Brad Blog: GOP Candidate Sentenced for Felony Fraud After Changing Party Affiliation of 300 Democratic Voters
-By Brad Friedman
August 10, 2013- With these 300 fraudulent votes created by one Republican candidate alone, that's 300 more fraudulent votes than have ever been created by ACORN or anybody who has ever worked for them.
But, of course, you're unlikely to hear that, or even this story itself, from the tenacious Fox "News" "voter fraud special investigative unit" or the GOP clowns who help them disinform American voters.
From Nick Wing at Huffington Post…
In the midst of his 2012 GOP primary campaign for a Massachusetts state House seat, Jack Villamaino changed the party affiliation of nearly 300 people in his town of East Longmeadow. Days later, the same number of absentee ballot requests were dropped off at the town clerk’s office, a list that was almost a “name-for-name match” for those whose registration information Villamaino had altered.
The Examiner: Jailed: GOP candidate hit with jail time for voter fraud
-By Robert Sobel
August 9, 2013- A Republican candidate who ran for a Massachusetts state House seat in 2012 has been sentenced to a year in jail after he plead guilty to voter fraud.
During the 2012 election, Jack Villamaino ran in the Republican primary for a state House seat in Massachusetts. Villamaino resigned last year as the scandal broke during the Republican primary and was the East Longmeadow Board of Selectmen chairman. Villamaino plead guilty to felony charges of stealing nearly 300 ballots and changing their party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in an attempt to win the election. Only a few days later, the same number of absentee ballot requests found their way to the town clerk’s office and the list was a “name-for-name match” compared to the list that Villamaino had changed.
Young Progressive Voices: Audio Emerges Proving Secret Conservative Organization Behind Benghazi “Scandal”
-by Justin Acuff
August 3, 2013- Groundswell, the conservative behind-the-scenes organization that forms a coalition between prominent Republicans, right wing media, and conservative activists to wage a “30-front war against Obama and progressives” has been revealed to have played a role in the hype and false scandalization of the Benghazi “controversy.” A secret tape released by Crooks And Liars (audio below) has detailed the cooperation between House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ginni Thomas (the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas), former Rep. Allen West, as well as high-ranking members of Judicial Watch and Breitbart. The meeting was presided over by Catherine Engelbrecht, one of the founders of the voter suppression group, True The Vote.
Mother Jones: Democrats To Introduce Supreme Court Ethics Bill
—By Stephanie Mencimer
July 31, 2013- Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has been in the news recently after Mother Jones revealed her involvement in Groundswell, a secret effort by a group of conservatives to organize their fight against liberals, mainstream Republicans, and Karl Rove. Her political activity has once again raised questions about whether she is creating conflicts of interest for her husband, and whether he should be forced to recuse himself from cases that involve Ginni's work.
Crooks & Liars: Groundswell Group Stoked Scandals with Help From GOP Leaders
-By Karoli
July 30, 2013- When David Corn broke the Groundswell story last week, the general reaction among the politerati was a shrug and a giggle. Even influential NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen called it "no big deal."
But audio of a May Groundswell meeting obtained by C&L from a source who wishes to remain anonymous reveals Groundswellers met with top Congressional leaders to lobby for a select committee endowed with subpoena power to investigate the White House. Lobbying may be too mild a term, since they really are plotting with those same leaders to invent very real scandals with very real investigations in order to sink the country into a mire of inaction and sabotage the remaining years of President Obama's term.
Mother Jones: Is Ginni Thomas’ Expanding Activism a Problem for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas?
—By Stephanie Mencimer
July 26, 2013- Virginia "Ginni" Thomas is no ordinary Supreme Court spouse. Unlike Maureen Scalia, mother of nine, or the late Martin Ginsburg, mild-mannered tax law professor who was good in the kitchen, Thomas came from the world of bare-knuckled partisan politics. Over the years, she has enmeshed herself ever more deeply in the world of political advocacy—all the while creating a heap of conflict of interest concerns surrounding her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Her role in Groundswell, the coalition of conservatives waging a "30 front war" against progressives and the GOP establishment that was revealed by Mother Jones on Thursday, revives questions about the propriety of Thomas' activism on issues that have or could become the subject of Supreme Court cases.
Mother Jones: Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a “30 Front War”
-By David Corn
July 25, 2013- Believing they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington—including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner—has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation," according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.
Detroit Free Press: Michigan government spent $556K to lobby itself
-By Kathleen Galligan
January 16, 2013- Lobbying is normal in the course of public business, but when the government lobbies itself, the practice can involve taxpayer resources used to pursue a political agenda.
Like expanding a state-run district that manages underachieving schools.
Restructuring a major health care insurer.
Or enacting right to work.
A Lansing State Journal analysis showed $556,000 in taxpayer money was used by state government agencies to lobby the Michigan Legislature in 2012.
State officials from various departments said the money equates to staff time spent advancing the interests of those agencies and, more broadly, the policy agenda of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.
“There’s nothing insidious here. There’s no wining and dining of lawmakers,” Snyder spokesman Kurt Weiss said. “It’s listening to hearings at the Capitol, talking with lawmakers. Every administration has a staff that does that.”