck Schumer, are conspiring to muzzle their political opponents before fall’s midterm elections, and to literally outlaw free speech. They are rushing through a change in IRS regulations that would prevent tea party organizations and other not-for-profits, called 501(c)(4)s, from engaging in customary pre-election activities, such as get-out-the-vote drives, debates and forums, and distributing brochures that rate candidates. The regulation would even prohibit these groups from criticizing incumbent officeholders within 60 days of a general election.


 


This regulation would destroy fair elections. It would silence 501(c)(4)s, many of which support Republican causes, while imposing no restraints on labor unions, the shadow army of the Democratic Party, which are exempt.


 


This administration’s weaponization of government to “punish” its “enemies” has gone from covert IRS targeting of tea party groups and “off-plan” IRS rules drafting, to overt calls to regulate opposition into silence. “Schumer shows no shame over siccing the IRS on his political rivals.” 

In addition to a pen and a phone, “The president has vast regulatory machinery to make a sham of the 2014 elections and all this nation stands for.”  And he’s not afraid to use it.


The evidence clearly shows Texas voter ID dramatically improved minority turnout

Webb County has a population that is 95 percent Hispanic, and 30.6 percent of the residents are below the federal poverty level. Yet it experienced a huge jump in voter turnout amongst registered voters in 2013, after the new photo ID law was in effect: 2,223 people came out to vote in Webb County in 2009, and only 1,285 people voted in 2011. This number spiked to 10,600 voters last year—an increase of more than eight times the amount of voters from 2011.

Similarly, Fort Bend County—whose population is 24 percent Hispanic, 21.4 percent black, and 18.1 percent Asian —saw nearly 13,000 more voters show up at the polls for the 2013 election, nearly doubling turnout from 2011. Whites are only 36 percent of the population. Hidalgo County, which is 91 percent Hispanic and has 35 percent of its residents living below the poverty level, saw its voter turnout increase by four times in 2013: 16,000 people voted in last year’s election, compared to just 4,000 in 2011.  Cameron County, another overwhelmingly Hispanic county (35 percent poverty level), experienced a similar increase in voter turnout in 2013. 

More: “Self-Appointed DOJ ‘Voting Rights Gladiator’ Battles Kansas Secretary of State Kobach”

More at PJ Media on the Voting Rights Gladiator:

“Once upon a time, DOJ Voting Section lawyers didn’t take to personal internet accounts and reveal mental impressions about their cases.  ‘Tough questions’ reveals that the Voting Rights Gladiator found the battle with Secretary of State Kobach to be difficult.  Kobach landed blows.  Did Kobach have a scimitar and net?

Either way, the Voting Rights Gladiator tweeted out his impressions on a personal Twitter account that occurred on the government dime.


Mr. Kobach will certainly be paying attention to the Voting Rights Gladiator describing the blows.”



From the Nut Jar: Let middle school kids vote?



Political scientist and academic-turned-blogger Jonathan Bernstein offers these “sophisticated” ideas to increase voter participation:


 


“I’d push states to… reduce the number of things citizens must vote on (start with judges, and work from there). I’d get rid of nonpartisan elections and reduce or eliminate ballot measures. And I’d lower the voting age, hoping that getting high school or even middle school kids into the habit of voting would carry over into their adult years.”