FACING SOUTH EXCLUSIVE: D.C. nonprofit aimed at women voters behind deceptive N.C. robo-calls
By Chris Kromm
Facing South
Who's behind the mysterious "robo-calls" that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?
Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women's Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among "unmarried women voters."
What's more, Facing South has learned that the firestorm Women's Voices has ignited in North Carolina isn't the group's first brush with controversy. Women's Voices' questionable tactics have spawned thousands of voter complaints in at least 11 states and brought harsh condemnation from some election officials for their secrecy, misleading nature and likely violations of election law.
First, a quick recap: As we covered yesterday, N.C. residents have reported receiving peculiar automated calls from someone claiming to be "Lamont Williams." The caller says that a "voter registration packet" is coming in the mail, and the recipient can sign it and mail it back to be registered to vote. No other information is provided.
The call is deceptive because the deadline has already passed for mail-in registrations for North Carolina's May 6 primary. Also, many who have received the calls -- like Kevin Farmer in Durham, who made a tape of the call that is available here -- are already registered. The call's suggestion that they're not registered has caused widespread confusion and drawn hundreds of complaints, including many from African-American voters who received the calls.
The calls are also probably illegal. Farmer and others have told Facing South the calls use a blocked phone number and provided no contact information -- a violation of North Carolina rules regulating "robo-calls" (N.C. General Statute 163-104(b)(1)c). N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper further stated in a recent memo that the identifying information must be clear enough to allow the recipient to "complain or seek redress" -- something not included in the calls.
It is also 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."
The calls have been denounced by the N.C. State Board of Elections, as well as by voter advocacy groups including Democracy North Carolina, which called them "another in a long line of deceptive practices used in North Carolina and elsewhere that particularly target African-American voters."
Yesterday, I placed a call to the Virginia State Police, which had investigated similar suspicious robo-calls before that Virginia's primaries last February. Their investigation concluded that the source of the calls was Women's Voices Women Vote.
Facing South then contacted Women's Voices, and staffer Sarah Johnson confirmed they were doing similar robo-calls in North Carolina; they later admitted that they were the ones behind the deceptive "Lamont Williams" calls.
So who is Women's Voices Women Vote, and why are they making shadowy and legally-questionable calls that are causing North Carolina voters so many headaches?
The D.C.-based nonprofit, led by well-connected Washington operatives, claims in a press release they sent to Facing South [PDF] that the North Carolina calls are part of a 24-state effort targeted at a list of 3 million voters, especially unmarried women. The robo-calls, which never mention Women's Voices, are followed by mailings that include information on how to register to vote. They plan to mail some 276,000 packets in North Carolina alone.
But since last November, in at least 11 states nationwide, Women's Voices -- sometimes working through its Voter Participation Center project -- has developed a checkered reputation, drawing rebukes from leading election officials and complaints from thousands of would-be voters as a result of their secretive tactics, deceptive mailings and calls, and penchant for skirting or violating the law. For example:
* In Arizona last November, election officials were "inundated with complaints" after Women's Voices sent a mailing erroneously claiming that recipients were "required" to mail back an enclosed voter registration form. Many who received the mailing were already registered; the mailing also gave the wrong registration date. Secretary of State Jan Brewer denounced the group's tactics as "misleading and deceptive." A similar mailing in Colorado that month "[drew] fire and caused confusion," according to a state press release.
* In Wisconsin, state officials singled out Women's Voices for misleading and possibly disenfranchising voters, stating in a press release [PDF]: "One group in particular -- Women's Voices. Women Vote, of Washington, D.C. -- apparently ignored or disregarded state deadlines in seeking to register voters," sending in registrations past the January 30 deadline and causing "hundreds of Wisconsin voters who think they registered in advance" to actually not be.
* Michigan officials ended up "fielding tons of calls from confused voters" after Women's Voices did a February mailing to "380,000 unmarried women" -- including numerous deceased voters and even more that were already registered. Sarah Johnson of Women's Voices "seemed confused by the confusion," the Lansing State Journal reported.
* A 1.5 million-piece Women's Voices mailing in Florida falsely stated: "To comply with state voting requirements, please return the enclosed application." Pasco County's elections supervisor called it "disingenuous"; another said it created "a lot of unnecessary panic on behalf of the voters," reported local newspapers. Sarah Johnson of Women's Voice said, "I'm sorry to hear that."
* By March, Women's Voices was backing off the erroneous "registration is required" language, but there were still problems. For example, a mailing in Arkansas allowed that "registering to vote is voluntary," but a clerk in Washington County reported that "the majority [of forms] sent back to the county come from registered voters, causing needless labor for office employees."
Problems with the group's tactics have also been documented in Louisiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
In each state, the Women's Voices campaigns have brought the same news and the same themes, again and again: Deceptive claims and misrepresentations of the law -- sometimes even breaking the law. Wildly inaccurate mailing lists, supposedly aimed at "unregistered single women," but in reality reaching many registered voters as well as families, deceased persons and pets. Tactics that confuse voters and potentially disenfranchise them.
For such a sophisticated and well-funded operation, which counts among its ranks some of the country's most seasoned political operatives, such missteps are peculiar, as is the surprise expressed by Women's Voices staff after each controversy.
In at least two states, the timing of Women's Voices' activities have raised alarm that they are attempting to influence the outcome of a primary. As we reported earlier, in Virginia, news reports surfaced the first week in February that prospective voters were receiving anonymous robo-calls telling voters that they were about to receive a voter registration packet in the mail.
The timing of the calls was astoundingly off: As the Virginia State Police confirm, the calls were made Feb. 5 and 6 -- about 10 days before the then-critical Virginia primary, but more than two weeks after the deadline for registering in the state had passed (Jan. 14). The Virginia State Board of Elections was deluged with calls by confused voters -- many who were already registered. When they heard the calls from Women's Voices, they feared that they really weren't.
Because of the horrible timing and their secretive nature, state officials assumed the calls and mailings were part of an identity theft scheme. When the Virginia State Police investigated, they found Women's Voices was behind them. Women's Voices was unapologetic after the controversy, merely issuing a boilerplate press release trumpeting the success of the program.
Now Women's Voices is plunging North Carolina into the same confusion. State officials tell Facing South they are still receiving calls from frustrated and confused voters, wondering why "Lamont Williams" is offering to send them a "voter registration packet" after the deadline for mail-in registration for the primaries has passed.
In correspondence with North Carolina election officials, Women's Voices founder and President Page Gardner merely said that the disruptive timing was an "unfortunate coincidence" -- a strange alibi for a group with their level of resources and sophistication.
There are other questions about Women's Voices' outreach efforts. Although the group purports to be targeting "unmarried women," their calls and mailings don't fit the profile. Kevin Farmer in Durham, who first recorded the call, is a white male. Many of the recipients are African-American; Rev. Nelson Johnson, who is a married, male and African-American, reported that his house was called four times by the mysterious "Lamont Williams."
And as Farmer asks, "Why are they using a guy for the calls if the target audience is single women?"
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.
[UPDATE: Bob Hall tells us that Women's Voices is now cooperating and trying to stop the North Carolina mailing. The mailing has apparently left the mail house but there’s still a chance it can be stopped before it gets into the mail system.]
Reporting and research assistance by Sue Sturgis
Facing South
Who's behind the mysterious "robo-calls" that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?
Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women's Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among "unmarried women voters."
What's more, Facing South has learned that the firestorm Women's Voices has ignited in North Carolina isn't the group's first brush with controversy. Women's Voices' questionable tactics have spawned thousands of voter complaints in at least 11 states and brought harsh condemnation from some election officials for their secrecy, misleading nature and likely violations of election law.
First, a quick recap: As we covered yesterday, N.C. residents have reported receiving peculiar automated calls from someone claiming to be "Lamont Williams." The caller says that a "voter registration packet" is coming in the mail, and the recipient can sign it and mail it back to be registered to vote. No other information is provided.
The call is deceptive because the deadline has already passed for mail-in registrations for North Carolina's May 6 primary. Also, many who have received the calls -- like Kevin Farmer in Durham, who made a tape of the call that is available here -- are already registered. The call's suggestion that they're not registered has caused widespread confusion and drawn hundreds of complaints, including many from African-American voters who received the calls.
The calls are also probably illegal. Farmer and others have told Facing South the calls use a blocked phone number and provided no contact information -- a violation of North Carolina rules regulating "robo-calls" (N.C. General Statute 163-104(b)(1)c). N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper further stated in a recent memo that the identifying information must be clear enough to allow the recipient to "complain or seek redress" -- something not included in the calls.
It is also 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."
The calls have been denounced by the N.C. State Board of Elections, as well as by voter advocacy groups including Democracy North Carolina, which called them "another in a long line of deceptive practices used in North Carolina and elsewhere that particularly target African-American voters."
Yesterday, I placed a call to the Virginia State Police, which had investigated similar suspicious robo-calls before that Virginia's primaries last February. Their investigation concluded that the source of the calls was Women's Voices Women Vote.
Facing South then contacted Women's Voices, and staffer Sarah Johnson confirmed they were doing similar robo-calls in North Carolina; they later admitted that they were the ones behind the deceptive "Lamont Williams" calls.
So who is Women's Voices Women Vote, and why are they making shadowy and legally-questionable calls that are causing North Carolina voters so many headaches?
The D.C.-based nonprofit, led by well-connected Washington operatives, claims in a press release they sent to Facing South [PDF] that the North Carolina calls are part of a 24-state effort targeted at a list of 3 million voters, especially unmarried women. The robo-calls, which never mention Women's Voices, are followed by mailings that include information on how to register to vote. They plan to mail some 276,000 packets in North Carolina alone.
But since last November, in at least 11 states nationwide, Women's Voices -- sometimes working through its Voter Participation Center project -- has developed a checkered reputation, drawing rebukes from leading election officials and complaints from thousands of would-be voters as a result of their secretive tactics, deceptive mailings and calls, and penchant for skirting or violating the law. For example:
* In Arizona last November, election officials were "inundated with complaints" after Women's Voices sent a mailing erroneously claiming that recipients were "required" to mail back an enclosed voter registration form. Many who received the mailing were already registered; the mailing also gave the wrong registration date. Secretary of State Jan Brewer denounced the group's tactics as "misleading and deceptive." A similar mailing in Colorado that month "[drew] fire and caused confusion," according to a state press release.
* In Wisconsin, state officials singled out Women's Voices for misleading and possibly disenfranchising voters, stating in a press release [PDF]: "One group in particular -- Women's Voices. Women Vote, of Washington, D.C. -- apparently ignored or disregarded state deadlines in seeking to register voters," sending in registrations past the January 30 deadline and causing "hundreds of Wisconsin voters who think they registered in advance" to actually not be.
* Michigan officials ended up "fielding tons of calls from confused voters" after Women's Voices did a February mailing to "380,000 unmarried women" -- including numerous deceased voters and even more that were already registered. Sarah Johnson of Women's Voices "seemed confused by the confusion," the Lansing State Journal reported.
* A 1.5 million-piece Women's Voices mailing in Florida falsely stated: "To comply with state voting requirements, please return the enclosed application." Pasco County's elections supervisor called it "disingenuous"; another said it created "a lot of unnecessary panic on behalf of the voters," reported local newspapers. Sarah Johnson of Women's Voice said, "I'm sorry to hear that."
* By March, Women's Voices was backing off the erroneous "registration is required" language, but there were still problems. For example, a mailing in Arkansas allowed that "registering to vote is voluntary," but a clerk in Washington County reported that "the majority [of forms] sent back to the county come from registered voters, causing needless labor for office employees."
Problems with the group's tactics have also been documented in Louisiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
In each state, the Women's Voices campaigns have brought the same news and the same themes, again and again: Deceptive claims and misrepresentations of the law -- sometimes even breaking the law. Wildly inaccurate mailing lists, supposedly aimed at "unregistered single women," but in reality reaching many registered voters as well as families, deceased persons and pets. Tactics that confuse voters and potentially disenfranchise them.
For such a sophisticated and well-funded operation, which counts among its ranks some of the country's most seasoned political operatives, such missteps are peculiar, as is the surprise expressed by Women's Voices staff after each controversy.
In at least two states, the timing of Women's Voices' activities have raised alarm that they are attempting to influence the outcome of a primary. As we reported earlier, in Virginia, news reports surfaced the first week in February that prospective voters were receiving anonymous robo-calls telling voters that they were about to receive a voter registration packet in the mail.
The timing of the calls was astoundingly off: As the Virginia State Police confirm, the calls were made Feb. 5 and 6 -- about 10 days before the then-critical Virginia primary, but more than two weeks after the deadline for registering in the state had passed (Jan. 14). The Virginia State Board of Elections was deluged with calls by confused voters -- many who were already registered. When they heard the calls from Women's Voices, they feared that they really weren't.
Because of the horrible timing and their secretive nature, state officials assumed the calls and mailings were part of an identity theft scheme. When the Virginia State Police investigated, they found Women's Voices was behind them. Women's Voices was unapologetic after the controversy, merely issuing a boilerplate press release trumpeting the success of the program.
Now Women's Voices is plunging North Carolina into the same confusion. State officials tell Facing South they are still receiving calls from frustrated and confused voters, wondering why "Lamont Williams" is offering to send them a "voter registration packet" after the deadline for mail-in registration for the primaries has passed.
In correspondence with North Carolina election officials, Women's Voices founder and President Page Gardner merely said that the disruptive timing was an "unfortunate coincidence" -- a strange alibi for a group with their level of resources and sophistication.
There are other questions about Women's Voices' outreach efforts. Although the group purports to be targeting "unmarried women," their calls and mailings don't fit the profile. Kevin Farmer in Durham, who first recorded the call, is a white male. Many of the recipients are African-American; Rev. Nelson Johnson, who is a married, male and African-American, reported that his house was called four times by the mysterious "Lamont Williams."
And as Farmer asks, "Why are they using a guy for the calls if the target audience is single women?"
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.
[UPDATE: Bob Hall tells us that Women's Voices is now cooperating and trying to stop the North Carolina mailing. The mailing has apparently left the mail house but there’s still a chance it can be stopped before it gets into the mail system.]
Reporting and research assistance by Sue Sturgis
Labels: north carolina primary, voter participation project, voting rights, women's voices women vote
107 Comments:
They sound well intentioned, if somewhat inept. Are you trying to imply some nefarious purpose? I don't see it.
There's much too much circumstantial evidence to believe that this group is anything but a systematic "black-ops" effort to disenfranchise voters. At the very least, their story needs exposure in the MSM. Somebody needs to take them to court and get an injunction.
What? Hillary cheating Rove-style? Never! LOL
This sounds like a typical black bag operation, constructed with the sole purpose of confusing and disenfranchising voters. It is also clear that these are Hillary supporters who want to dissuade Obama voters in North Carolina.
Pretty despicable. Hopefully North Carolinians will see these tactics and punish Hillary accordingly -- by voting against her on Tuesday.
Mike Lux of OpenLeft is on the board of this outfit, as is John Podesta? Good lord, they walk among us.
Making the mistake of robo-calling (not an inexpensive proposition) once by calling after the registration deadline may be explained as a "well-intentioned, somewhat inept" action, but the pattern that Facing South has uncovered is mind-bendingly pervasive to disenfranchise voters.
Given that one of the core principles of the Democratic party is to ensure everyone's voice gets heard, this Rovian tactic means that our party is being hijacked for nefarious purpose by people who have a goal in mind - tilting a free and fair election to favor a given candidate, specifically, a candidate who has no chance of winning without these tactics to shift a mathematically finished race.
I wonder how Julia Louis-Dreyfus feels about being a spokesperson for them now?
Do I see John Podesta's name on the Board of Directors here?
http://www.wvwv.org/about/board-and-bios
I think I see the nefarious purpose. If I were a white woman running in a presidential primary in North Carolina I would probably want to pretend I was a black man and try to confuse black voters away from the polls. Unless, you know, I was above that.
What's the next step in getting the word out. How about this: any way we could fund robocalls to people telling them that Hillary *might* be breaking the law?
Whether they were intentionally committing an illegal act, or they are just criminally stupid (and I'm not buying that excuse) there is only one conclusion so far as I am concerned:
-- their funding sources need to PULL THE PLUG ON THAT ORGANIZATION.
And, the NC Attorney General needs to issue an injunction and stop any of those kits from being delivered until after the Primary. Start calling Roy Cooper's office now, people!
And look who their legal counsel is.
"[t}here's more to [Holly] Schadler and her law firm than a list of corporate pigs and polluters. Schadler, a former Sierra Club official, is an operator for the Clinton White House. She, along with Robert Bauer and Judith Corley--two other partners at Perkins Coie--incorporated the Back to Business Committee, set up in 1994 by Lynn Cutler and Ann Lewis (Democratic Party operators) to defend Bill and Hillary.
http://eatthestate.org/03-38/NaturePolitics.htm
So gee, I wonder who is behind these calls. Nice legal advice, Holly Schadler.
Sounds like business as usual for Team McClinton.
As the old saying goes: "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times it's enemy action."
I wonder what eleven times is?
This is nothing but a Clinton smear.
Your links to the Clinton campaign are non-existent, implied, or siomply made up.
Please stop this transparent Obama-operative attempt to tar the Clinton campaign with this smear.
Good investigative piece -- hard to come by in this silly season election. This organization's acts are not the same mistake made twenty times -- this is undeniably a pattern of misconduct showing common scheme and plan. I look forward to the day the smartypants pigs behind this are tried, convicted, fined and incarcerated.
You can tell how well-intentioned this pro-women outfit is by their use of a male voice and the fact it's phoning all (minority) households instead of, like, singling out just women to, like, nag them or something. Plus calling too late to actually register and implying the recipient has a screwed up registration. Sounds extremely empowering to me!
This is nonsense amounting to yet another smear of Hillary by an Obama supporter - this is a poorly run voter registration effort by - as KOS noted - The voter-registration application contained in the packet is a legitimate voter-registration form good hard working citizens with excellent reputations.
It is indeed poorly run - on a shoestring budget that does not allow the lawyers triple check for errors as to registration or file cut off dates. No where in your smear do you note the rather important fact that the voter-registration application contained in the packet is a legitimate voter-registration form.
Once, I could write off as clumsiness. Twice, coincidence. ELEVEN TIMES?!?! No way.
And Mike Lux? Ohmygod. I wonder if he's aware of what this group is doing in his name.
A shoestring budget??!!!
Any organization that can afford to mail 275,000 voter registration kits to North Carolina alone is certainly NOT on a shoestring budget.
Point of fact: they have one of the biggest budgets of any organization working in this field! And it's being run by extremely experienced political professionals-- sorry, but that dog does not hunt.
why would they have gotten involved in this kind of garbage in Virginia? Did they have soemthing against Webb?
Maggie Williams sits on the leadership board. Yes THE Clinton Campaign Manager Maggie Williams.
Typical Clinton tactics: "The rules don't apply to us. The law doesn't apply to us. We know we're right, so we're justified in doing whatever it takes to win. Disenfranchising minority voters is a small price to pay..."
Hmm, where have we seen that attitude before? Oh yeah, the White House for the last 7 (or is it 16) years? I don't want another 4 years of Bush - not even Bush in drag.
One of the times they got involved in Virginia was right before the Presidential primary, so draw your own conclusion.
BTW, here's a portion of their "shoestring 2006 budget:
INCOME:
"direct public support" -- $4.3 million
renting their mailing list -- $22,000
SOME OF THEIR EXPENSES:
Predicted Lists LLC -- $580K (mailing consultant)
HMSHC Partners -- $2.7 million. (for mailing services)
Give me some of that shoestring!
uh, 1:04, Bob bauer is Obama's attorney now.
Breaking the law and disenfranchising voters by one of our own democrats against a fellow democrat ought to revile the most loyal Clinton supporters. Is any one surprised they are defensive instead of shocked.
"Inept" the first time. "Inept" the second time. How many states and thousands of confused phone calls before all these "cum laudes" and "phi betas" get it. It would be inept of me to think this is
planned and worse, effective.
keep kidding yourselves with the "obama supporters smearing clinton" bullshilt. how intellectually dishonest. you and i all know what this group's purposes are. it's right in front of our face. this is what you stand for? this is your idea of democracy. why don't you share our outrage? regardless of who your ideal candidate is? could one of you answer?
Oh, for Pete's sake. Look, if you like Obama, great. The anti-Clinton conspiracy theories are reaching the point of absurdity, though.
We have a legitimate organization putting trying to encourage vote registrations, and the pro-Obama blogosphere is now claiming that this is a "typical black bag organization"? The "proof" is that a male voice was used? Holy cow, this is reaching absolutely bonkers levels. Now organizations like the League of Women Voters need to refuse to hire men, even if a male speaker winds up being more effective?
Seriously people, calm down. This is turning into a "grassy knoll" or "the Moon landings were faked" level of insanity.
People have been complaining about this through 11 states and for 3 months.
How could this organization NOT know that they were misleading people?
Open your eyes, Hillary supporters.
While I'm not going to jump in the fire and say this organization is connected to her campaign, or a deliberate action of her campaign, it certainly doesn't look good that some of her supporters are behind this.
Of course, using mass media criteria: if you are CONNECTED in any way, you are guilty.
The anonymouses listed above were not me. Having made that disclaimer, those anonymouses ought to keep their identities private. How stupid can they be? This is not an 'anti-Hillary' 'conspiracy theory' - this is the Clinton camp getting caught at the same kind of BS that put Bush Jr. in the White House. It would take 15 minutes at most to put registration deadlines and voting dates on a calendar and make sure your mailings go out well before that. Even hinting that it is an innocent mistake shows the intellectual depths some people will stoop to. (Are these sock puppets?)
I never could understand all those polled voters who said if the other Dem candidate got the nomination they'd vote for McCain't. With this kind of tactic in their playbook, it starts to make a whole lot more sense to me.
Disenfranchisement of voters is one of the oldest ILLEGAL tricks in the books to winning elections, and it still goes on today in subtle ways. If there is even the suspicion of disenfranchisement, it needs to be taken seriously and thoroughly looked into. This election isn't just about white male blue collar workers, though some would have us think so.
I DON'T FOR ONE MINUTE BELIEVE HILLARY CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN IS DOING THIS. SHE IS NOT THE KIND OF PERSON WHO WOULD BE INVOLVED IN VOTER FRAUD. I THINK IT IS DISPICABLE THAT YOU WOULD INFER THIS IN YOUR ARTICLE!!
How can this NOT be a crime? the robocall does not identify the creator, it does not give contact numbers--which are clear violations of NC state law.
Maggie Williams, Clinton's campaign manager, was on the Leadership Team for this WVWV up until last summer.
You want more info read this
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0408/Press_Clubs_Reynolds_Im_not_a_Clinton_supporter.html
Hypocrite Clinton wants the votes to count in Michigan and Florida but she doesn't mind disenfranchising black voters in NC. "You can't spell hypocrite without an H and a C." - Bill Clinton
"We have a legitimate organization putting trying to encourage vote registrations"
After the registration deadline has passed?
Try again Bozo.
Hmmm, if it looks like a duck, quack likes a duck...you know the rest. How coincidental that this happens in 11 states prior to primaries and they are all HRC fundraisers. I'm sure it's all just an innocent misunderstanding. It was probably past their bedtimes, and snipers were attacking.
HILARY CLINTON DID NOT DO THIS!!! STOP SLANDERING HER GOOD NAME! CONSPIRACY NUTS!!!!
I've said this across the blogosphere: this is classic "voter caging" They use the robocalls to get people to send in the forms, and then they match the forms to the ballots cast and they challenge the ballots for which there is no form as "illegal" votes.
It's been going on out in the open for decades and is highly illegal but nobody seems to give a sh*t.
Anonymous here again - on a larger level, this is the kind of disenfranchisement that ought to be addressed by states Attorneys General, not crap like the Indiana photo ID law. There are more easily demonstrable voter fraud cases in this, in the caging of Florida voters, and the allocation of Ohio voting machines than all the 'false ID' claims since 1960.
To people who are trying to justify this habitual inability to get the voter registration deadline right: go to google, and see how long it takes you to find NC's voter registration deadline. It took me less than a minute. It's on the freaking front page of the North Carolina State Board of Elections website. (I've never lived in NC, BTW.)
Are you telling me organizations can afford to send millions of voter registration packets and buy robocalls but can't spend one minute on google?
My guess on this one is they purposely robo call black voters to confuse them. By saying they must return their signed registration forms AFTER the deadline to register in order to be allowed to vote, those would assume they are not registered if they have never seen this "packet." And as a result, not vote. That's my take of the latest, typically Clintonian plausible deniability.
Why is this not on the evening news?
Jeez-o Hillary people, wake the hell up!Let's see if I can name even half the obvious dirty tactics/outright lies off the top of my head...
1. Sniper fire- she even admitted to LYING about it during the "debate"
2. Pro-Nafta then, anti now
3. Colombia Free Trade vs. Mark Penn & Bill
4. Embracing Mellon-Scaife WTF!
5. Agreeing to play by the rules, but now she counts Florida and Michigan? COme on already!
6. The WHOLE bitter/elitist controversy... "hey! look at me while I drink beer, shoot a gun, and pray at the same time!" Oh, by the way, Crown Royale? A top-shelf whiskey made in Canada.
I've never seen such outright, transparent pandering in my life. She's gonna be on BILL O'REILLY for Pete's sake! And Terry Macauliffe, "Fair and Balanced Fox News"... where the HELL did that come from!
Her campaign has been so poorly run, I can't imagine her as President-
And, for the record, up until she started lying and using dirty, nasty, cheap tactics,she and Obama were about equal in my eyes, so don't call me a Hillary-basher. I'm just pointing out the obvious.
THESE ARE NOT "DIRTY TRICKS" OR LEGAL POLITICAL TACTICS, BUT FELONIES AND THE PERSONS BEHIND THEM NEED TO BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW.
Fantastic investigative reporting!! Keep up the great work!
hmm
The organisation which did the robo-calls that mislead on voter registration in NC and elsewhere is, as your folks have found, the Women's Voice Women's Vote with its website at "wvwv.org". That domain is registered as:
Registrant ID:42386600-NSI
Registrant Name:Womens Voices. Women Vote
Registrant Organization:Womens Voices. Women Vote
Registrant Street1:1707 L Street NW
Registrant Street2:Suite 750
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Washington
Registrant State/Province:DC
Registrant Postal Code:20036
The same suite is used by the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
Institute for Women's Policy Research
1707 L Street, NW, Suite 750
Washington, DC 20036
The President of that organization is Heidi Hartmann. She is also a signee of the manifest Feminists for Clinton as is the Vice President & Director of Research of the Institute for Women's Policy Research Barbara Gault.
Proof? Not really, but hints abound. Could some journalist spend some leather and check that suite?
enquiring minds want to know?
i'm shocked!!!
William McNary, also on the board, is an Obama guy.
This is probably a hands-off board composed of big names with little to no day-to-day (or month-to-month) supervision.
I'm reminded of the top-level AFSCME staff who, after the AFSCME board (non-unanimously) endorsed Clinton, took it on themselves to run a virulent anti-Obama hatchet campaign with AFSCME funds until a number of board members learned about it and angrily denounced it in no uncertain terms.
How could they be innocent in 11 (strike that, 12) states?
Also, it should be easy enough for the state to compare the list of persons called in NC obtained from the phone company to the list of persons that this group intended to call.
Lord help them if there is a material variance...
I think the State of North Carolina should obtain a list of all NC numbers called from WWWW.
In the words of a person at DailyKos - That would be instructive.
If this group is doing this "quite innocently" then they can put out a mailer and tv/radio messages stating their well intentioned errors and correct the misstatements, either willingly or by court order, and IMMEDIATELY!
Although, I have always voted (a lot of blood, sweat, and tears were shed for my right to vote) I am almost ashamed to admit that I have never engaged in the process. Senator Obama's candidacy has introduced me to process that is exciting and disappointing. I am sad to say that this article and other articles reporting on the devious, lowdown, dirty and outright wrong tactics, may be the reason I become disengaged in the process. Forget about Rev Wright (PLEASE) THIS IS THE NEWS THAT SHOULD BE REPORTED ON ALL MAJOR NETWORKS. It is ashame that the mainstream press isn't responsible enough to report news that is important to the American people. I suspected all along that what the media spend so much time reporting is not worth the time of day, but not I am convinced that the only way to get the "REAL NEWS" is to go underground. For instance, I just read somewhere that in the case Peter Paul vs. Clinton, Ms. Hilary is not required to give a depo until AFTER the November election. Has the media reported this? And I also read that Ms. Hilary's pastor is in some kind of trouble. Has the media reported this? THANK GOD FOR THE HUFFINGTON POST!!!!
P.S. I want to take back the TWO VOTES I gave Bill Clinton.
Maggie Williams as well:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Maggie_Williams
This is an outrage! An attempt to disenfranchise voters (specifically targeting the African American community with this "Tyrone" character) is apalling. I don't want to here
s*!t about Rev. Wright on the news tonight. This should take front and center stage. Let the people vote without attempts to cause confusion. Voting fraud and cheating is absolutely unacceptable.
It is indeed poorly run - on a shoestring budget that does not allow the lawyers triple check for errors as to registration or file cut off dates.
Totally laughable. A five minute phone call to the Board of Elections or a one minute Google would tell you the cut-off dates.
Great investigative work, Chris! I'm blogging about this and spreading the word as much as I can.
http://lotusmedia.org/womens-voices-womens-voter-suppression
Page Gardner, President of Women's Voices, Women Vote finally issued a defensive explanation, followed by a more abject apology on their website:
http://www.wvwv.org/2008/4/30/mail-registration
She fails to explain why, if they were so well-intentioned, they did not change their behavior when authorities in TEN prior states contacted them and explained to them the damage they were doing!
Until they come up with credible answer for that question, I am not believing a word that comes out of her mouth.
Forgot to add:
is the guy who got the call and reported it the same Kevin Farmer who is Chairman of the Durham County Democratic Party? Go Kevin!
Also, great reporting, Chris and way to take action, Democracy North Carolina. Thanks for busting these people and getting the Attorney General involved and actually trying to stop the mailings from going out. Does anyone know if they were successful in keeping the kits from going out?
HILARY CLINTON DID NOT DO THIS!!! STOP SLANDERING HER GOOD NAME! CONSPIRACY NUTS!!!!
Of course she didn't. It's her adviser and her supporters!
The group is called, "Womens Voices Womens Vote" and their "Voice" is that of a man named "Lamont Williams"? How lame is that?
They use "Lamont" to help people register to vote weeks after the deadline has passed, and they have numerous Hillary supporters on their board. And the Hillary people on this blog don't see any connection. Hillary and her supporters are corrupt and anti-American. Period.
PLEASE CHECK THE TRIALS OF PETER PAUL,, ON GOOGLE,,YOU WILL FIND A CAN OF WORMS,, WITH DIRTY MORSELS,,AND MUCH MORE
Would you please find out if this group made calls in the New Hampshire primary? Thanks
yes, how dare they register single women to vote!
You folks are deranged. Everything is a conspiracy, Hillary controls the world, she'll do ANYTHING, because OBAMA SAID SO!
What a bunch of crackpots.
We now have a whole new class of wingnuts, and they're from the left.
--dark1p
This whole thing stinks. And it's frustrating that not all info is being disclosed. Besides Podesta, Gardner and Mager who gave Clinton money early 2007; Maggie Rheinstein has given Obama $3400 in Jan, 600 Feb and 300 Mar. Willliam McNary is not only a long time Obama supporter, he is also an elected IL Obama delegate.
With only two democratic candidates, it is easy to stand on one side or the other and imply guilt by association. And since Bill Clinton was our last DEM president, it kinda makes sense some of these people would have worked on his campaign. Read ALL Bios for the board and leader teams.
gheez, what are we doing people. I am as shocked as everyone else that WVWV has acted so irresponsibly and with highly suspicious and questionable actions, but to identify some WVWV members as related to HRC and ignore others who have given as much money and is a voting delegate for Obama, it just as suspect.
I don't buy the "we just made a mistake" answer. All this stuff costs money. Operations run by pros watch the money. Maybe, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they might have sent out mailings and made phone calls after the regstration deadline had passed in some state or another. But, to do it regularly and repeatedly? Nah, it's intentional.
As noted in the story: "...many who have received the calls -- like Kevin Farmer in Durham, who made a tape of the call that is available here -- are already registered." WHY would an organization allegedly devoted to "registering single women" EVER contact someone named "Kevin Farmer"!?!?!? I'm guessing Kevin is a man. So why is he on the robo call list for this organization? Could it be WVWV is trying to chill Kevin's vote? Hmmmm. I think an investigation is needed of every call in every State this group has made mischief to see how many men are on their call and mailing lists. I think ANY calls made to male voters by this group are per se suspect that they are motivated by a nefarious purpose.
Page Gardner, head of VWVW - the organization behind the robo-calls - has longstanding ties to the Clintons.
In a 1992 Philadelphia Inquirer article, back during Bill's first Presidential campaign, Page Gardner is described as:
"Page Gardner, national women's vote director for Clinton"
The full citation for the Philadelphia Inquirer article is:
Philadelphia Inquirer
October 28, 1992
In Year of the Woman, More Women Giving Time, Money
Author: Jodi Enda
Edition: FINAL
Section: LOCAL
Page: A10
Relevant passage:
Moved to action by the recession, abortion rulings and, of course, Anita Hill, women are devoting their time and money to candidates like never before, according to campaign officials and the leaders of women's political groups.
"Women are saying, 'Enough already,' " said Page Gardner, national women's vote director for Clinton.
They have moved in record numbers into vital areas traditionally dominated by men, such as planning and fund-raising.
"Anger is a great motivator," Gardner said. "George Bush provided a lot of motivation."
What an interesting demographic choice for a pro-Clinton group to choose to "register." Hmm. In 2001, 41.9% of black women had never been married, compared with 20.7% of white women. And obviously unmarried women are, on average, younger than married women, while older women are the heart of Clinton's support.
So, a bunch of Clinton supporters happened to set up an organization to target one of the few subsets of women voters most likely to vote for Obama, instead, say, of spending that money targeting the subset of women voters most *likely* to vote for Clinton. And then, oddly enough, it turns out they're so bad at registering these folks that they get in trouble with various state election commissions.
Coincidence? Color me skeptical.
Hillary: I would have got away with it! If it wasn't for you meddlin' kids!!!
Mark my words: this is Hillary Clinton's doing. She and Bill will do anything to win. When will ouor media pick up on this?
I voted for them twice, but this white, southern, working-class woman has had her eyes opened. They don't care about us. They just want our votes, then they'll disappear to their $100 million dollars. We need a president who can stand with us and tell us the truth.
GO OBAMA!!
It looks like the group behind these robocalls is also a client of Harold Ickes' firm, Catalist (scroll down at this link):
http://www.catalist.us/clients.html#1
I am shocked, shocked (not) that the Clintons would revert to Rove-engineered tactics. We was robbed in the 90s when the suppozed "prosperity" was meant to let us believe that "free trade" was a panacea. I wonder how much the Clintons were paid to peddle that fiction. And now the planet is the patsy.
Why is this mentioned without saying that an Obama supporter also sits on the board of this Womens group??
check democratic underground!!!!
Maggie Williams, Hillary's campaign manager was on the board of directors of WVWV and her business partner is on the board now!!!!! This is no accident!!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=5753754
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=5753754
sounds like Nixon's "Dirty Tricks" to me
I can glimpse another Clinton impeachment, this one would be legit
These people are clinton supporters. They won't pay for any crime no more then the clintons will ever pay for theirs. They mis-spoke, mis-called, mis-mailed.....
In the S.C. debate, Hillary said, "I will make the commitment to have people in the White House who are honest and trustworthy."
So this begs to question, where would her and Bill live?
Excellent reporting, thanks for bring this disturbing information to the public attention.
The names involved in the story and the relationship to H.Clinton is enough to make you sick to your stomach. If this is illegal then I want everyone involved brought to justice. I will be calling the Attorney General's Office in N.C. like another poster suggested and I encourage others to do the same.
If felonies are being committed and laws are being broken, then why are arrests not being made, immediately?
Hillary Hillary Hillary/// WTF are you doing? Dissenfranchising mostly African Americans? You will never be my president.
ABC website states all info was legimate
They may have chosen Lamont Williams because this is the google search result you get at the top of the page for the name.
http://www.mugshots.com/Criminal/Violence/Charles+Lamont+Williams.htm
Possibly trying to create some terrible racial association for racial reasons.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Lamont+Williams&
It seems that these calls are directed at taking votes away from Barack Obama more than anything. Pay attention to the important details. These call aren't being made only to women and are leaving many blacks and others confused about their voter registration. Its funny that they even used a typically black name for the caller. Lamont Williams? I know we all see what is going on here. It's an attempt to sway votes away from many who will likely vote for Barack. It seems the only people that arent recieving these misleading calls are the single white women. If it takes cheating to win, it isn't worth it in the end. Not for the candidate linked to it, and not for the American people that have to deal with that candidate for four years.
The right thing to do is to file one or more criminal complaints - especially regarding any felony violations of the law.
All you former Edwards supporters, have you any suggestions/contacts?
Coming on the same day as Hil's "blessing of the rich" on Fox, the Edwards can't but see that their concern for rich/poor differences is being stomped on by Hil and a group very obviously associated with Clinton operators.
They may be the very trial lawyers (if she is still practicing given the situation) needed by those individual looking for compensation for the already declared illegal robo-calls!
Hmm..If I missed something, here, someone please correct me. I refer to the first post which asks the question, "where is the nefarious ploat?"
You have an organization calling people and sending information encouraging them to register for the primary - after the deadline to do so.
Sounds like an incompetant organization to me. Nothing more, nothing less.
I've been in marketing and worked with mailing lists that you buy. They are often out of date and conntain old information. Single women get married and have families, it's no mystery. There is nothing here but good intentions that I can see. What's wrong with trying to get people to register to vote? Obama is doing the same thing with his various groups. This group screwed up the timing, and they are trying to fix the problem. I think this is much ado about nothing. I know some talk show hosts who are trying to make a big deal out of this, but I just don't see it. Inflaming a normal SNAFU into a BFD is counterproductive for everyone.
There is no "there" to this story. No meaning of the word "is". Nothing here, move along.
There seem to be two aspects of this story.
One is that WVWV legitimately does mailings and robo calls trying to register more single mothers, which is a demographic that they believe is highly Democratic, and will result in more Democratic votes. It is at the edge of legal, with respect to the claim to be a nonpart