So I originally posted this at the most redundant of times, but I do see interest in the King Street Patriots on the front page. As I am familiar with these yahoos, and the Texas Republicans who back them, I am going to repost my only diary here at Dkos.
In fact, this was originally the only reason I signed up here. So enjoy!
Fraudulent Voting Re-emerges as a Partisan Issue
By IAN URBINA, NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Mr. George explained that during a meeting, the King Street Patriots had shown a picture of the Houston Votes office and stated its address before adding that this was the new location of the Black Panthers.
Hiram Sasser, a lawyer for the Liberty Institute who represents the King Street Patriots, denied the claim but when presented a video of the incident, he said that his client had actually made a mistake and did not realize the office was tied to Houston Votes.
Leo Vasquez, the Republican tax assessor-collector and voter registrar in Harris County, Tex., which includes Houston, said that of about 25,640 registration applications submitted by Houston Votes, about 5,500 had problems.
Why did I chose those paragraphs out of all of the dribble Ian decided to muddy the water with?
Because Leo Vasquez is well known for voter fraud, and much worse. Let's deal with him before we dispatch the King Street Patriots for what they are, an arm of the Republican Party, funded with corporate money, quite illegal in the state of Texas.
I have often wondered if the New York Times even has a research department anymore, or if people like Ian Urbina even care about basic facts and objective journalism. See, just last year, Leo Vasquez was nailed for massive voter fraud and suppression.
And here he is being used as a source that the Democrats are engaged in the very same tactic. As I said, Republicans always lead with their chin, their greatest weakness on the issue at hand.
Associate registrar moonlights by selling voter data
By TERRI LANGFORD and MATT STILES, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
June 10, 2009, 11:10PM
http://www.chron.com/...
A high-ranking employee in Harris County’s voter registration office also moonlights for a company that sold nearly $60,000 worth of information on those voters to Republican candidates during the last election cycle, records show, angering Democratic activists.
Leo Vasquez, Harris County tax assessor-collector and voter registrar, issued a statement that dismissed complaints that Johnson’s job, which can include approving or rejecting voter applications, conflicts with his side business.
Last year, the Texas Democratic Party charged in a lawsuit that the Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office is rejecting voter applications at a much higher rate than any other Texas county elections office.
"Harris County had 70,000 voter registration applications rejected," said Texas Democratic Party attorney Chad Dunn. "That’s exponentially higher than anywhere else in the state."
Dunn said Dallas County rejected 1,800 for the same period, January 2006 through October 2008.
For those with ADD, here is the same scandal in YouTube format:
So not only was Vasquez involved in selling the private information of voters in Harris County to Republican candidates, he was also overseeing the whole scale suppression of votes that lead to legal action. Vasquez cost Harris County quite a bit of money in legal fees when it was proven he was involved in voter suppression.
Official proof:
http://www.scribd.com/...
This forced Vasquez to reassign Ed Johnson.
http://www.txdemocrats.org/...
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie issued the following statement regarding reports that Republican Tax Assessor-Collector Leo Vasquez has reassigned his controversial Associate Voter Registrar Ed Johnson to work in a communications role:
"Harris County Tax Assessor Leo Vasquez cannot reorganize his way out of the numerous scandals that corrupted his voter registration office with improper partisan politics.
"Reassigning Ed Johnson does not clear him from his scandalous role as a moonlighting partisan consultant who was in a position to use his public office to help Republican clients who were on the ballot in 2008.
"The Texas Democratic Party will continue our efforts to get to the bottom of a voter registration scandal that saw almost 70,000 voter registration applications rejected in Harris County in 2008, compared to only 1,800 in Dallas County.
"Ed Johnson may be reassigned to work in communications, but he can’t talk his way out of denying thousands of Harris County citizens the right to register and vote."
Great source there Ian.
Let's continue.
One has to wonder, why wasn't this a bigger deal? Here was have the Republican suppressing votes in a well-documented scandal, why didn't go anywhere?
Two answers: 1) It's Texas. 2) Ed Johnson retained "celebrity" trial attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes and Leo Vasquez hired Tom DeLay’s legal counsel, Andy Taylor.
More:
Vasquez & Bohac Dodge Subpoenas, Withhold Documents
http://www.lonestarproject.net/...
Rather than demonstrate integrity or good faith to determine the extent of the election scandal, Vasquez, Bohac and their "inside man" Ed Johnson, have filed formal motions to withhold critical documents from federal court and to dodge a subpoena calling for Bohac and Johnson to testify under oath.
The determination of the Republican officials to avoid speaking under oath is underscored by their decision to hire infamous legal counsel to represent them. Dwayne Bohac has hired Tom DeLay’s legal counsel, Andy Taylor, to represent him while Ed Johnson has retained "celebrity" trial attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes. In addition, Leo Vasquez has demanded that Andy Taylor represent him as well, which would cost Harris County taxpayers thousands of dollars in additional legal fees. This "lawyering up" to avoid speaking under oath is the best indication so far that Vasquez, Bohac and Johnson may have engaged in illegal activity.
What are Vasquez and Bohac hiding?
Bohac and Vasquez
Vasquez and Bohac have both been offered chances to produce documents that show their actions are legal. As part of a federal lawsuit, the Texas Democratic Party has requested access to the 70,000 rejected voter registration applications processed by Leo Vasquez’s office. Vasquez has refused access to these records and asked for more than $1,000,000 to view the files. The Lone Star Project sent an open records request to Bohac. Bohac has refused to produce any records and asked the Texas Attorney General to shield him from providing any of the correspondence from Bohac or his campaign consulting business to Leo Vasquez’s office.
This is not some ancient scandal like a 30-year old aquabuddha, this happened just last year. I know for the most part the mainstream media is incompetent at best, but the New York Times?
I guess the Old Grey Lady just ain't what she use to be. Recent coverage of the wikileaks issue just proves that point, not to mention the war propaganda leading up to the Iraq conflict.
Now, instead of selling voters' information, Vasquez has taken it up a notch and provided the private information of Texas citizens to be reviewed by a non-government group.
The King Street Patriots.
You read that right. Texas citizens' birth dates, address and social security number is being reviewed by people who have no right to that private information.
This is actually a federal violation of every Texan in Harris County's civil rights.
Don't believe me?
Exposing Vasquez and King Street
http://doscentavos.net/...
Anthony Gutierrez, spokesperson for the Texas Democratic Party, has released this statement regarding Leo Vasquez and his work with the right-wing anti-voter group, King Street Patriots.
"Not only have they completely destroyed whatever credibility they had, but all Harris County residents should be deeply disturbed by how closely Republican Voter Registrar Leo Vasquez is working with this Republican group. They apparently are being given access to voter registration applications [1] [2] which contain personal, private information and which the Voter Registrar’s Office refused to turn over to the Democratic Party in the course of our lawsuit arguing that the personal nature of the information on the cards needed to be protected, an argument they even made in federal court."
But hold on you say, John, I have patience, but this is from the Democratic Party, who says they aren't just making it up?
Let's here it from the horse's mouth, though I believe this is coming from a less desirable body part:
Volunteers Expose Voter Fraud in Harris County, Tens of Thousands of Registrations Questioned by King Street Patriots
By Texas GOP Vote
http://texasgopvote.com/...
Today, the King Street Patriots, a group of citizen-volunteers in Harris County, Texas, announced their discovery of thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of incomplete, inaccurate or false voter registrations. The group, represented by Liberty Institute, uncovered hundreds of properties, including vacant lots and nonexistent addresses, where six or more people claim to live.
"It's apparent that King Street Patriots discovered voter fraud in Harris County, though we don't know just how extensive it is," said Kelly Shackelford, president/CEO for Liberty Institute and a constitutional scholar. "King Street Patriots is double-checking all registrations leading up to the election, and will be releasing information each week on what they've uncovered. There are those who are trying to intimidate King Street Patriots by attempting to vandalize their office and vehicles and monitoring the location of their offices and work. It is unfortunate that our clients are now the focus of intimidation tactics. No one should be intimidated or punished for being a good citizen."
King Street Patriots released statements today following Harris County's news conference announcing their discovery of what they called "Voter Fraud." The group, which works to ensure fair and free elections, found evidence suggesting deputy voter registrars completed registration forms incorrectly, even registering some people without their permission who have not signed up to vote in the past ten years.
Two quick notes: Kelly Shackelford and the Liberty Institute represented the "ACORN prostitute" Hannah Giles (Source: http://www.libertyinstitute.org/... ) and John Cornyn blogs on this site which claims that a Republican-back group has been given access to citizens' private voting data, a civil rights violation. (Source: http://texasgopvote.com/... )
So here we have it, a very textbook case of Republicans leading with their weakness about voter fraud. They are the ones engaged in denying citizens their right to vote, and to cover that fact they are howling that the Democrats are the ones doing it.
Not only are they suppressing the vote, Republicans are giving every citizens' private information to one of their partisan groups who have no right to access the information.
Their chin is firmly out, now is the time for Democrats to hit back.
Especially when such media outlets as the New York Times produce such poorly-sourced hit pieces that can be countered with 15 minutes of Googling.