GOP Establishment pitching Democrat votes has gotten so egregious even Chair of Miss. Democrat Party notified a Wall St. Journal reporter about it. And NY Times reported it. Classy GOP 'leader' McConnell bragged he'd silence American voters: "We're going to crush them everywhere." McConnell sent $800,000 to Cochran last week.
6/17/14, "Rumors Of Impropriety Swirl About Cochran Allies' Entreaties To Democratic Voters," Breitbart, Matthew Boyle, Biloxi, Mississippi
"It's been called the “nastiest primary in the country.” Now you can add allegations of “walking around money” and “vote buying,” a Democratic operative nicknamed “Scooby Doo,” and the testy denials of a Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) ally to the mix.
Rickey Cole, the chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, says Cochran's allies are paying Democratic operatives to help get out the vote with a questionable tactic.
“Pete Perry” – the chairman of the Hinds County Republican Party – “is paying James ‘Scooby Doo’ Warren thousands of dollars to funnel to black preachers and others to get-out-the-vote for Cochran,” Cole wrote in a Facebook message sent to a top aide of state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s campaign, Ric McCluskey, just after midnight Tuesday.
“Large sums of cash are being passed around. These guys are old school ‘walking around money’ vote buyers,” Cole wrote in the message, obtained by Breitbart News, adding, “Need some out of state media to put some heavy scrutiny on Pete asap.”
In a phone interview, Cole confirmed he made the allegations and that he thinks there should be an investigation. “I can’t prove any of it yet,” Cole said. “This is just what I had heard. It think it warrants investigating, because I don’t know all of the details on it I just got word that James [‘Scooby Doo’ Warren] was bragging that he got money.”
“The reason I sent that text is because I wanted the McDaniel people to know that there was an effort out here ongoing to mobilize Democratic voters to vote for Cochran,” Cole added. “That’s simply because I don’t like the idea of Democrats voting in the Republican primary or Republicans voting in the Democratic primary. I believe members of each party should vote in their own primaries.”
Warren (Scooby Doo) confirmed to the Clarion-Ledger that he is working for Cochran, and got approval from Washington, D.C., Democrats to do so. “I called D.C. and told them what was going on with the tea party," Warren said. “But I can't do anything after the 24th because I'm a Democrat ... Whoever wins will have to deal with me in November.”
In the story, Warren (Scooby Doo) is not quoted addressing allegations of impropriety from Cole.
In an interview Monday, Perry said he hopes that money routed through him won't end up used to pay for votes.
When asked if he thinks there’s payments for votes happening in this election, Perry said that “I certainly hope not” adding that while he’s “been against that all my life since the 60s” he has “seen it done and I’m totally against it.”...
The practice of community organizers being paid to get out the vote on election day—colloquially known as “walking around money” or “street money”—is somewhat common among Democrats in the South and in inner cities throughout the country.... But the practice becomes illegal, according to U.S. Code, if the money would be used for a direct purchase of a vote.
“Both parties use street money, but it's more common among Democrats, who tend to be better represented in the areas that rely on it,” Slate’s Christopher Beam wrote, adding later in his piece that while the “practice is legal everywhere” because it’s protected by the First Amendment, “some states have tougher restrictions than others.”...
Abuses – in which individuals are paid to actually vote – have been documented, and Cole is raising questions about exactly what tactics Cochran's paid political operation will employ.
The allegations in Mississippi against Cochran’s supporters —which have been bubbling up behind the scenes here in Mississippi for over a week—prompted a national election integrity group to come to the state to investigate.
While so far the information is only hearsay, the accusation from the state’s top Democratic Party official gives the issue some heft.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that Mississippi Conservatives, a super PAC run by Henry Barbour and backing Cochran, paid Perry’s company Paradigm Government Relations twice for “Canvassing/Get Out The Vote” efforts. The first payment, for $25,000, came on May 20, while the second—for $35,000—came on May 30, just a few days before the primary.
Catherine Engelbrecht, the leader of an election integrity group called True The Vote, is now calling for an investigation into Perry’s actions.
“We're extremely troubled by what we're hearing out of Hinds County Mississippi,” Catherine Engelbrecht, the head of True the Vote, told Breitbart News. “How can Mississippi voters have confidence in the integrity of the election if election officials are being paid off by Senator Cochran or whomever manages his PAC’s checkbook?”
Engelbrecht called for Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to look into the matter—and for Perry to be removed from any role in the upcoming runoff.
“With the eyes of the nation now on Mississippi's upcoming runoff, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann should take swift and decisive action to protect voters' rights by removing Pete Perry from all involvement in the runoff election and open an investigation into these potentially illegal activities,” Engelbrecht said.
Perry said Engelbrecht “does not know a damn thing about where the money went.”
“I have not given any money to James Warren directly,” Perry said, adding, “Did James Warren receive any of it? Maybe so. I don’t know how many people it might have gone through. I do know of James Warren—I’ve seen him around in politics before. I don’t know about ‘walking around money,’ and I don’t know about the other things you said.”
Black conservative activist Jeremiah Boddie, a supporter of Cochran’s primary challenger state Sen. Chris McDaniel, said has “absolutely” he’s heard of these street money efforts from Cochran’s team.
“They always pay their volunteers, and it’s known that they pay people to do certain things for their campaign and they incentivize them to pay people to get out and vote for them,” Boddie said in an interview.
Boddie added that he thinks the tactic is the “most desperate, pathetic thing I’ve ever seen in my human life.”"
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"Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Rickey Cole said he doesn't like the idea of Democrats "crossing over to vote for the weaker candidate" in a Republican primary." Cole sent a message to this effect to a Wall St. Journal reporter:
6/17/14, "Democrat says he's leading black GOTV effort for Cochran," Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Sam R. Hall
"A Democratic political operative says he is working with Mississippi Conservatives PAC to drum up votes for U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran.
James "Scooby Doo" Warren said he has put together a get-out-the-vote (GOTV) plan and is "putting it in place across the whole state." Warren said he is not working with the Cochran campaign itself but for the PAC and Bishop Ronnie Crudup Sr.
Crudup is the pastor at New Horizon Church, which shares an address and chief financial officer with a newly formed super PAC that ran print advertising in the primary supporting Cochran.
When asked if he was getting any blow back for working in a Republican primary, Warren said he "got all that taken care of on the front end."
"I called D.C. and told them what was going on with the tea party," Warren said. "But I can't do anything after the 24th because I'm a Democrat. ...Whoever wins will have to deal with me in November."...
But Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Rickey Cole said he doesn't like the idea of Democrats "crossing over to vote for the weaker candidate" in a Republican primary.
"I think Democrats ought to vote for a Democratic nominee, Republicans ought to vote for a Republican nominee, and independents ought to wait until November," Cole said Tuesday.
Republican state Sen. Tony Smith tweeted this screenshot of a Facebook message from Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Rickey Cole to a Wall Street Journal reporter. Smith is supporting fellow state Sen. Chris McDaniel in his GOP primary challenge of incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. (Photo: Twitter)
Cole confirmed the message was his, but it is not clear how Smith obtained it. Smith is a Republican lawmaker from Picayunne who supports McDaniel. He could not be reached for comment.
Henry Barbour, who heads Mississippi Conservatives PAC, could not be immediately be reached for comment."
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| NY Times twitter |
6/16/14, "A Church-PAC Link Raises Questions in Mississippi," NY Times, Derek Willis, The Upshot
"The full-page advertisement in Mississippi Link,
[bottom of pg.] a weekly newspaper aimed at black residents of Jackson, the state’s
capital, urged readers to vote for Senator Thad Cochran in the June 3
Republican primary.
.
.
That
might be unremarkable except for one thing: The political action
committee that paid for the ad shares an address and leadership with a
local church.
.
.
“All Citizens for Mississippi” did not appear to exist at the time of the ad’s publication. Its registration as a super PAC
with the Federal Election Commission was posted online last week and
contains one important clue about its origins. All Citizens for
Mississippi shares an address with New Horizon Church International in Jackson and also names Jacqueline Vann, the church’s chief financial officer, as its treasurer.
.
.
If
church resources were used by the PAC, that could be “potentially
problematic" for the church, said Michael Toner, a partner at the Wiley
Rein law firm and a former F.E.C. chairman. “The people who are
associated with churches, you can be involved in politics, but need to
do so in your personal capacity. That’s the dividing line: Is it in
their personal capacity?”
.
.
The danger for the church is that it, like other I.R.S.-approved charities, could lose its tax status if it participates in a political campaign,
whether for or against a candidate. The advertisement appears to have
appeared around the same time the group’s F.E.C. registration form was
filled out, but the PAC has not filed an independent expenditure report
describing the expenditure or any reports listing its donors. An email
and a phone call to Ms. Vann at the church’s offices were not
immediately returned.
.
.
The
ad, with a big picture of a smiling Mr. Cochran, asked Democrats to
vote for him. It cited the senator as having received praise from
Democrats and Republicans alike for providing more than $18 million to
Mississippi’s historically black colleges and universities.
“The
decision on who is going to be our next senator is going to be made in
the republican primary,” the text at the bottom of the ad reads, keeping
the names of the political parties in lowercase. “We’re asking
democrats to cross over and vote in the republican primary to ensure our
community’s interest is heard.”
.
.
Mr. Cochran was unable to win a majority of votes in the Republican primary June 3. He faces Chris McDaniel, a state senator, in a June 24 runoff election."
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Derek Willis NY Times Twitter
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Derek Willis NY Times Twitter
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Filed for organization at Church address, 6/6/14:
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“I think we are going to crush them everywhere,” Mitch McConnell said.
3/8/14, "Leading Republicans Move to Stamp Out Challenges From Right," NY Times, Carl Hulse
"Top congressional Republicans and their allies are
challenging the advocacy groups head on in an aggressive effort to
undermine their credibility. The goal is to deny them any Senate primary
victories, cut into their fund-raising and diminish them as a future
force in Republican politics.
“I
think we are going to crush them everywhere,” Mr. McConnell, the Senate
Republican leader, said in an interview, referring to the network of
activist organizations working against him and two Republican incumbents
in Kansas and Mississippi while engaging in a handful of other
contests. “I don’t think they are going to have a single nominee
anywhere in the country.”"...
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6/13/14, "Two New York Billionaires Each Give $250K to Pro-Cochran Super PAC," Roll Call, Kent Cooper
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6/13/14, "After Cantor Shock Independent Expenditures Resume (Updated)," Roll Call, Kent Cooper
"The day after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s primary loss, major national organizations quickly resumed making large independent expenditures for and against candidates in the 2014 elections....
Updated, 8PM: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported this evening that it had spent $500,000 on June 13th for independent expenditures on TV advertisements supporting Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss." (end of article)
====================
"Godfather" Haley Barbour funnels outside corporate money to Thad Cochran's re-election campaign in Mississippi:
3/19/14, "The Barbour Gang rides to Thad Cochran’s rescue," Politico, Alexander Burns
 |
| Haley Barbour |
Looming over everything is Haley Barbour, who remains a Godfather-like figure in state politics three years after leaving office. He presides over an expansive network of closely linked operatives and a channel of major-donor money that runs from K Street to downtown Jackson and through national groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce."...
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Thad Cochran small donors: 1%. Chris McDaniel small donors: 33%:
.
6/6/14, 2014 Mississippi Senate Race, Open Secrets, "Raised and Spent" as of May 14, 2014
Thad Cochran
Chris McDaniel
.
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Mitch McConnell raised $800,000 more last week in attempt to silence ordinary Americans:
6/14/14, "A Cantor Effect for Businesses and the G.O.P.," NY Times, Jeremy W. Peters, Shaila Dewan
"The day after Representative Eric Cantor became the first congressional leader in modern times to lose his seat in a primary, one of the biggest aftershocks occurred not on Capitol Hill or in the sprawling Richmond suburbs he has represented for more than a decade but on the New York Stock Exchange. The share price of Boeing tumbled, wiping out all the gains it had made this year, a drop analysts attributed to the startling defeat....
Last week, many of Washington’s top corporate lobbyists, representing an array of industries like shipping and telecommunications, gathered on Capitol Hill for a fund-raiser that brought in $800,000 for Mr. Cochran’s runoff election on June 24....
.
The
biggest donors to the political committees supporting Mr. Cochran’s
campaign have all been large corporations like the defense contractors
Raytheon and General Atomics. Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of
New York, wrote a check for $250,000 last month....
.
.