http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...e-ag-john-fundThe only flaw I see is you don't need to give two grand to a black Democrat legislator to get them to vote against voter ID. It is already in their DNA, much like skin color, but not intelligence, which is not inheritable, I hear.
Philly DA Blows the Whistle on Pennsylvania’s State AG
MARCH 23, 2014 6:45 PM
Why did the AG drop a case that exposed Democratic corruption?
By John Fund
Philadelphia DA Seth Williams (left) has slammed Pa. AG Kathleen Kane
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John Fund
Prosecutors almost never go to war against each other. But in Pennsylvania, Democratic attorney general Kathleen Kane is being brutally criticized by Seth Williams, Philadelphia’s district attorney and a fellow Democrat. Williams is upset that last year one of Kane’s first acts in office was to decline to prosecute four Philadelphia state legislators and other government officials. In a sting operation, all had been caught accepting cash or Tiffany jewelry in exchange for votes or favors. Kane, who is white, has defended herself, saying that the investigation was badly managed and tainted by racism. She claims the criticism comes from what she calls the “Good Ol’ Boys Club.” Williams, who is African American, has shot back: “I have seen racism. I know what it looks like. This isn’t it.”
The sting operation followed pretty much the same playbook as the federal Abscam investigation of the 1970s. Begun in 2010, the Philly probe was conducted under Kane’s three immediate predecessors as attorney general, and it resulted in more than 400 hours of video and audio recordings. Tyron B. Ali, a lobbyist originally from Trinidad, served as the undercover agent; after he was charged with fraud, he agreed to wear a wire in exchange for lenient treatment. Word of his cash offers eventually got around and prompted some elected officials to call him first. “Sources with knowledge of the sting said the investigation made financial pitches to both Republicans and Democrats, but only Democrats accepted the payments,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week.
Attorney General Kane inherited the investigation when she took office in January 2013. She told the Inquirer that she stopped it without filing any charges because it was “poorly conceived, badly managed, and tainted by racism.” She quoted Claude Thomas, the chief investigator in the case, as saying he had been ordered to target “only members of the General Assembly’s Black Caucus” and to ignore “potentially illegal acts by white members.”
In response, Williams issued an angry statement and penned an op-ed in Sunday’s Inquirer. “The notion that they would target anyone based on race is ridiculous,” Williams said in a statement. “I am confident they are not racist, and it is regrettable that the attorney general would casually throw around such an explosive accusation.” Thomas, who is also African American, now works for Williams and denies he ever made such a statement.
What is clear is just how damning some of the collected evidence is. The Inquirer reported this exchange between Ali, the lobbyist, and state representative Vanessa Brown:
Ali went to Brown’s office and handed her an envelope with $2,000, according to people who have reviewed a transcript of a tape Ali made on that day.
As Brown accepted the money, they said, she put it in her purse and said: “Yo, good looking and Ooowee. . . . Thank you twice.”
After he gave Brown the money, Ali urged her to vote against a bill that would require voters to show identification at the polls, the sources said.
Kane’s supporters say that federal law-enforcement officials she consulted believed the probe had suffered from a lack of “quality control” and could be viewed as entrapment. “Is the acceptance of cash alarming? Absolutely,” one person close to Kane told the Inquirer. “But you’ve got to think: I’ve got to try this case.”
It certainly may have been politically awkward for Kane, as a Democrat, to prosecute only African-American defendants, but a conviction on something should have been a slam dunk. Even if prosecutors couldn’t prove a quid pro quo, it is illegal for politicians to accept payments to enrich themselves and also illegal not to report the income. Further, the prosecutors in this case have a sterling track record in securing convictions against the leadership of both parties in the legislature, winning 21 convictions in the 2010 “Bonusgate” scandal, which involved illegal payments to legislative staffers who performed political work. All of those convicted were white.
Kane has declined to answer detailed questions about why she dropped the investigation. Her critics, she says, are “playing political games to discredit me in order to fulfill their own selfish and improper agenda.” When she met with Inquirer editors last Thursday, she brought her personal attorney and on his advice declined to answer any questions after the meeting. Her attorney says she may file a defamation suit against the paper, a ploy frequently used by public figures to intimidate journalists.
Williams says he is tired of Kane’s “escalating excuses.” He points out that when she took office, the files on the probe were with federal prosecutors who hadn’t yet concluded whether they wanted to pursue their own case. “All she had to do was leave the investigation in the hands of federal authorities,” Williams wrote in Sunday’s Inquirer. “But she didn’t do that. Instead, she asked for the files back. And then, after going out of the way to reclaim the investigation, she shut it down.”
One bit player in the drama, who had dealings with Ali and was shocked to learn later that Ali was a government agent, says the whole thing reminds him of a John Grisham novel. My vote is for House of Cards. And from what we know so far, it shouldn’t be too hard to start matching up some of the Philadelphia players with their dramatic counterparts in the Netflix series. Originally Posted by IIFFOFRDB
- Jewish Lawyer
- 03-25-2014, 01:12 PM
- CuteOldGuy
- 03-25-2014, 06:13 PM
- IIFFOFRDB
- 03-25-2014, 06:44 PM
http://www.examiner.com/article/al-s...of-voter-fraud
Joe Newby
Spokane Conservative Examiner
MSNBC host Al Sharpton hugs Melowese Richardson at voter rights rally.
March 22, 2014
While appearing at a rally to kick-off the campaign for an Ohio state constitutional amendment dealing with voters' rights, MSNBC host Al Sharpton and some Democrats honored Melowese Richardson, a former poll worker who was convicted in 2013 of voter fraud, Cincinnati.com reported Friday.
Richardson admitted voting twice for Obama in 2012, and was indicted for voting at least six times. She was also charged last year of illegal voting in the 2008 and 2011 elections.
She was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released and placed on probation after Democratic activists demanded a "fairer" term, Cincinnati.com said.
Apparently, upon noticing Richardson at the rally, held at the Word of Deliverance Church in Forest Park, Cincinnati National Action Network President Bobby Hilton called Richardson on stage for a "welcome home," where Sharpton hugged her.
The incident sparked outrage from Republicans on Twitter.
"How can you conduct a voting rights rally when you celebrate a person convicted of a voting felony?" asked Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou. "Do local Democrats applaud a convicted felon for committing voter fraud, because they did at this rally."
"We did not celebrate or applaud a convicted felon," Hilton countered. "We congratulated a lady with a health issues coming home to take care of her sick sister."
Democrat Party leaders seemed happy Richardson was out of jail, but claimed they did not approve of her actions.
"I am very glad the county prosecutor and judge reconsidered and got her out of jail, but she is not a hero," said Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke. "What she did was criminal conduct and was particularly problematic because of her role as a poll worker."
"There is some validity that the sentence was too harsh," added Hamilton County Democratic Party Executive Director Caleb Faux. "But I don't see how you can hold her up as an example of somebody to be proud of. What she did was reprehensible."
Richardson was convicted of four counts of illegal voting, and has previously been convicted of threatening to kill a witness in a criminal case against her brother, stealing, drunken driving and beating someone in a bar fight, Cincinnati.com said.
Joe Newby
Spokane Conservative Examiner
MSNBC host Al Sharpton hugs Melowese Richardson at voter rights rally.
March 22, 2014
While appearing at a rally to kick-off the campaign for an Ohio state constitutional amendment dealing with voters' rights, MSNBC host Al Sharpton and some Democrats honored Melowese Richardson, a former poll worker who was convicted in 2013 of voter fraud, Cincinnati.com reported Friday.
Richardson admitted voting twice for Obama in 2012, and was indicted for voting at least six times. She was also charged last year of illegal voting in the 2008 and 2011 elections.
She was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released and placed on probation after Democratic activists demanded a "fairer" term, Cincinnati.com said.
Apparently, upon noticing Richardson at the rally, held at the Word of Deliverance Church in Forest Park, Cincinnati National Action Network President Bobby Hilton called Richardson on stage for a "welcome home," where Sharpton hugged her.
The incident sparked outrage from Republicans on Twitter.
"How can you conduct a voting rights rally when you celebrate a person convicted of a voting felony?" asked Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou. "Do local Democrats applaud a convicted felon for committing voter fraud, because they did at this rally."
"We did not celebrate or applaud a convicted felon," Hilton countered. "We congratulated a lady with a health issues coming home to take care of her sick sister."
Democrat Party leaders seemed happy Richardson was out of jail, but claimed they did not approve of her actions.
"I am very glad the county prosecutor and judge reconsidered and got her out of jail, but she is not a hero," said Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke. "What she did was criminal conduct and was particularly problematic because of her role as a poll worker."
"There is some validity that the sentence was too harsh," added Hamilton County Democratic Party Executive Director Caleb Faux. "But I don't see how you can hold her up as an example of somebody to be proud of. What she did was reprehensible."
Richardson was convicted of four counts of illegal voting, and has previously been convicted of threatening to kill a witness in a criminal case against her brother, stealing, drunken driving and beating someone in a bar fight, Cincinnati.com said.
- IIFFOFRDB
- 03-25-2014, 07:35 PM
March 24, 2014
(Daily Caller) – The woman who admitted to voting for President Barack Obama six times worked for and sat on the board of a group that received an Obama administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant.
Melowese Richardson admitted in 2013 to voting six times for Obama’s re-election while working as a poll worker in Hamilton County, Ohio. Initially convicted on state voter fraud charges and sentenced to five years in prison, Richardson served eight months before the George Soros-funded Ohio Justice and Policy Center helped lessen her sentence to probation. Richardson appeared last week at a rally with some Ohio Democrats and Al Sharpton, who publicly gave her a hug.
Richardson worked for and sat on the board of a Cincinnati-based environmental activist group called Communities United for Action, which received an EPA grant and attended a conference with former Obama administration Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
“My name is Melowese Richardson and I work for a group called CUFA, Communities United for Action. We passed the first environmental protection ordianance in the country here in Cincinnati and I love to participate with this group because of their repowering America,” Richardson said in a May 15, 2010 video for the Repowering America initiative, which was launched in 2008 by The Climate Reality Project in a speech by former Democratic vice president Al Gore.
“I’d like to help get this ordinance, get this passed, the bill passed that you guys are trying to pass because it is very important that we go green and try to save our environment. It’s a crucial issue. I hope that Congress, the people in Congress, will listen, will sit up and take note to this very crucial matter,” Richardson said in the video.
CUFA received a $25,000 EPA grant in September 2010 to educate low-income Ohio residents about environmental issues and “to connect with eighth graders to develop environmental justice leaders and produce a local air pollution reduction action plan.”
Richardson was still a CUFA Board member as of May 2011, when she joined the nonprofit network National People’s Action to protest a JPMorgan shareholder meeting in Columbus, Ohio.
CUFA participated in the 2011 National People’s Action leadership conference in Washington, D.C. at which then-Obama administration Labor Secretary Hilda Solis spoke. Richardson was photographed holding a sign that read “Make Wall Street Pay” at the event.
http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/24/si...tration-grant/
- See more at: http://www.teaparty.org/update-poll-....UkJ3pqZo.dpuf
- IIFFOFRDB
- 03-26-2014, 09:43 PM
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danield...arges-n1815044
Daniel Doherty | Mar 26, 2014
Democrat Patrick Cannon has been the city mayor of Charlotte, NC for about five months or so, and yet he’s already staring down corruption charges. He faces up to $1.5 million in penalties and a 50 year prison sentence if found guilty. Back when he was a city council member in 2010, FBI agents were first tipped off that the longtime public servant was involved in shady and illegal quid pro quo deals for the purposes of self-aggrandizement. The investigation lasted four years; agents finally arrested him today after compiling enough evidence to put him away:
Cannon, a Democrat, was charged with theft and bribery after an FBI sting operation, said Anne Tompkins, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. He was released on an undisclosed bond, pending indictment.
Authorities said Cannon took bribes from undercover FBI agents five times – the most recent on Feb. 21 when he took $20,000 in cash in the mayor’s office – and a trip to Las Vegas.
Tompkins said Cannon also accepted from the undercover agents more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and use of a luxury apartment in exchange for “the use of his official position,” Tompkins said.
Cannon is the longest-serving elected official in Charlotte, having joined the Charlotte City Council in 1993. He is the region's highest-ranking official to be charged in a corruption case since former N.C. House speaker Jim Black of Matthews was charged. Both are Democrats.
The details of one shady deal are about as sleazy as you might imagine:
At a Jan. 17, 2013 meeting, one FBI agent gave Cannon $12,500 in cash by putting it on a coffee table in front of him. Cannon, according to the affidavit, looked nervously toward a window and covered the money with a folder.
After the agent closed the blinds, Cannon put the money to his ear and fanned the bills.
This incident is equally as shady:
After getting a $12,500 payoff from an agent, Cannon said he was the right man to make sure the nightclub had no problems with the city.
In a conversation with the undercover agent, Cannon later tried characterized his acceptance of the money as a business investment unrelated to his public office, the affidavit says.
In laying out his philosophy of helping, Cannon told the agent that he would have helped him even without the $12,500. “I’m not one of those Chicago- or Detroit-type folk. … That’s not how I flow.”
In an ironic aside during that same meeting, Cannon said that he looked good “in an orange necktie, but not in an orange suit.”
Well, unfortunately for him, he might be forced to wear an orange suit. Obviously, though, he should have thought about that before (allegedly) accepting illegal bribes.
Daniel Doherty | Mar 26, 2014
Democrat Patrick Cannon has been the city mayor of Charlotte, NC for about five months or so, and yet he’s already staring down corruption charges. He faces up to $1.5 million in penalties and a 50 year prison sentence if found guilty. Back when he was a city council member in 2010, FBI agents were first tipped off that the longtime public servant was involved in shady and illegal quid pro quo deals for the purposes of self-aggrandizement. The investigation lasted four years; agents finally arrested him today after compiling enough evidence to put him away:
Cannon, a Democrat, was charged with theft and bribery after an FBI sting operation, said Anne Tompkins, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. He was released on an undisclosed bond, pending indictment.
Authorities said Cannon took bribes from undercover FBI agents five times – the most recent on Feb. 21 when he took $20,000 in cash in the mayor’s office – and a trip to Las Vegas.
Tompkins said Cannon also accepted from the undercover agents more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and use of a luxury apartment in exchange for “the use of his official position,” Tompkins said.
Cannon is the longest-serving elected official in Charlotte, having joined the Charlotte City Council in 1993. He is the region's highest-ranking official to be charged in a corruption case since former N.C. House speaker Jim Black of Matthews was charged. Both are Democrats.
The details of one shady deal are about as sleazy as you might imagine:
At a Jan. 17, 2013 meeting, one FBI agent gave Cannon $12,500 in cash by putting it on a coffee table in front of him. Cannon, according to the affidavit, looked nervously toward a window and covered the money with a folder.
After the agent closed the blinds, Cannon put the money to his ear and fanned the bills.
This incident is equally as shady:
After getting a $12,500 payoff from an agent, Cannon said he was the right man to make sure the nightclub had no problems with the city.
In a conversation with the undercover agent, Cannon later tried characterized his acceptance of the money as a business investment unrelated to his public office, the affidavit says.
In laying out his philosophy of helping, Cannon told the agent that he would have helped him even without the $12,500. “I’m not one of those Chicago- or Detroit-type folk. … That’s not how I flow.”
In an ironic aside during that same meeting, Cannon said that he looked good “in an orange necktie, but not in an orange suit.”
Well, unfortunately for him, he might be forced to wear an orange suit. Obviously, though, he should have thought about that before (allegedly) accepting illegal bribes.