FINAL COUNTDOWN FOR USA ELECTION 2008

1 VOTER, 72 REGISTRATIONS
By JEANE MacINTOSH
October 10, 2008

CLEVELAND - A man at the center of a voter-registration scandal told The Post yesterday he was given cash and cigarettes by aggressive ACORN activists in exchange for registering an astonishing 72 times, in apparent violation of Ohio laws.

"Sometimes, they come up and bribe me with a cigarette, or they'll give me a dollar to sign up," said Freddie Johnson, 19, who filled out 72 separate voter-registration cards over an 18-month period at the behest of the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

"The ACORN people are everywhere, looking to sign people up. I tell them I am already registered. The girl said, 'You are?' I say, 'Yup,' and then they say, 'Can you just sign up again?' " he said.

Johnson used the same information on all of his registration cards, and officials say they usually catch and toss out duplicate registrations. But the practice sparks fear that some multiple registrants could provide different information and vote more than once by absentee ballot.

ACORN is under investigation in Ohio and at least eight other states - including Missouri, where the FBI said it's planning to look into potential voter fraud - for over-the-top efforts to get as many names as possible on the voter rolls regardless of whether a person is registered or eligible.

It's even under investigation in Bridgeport, Conn., for allegedly registering a 7-year-old girl to vote, according to the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

Meanwhile, a federal judge yesterday ordered Ohio's Secretary of State to verify the identity of newly registered voters by matching them with other government documents. The order was in response to a Republican lawsuit unrelated to the ACORN probe in Cuyahoga County, in which at least three people, including Johnson, have been subpoenaed.

Bribing citizens with gifts, property or anything of value is a fourth-degree felony in Ohio, punishable by up to 18 months in prison. And it's a fifth-degree felony - punishable by 12 months in jail - for a person to pay "compensation on a fee-per-registration" system when signing up someone to vote.

Johnson, who works at a cellphone kiosk in downtown Cleveland, said he was a sitting duck for the signature hunters, but was always happy to help them out in exchange for a smoke or a little scratch. He'd collected 10 to 20 cigarettes and anywhere from $10 to $15, he said.

The Cleveland voting probe, first reported by The Post yesterday, also focused on Lateala Goins, who said she put her name on multiple voter registrations. She guessed ACORN canvassers then put fake addresses on them. "You can tell them you're registered as many times as you want - they do not care," she said.

ACORN spokesman Kris Harsh said the group does not tolerate its workers paying people to sign the voter-registration cards.

ACORN's political wing has endorsed Barack Obama for president, but Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign in Ohio, said ACORN has no role in its get-out-the-vote drive.

During the primary season, however, the Obama camp paid another group, Citizen Service Inc., $832,598 for various political services, according to Federal Elections Commission filings. That group and ACORN share the same board of directors.

In Wisconsin yesterday, John McCain blasted ACORN.

"No one should be corrupting the most precious right we have, that is the right to vote," he said.

It's a right Johnson will exercise. "Yeah, I've registered enough - I might as well vote."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10102008/news/politics/1_voter__72_registrations_132965.htm

Obama tried to sway Iraqis on Bush deal
In private conversations on troop presence, candidate pitched delay

At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/10/obama-sought-to-sway-iraqis-on-bush-deal/

Big ballot boo-boo: Osama for president?
Rensselaer County gaffe makes national news after absentee ballots misspell Barack Obama's name
By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer
First published in print: Saturday, October 11, 2008

TROY " It could have been Ovama or Ofama. Or even Olama.

But with one "s" the Rensselaer County Board of Elections turned a single wrong letter into a national embarrassment Friday.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's last name is spelled "Osama" on some 300 absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County hilltowns.
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=728326

An issue that could be a factor in who the people want to appoint their Supreme Court Justices:
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions through the courts.
The ruling comes just weeks before Californians go to the polls on a historic gay-marriage ballot question, the first time the issue will be put before voters.

Connecticut's court ruled 4-3 that gay and lesbian couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry under the state constitution. It was a logical next step for a state that was the first to voluntarily pass laws affirming and protecting civil unions.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93NOK900&show_article=1

Houston Texas

More than 1.9 million people are registered to vote in Harris County alone.

But how many of the people listed on the voter roll are actually eligible to cast a ballot?

Investigative reporter Amy Davis shows you how hundreds of voters could sway this year's election -- voters who are not even alive.

"All-in-all, a great person, a great woman, just a wonderful person" is how Alexis Guidry described her mother to Local 2 Investigates.

"As far back as I can remember, they've always voted in the election," Guidry said of her parents.

The March 2008 Primary was no exception. Voting records show Alexis' mom, Gloria Guidry, cast her ballot in person near her South Houston home.

"It was just very shocking, a little unsettling," said Alexis Guidry.

It's unsettling because Gloria Guidry died of cancer 10 months before the March Primary.
http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/17671375/detail.html

Anger Is Crowd's Overarching Emotion at McCain Rally
By Michael D. Shear and Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 10, 2008; A04

WAUKESHA, Wis., Oct. 9 -- There were shouts of "Nobama" and "Socialist" at the mention of the Democratic presidential nominee. There were boos, middle fingers turned up and thumbs turned down as a media caravan moved through the crowd Thursday for a midday town hall gathering featuring John McCain and Sarah Palin.

"It is absolutely vital that you take it to Obama, that you hit him where it hits, there's a soft spot," said James T. Harris, a local radio talk show host, who urged the Republican nominee to use Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and others against him.

"We have the good Reverend Wright. We have [the Rev. Michael L.] Pfleger. We have all of these shady characters that have surrounded him," Harris bellowed. "We have corruption here in Wisconsin and voting across the nation. I am begging you, sir. I am begging you. Take it to him."

The crowd of thousands roared its approval.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/09/AR2008100903169_pf.html

I would have posted more McCain stuff, but frankly Obama is getting most of the attention in the headlines again.

At the moment, it seems the "Palin 'Abused Her Power'" headlines take up the front pages...

You wish. A lot of leftwingers are trying to stir something up there but I'm finding nothing at all among multiple links on Drudge and nothing among multiple headlines on RCP. So far those speculating on that seem to be mostly pulling their information from leftwing hate sites.

FOXNews.com
Friday, October 10, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin "abused her power" as governor in the disciplinary case against a state trooper, according to a legislative panel's report released Friday, though it also found that her firing of a state commissioner was "proper and lawful."

The ethics inquiry, which Palin's supporters have called politically motivated, found that a family grudge was a factor in Palin's dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan -- but not the sole factor. The report says Palin failed to keep her husband from meddling in the discipline of the state trooper, her brother-in-law, following a contentious divorce.

The panel of state lawmakers released its report Friday after spending more than six hours in a closed-door session reviewing the findings. At the heart of the investigation was the question of whether Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, had pressured Monegan to fire Trooper Mike Wooten.

Palin has said Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

Investigator Stephen Branchflower, who drafted the bipartisan panel's report, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.

"Today's report showed that the governor acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan," Meg Stapleton, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said in a written statement.

Stapleton added that the panel's report shows that the inquiry was partisan and that Palin and her husband, Todd Palin, were "completely justified in their concern regarding Trooper Wooten, given his violent and rogue behavior."

Monegan, meanwhile, said he felt "vindicated."

"It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions," he said. "And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

The nearly 300-page report does not recommend sanctions or a criminal investigation.

The investigation revealed that Todd Palin has extraordinary access to the governor's office and her closest advisers. He used that access to try to get trooper Wooten fired, the report found.

Branchflower said Sarah Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

Palin and John McCain's supporters had hoped the inquiry's finding would be delayed until after the presidential election, in which they face an uphill battle against Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But the panel of lawmakers voted to release the report, although not without dissension.

"I think there are some problems in this report," said Republican state Sen. Gary Stevens, a member of the panel. "I would encourage people to be very cautious, to look at this with a jaundiced eye."

Did you read the article OE?

Interesting though that Fox News, the most hated news network by the left, was among the first of the MSM to feature the story, huh?

CONCLUSION

Governor Sarah Palin

The policy underlying Alaska's Ethics Act is to discourage executive branch employees from acting upon personal interests in the performance of their public responsibilities and to avoid conflicts of interest in the performance of duty. The Act makes clear that compliance with the code of ethics creates a burden on each executive branch employee that is personal in nature

Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional. . . .

The evidence supports the conclusion that Governor Palin, at the least, engaged in "official action" by her inaction if not by her active participation or assistance to her husband in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired [and there is evidence of her active participation]. She knowingly, as that term is defined in the above cited statutes, permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office and the resources of the Governor's office, including access to state employees, to continue to contact subordinate employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired. Her conduct violated AS 39.52.110(a) of the Ethics Act. . . .

Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired. She had the authority and power to require Mr. Palin to cease contacting subordinates, but she failed to act.

Such impermissible and repeated contacts create conflicts of interests for subordinate employees who must choose either to please a superior or run the risk of facing that superior's displeasure and possible consequences of such displeasure. This is one of the very reasons the Ethics Act was promulgated by the Legislature. . . .

In this case, Governor Palin has declined to provide an interview. An interview would have assisted everyone to better understand her motives and perhaps help explain why she was so apparently intent upon getting Trooper Wooten fired in spite of the fact she knew he had been disciplined following the Administrative Investigation. She also knew that he had been permitted to keep his job, and that the disciplinary investigation was closed and could not be reopened. Yet she allowed the pressure from her husband, to try to get Trooper Wooten fired, to continue unabated over a several month-period of time.

Governor Palin has stated publicly that she and her family feared Trooper Wooten. Yet the evidence presented has been inconsistent with such claims of fear. The testimony from Trooper Wheeler, who was part of her security detail from the start, was that shortly after elected to office, she ordered a substantial reduction in manpower in her personal protection detail in both Anchorage and Juneau, an act that is inconsistent with a desire to avoid harm from Trooper Wooten or others. Moreover, assuming that Trooper Wooten was ever inclined to attack Governor Palin or a family member, logic dictates that getting him fired would accomplish nothing to eliminate the potential for harm to her or her family. On the contrary, it might just precipitate some retaliatory conduct on his part. Causing Wooten to loose [sic] his job would not have de-escalated the situation, or provided her or her family with greater security.

Finally, it is noteworthy that almost every contact with subordinate employees, Mr. Palin's comments were couched in terms of his desire to see Trooper Wooten fired for reasons that had nothing to do with fear....

I conclude that such claims of fear were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins' real motivation: to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family related reasons....

For all the above reasons, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power as Governor in that her conduct violated AS 39.52.110(a) of the Ethics Act.

Sarah Palin "abused her power" as governor in the disciplinary case against a state trooper, according to a legislative panel's report released Friday, though it also found that her firing of a state commissioner was "proper and lawful."

Interesting though that Fox News, the most hated news network by the left, was among the first of the MSM to feature the story, huh?

And the mainstream media who want Obama to be president with play up the "abuse of power" angle to persuade all the numbnuts who will see only that and will bury the mitigating circumstances deep inside the story so that only those who care about truth and fairness will see them. And those of you who want Obama to win don't care about them even when they are pointed out.

But yeah you guys have a legitimate scandal and you'll play it up for all its worth just as the leftwing media will do. And you'll have straight faces when you tell the rest of us that real scandals on your side are absolutely insignificant.

The other thing that mainstream media won't tell you is that the two guys who were pushing this whole Palin scandal are staunch Obama supporters who at one time were named on his website. (No, I don't have a link because I got that off of TV and radio but I'm looking for one.)

July 28, 2008

The Alaska Legislative Council - a bipartisan panel composed of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats " authorized, by unanimous vote, a probe into the “Troopergate” allegations.

October 2, 2008

An Alaska judge refused to block the state ethics investigation. Judge Peter Michalski threw out the lawsuit filed by five Republican state legislators who said the investigation had been tainted by partisan politics and was being manipulated to damage Palin shortly before the Nov. 4 presidential election. “It is legitimately within the scope of the legislature’s investigatory power to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the termination (of) a public officer the legislature had previously confirmed,” the judge wrote in his decision.

October 9, 2008

The Alaska Supreme Court today rejected an attempt by a group of six Republican legislators to shut down the Legislature’s investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin.

After the results of the investigation were released, Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, was asked by a reporter if she abused her power as governor. She replied, "No, and if you read the report you'll see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member. You gotta read the report, sir."