New Rule: When the Wisconsin Republican Party, prosecutes BS likes this:
n the town of Albion, new residents and young people who have just reached voting age usually drop by the town clerk’s office to register to vote.
But this year, the town’s part-time clerk, Julie Hanewall, has received about 30 registration applications by mail, and more are arriving almost every day.
The strange thing is, the applications weren’t mailed in by town residents. They were sent by people who live in Madison and other Dane County communities. Hanewall forwards the papers to the correct municipal clerk, but she worries that as Election Day grows closer, some may not arrive on time.
“I feel sorry for these people who are being misled,” Hanewall said.
The source of the misdirected applications is the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
Municipal clerks and others who have seen the mailings wonder if it’s part of an effort to suppress the vote in the predominantly Democratic Madison area, but the state agency in charge of elections says it’s part of a long-term pattern of mistakes by the state GOP and other groups trying to get out the vote.
“These types of mailers get sent out all the time before elections, and it is not uncommon for them to contain errors,” said Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney.
The state Republican Party briefly contracted with a controversial political organization but dropped ties with it last month after problems developed in Florida.
Law enforcement in Florida are investigating a firm set up by Nathan Sproul over election improprieties such as voter registrations filed under false addresses and the names of dead people, according to The New York Times and others.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin contracted with Sproul’s Strategic Allied Consulting and had its workers in the state for about a week, according to Nathan Conrad, a spokesman for the Wisconsin party. Conrad said the contract was terminated last month when the problems in Florida emerged. The Republican National Committee and other state parties also terminated their contracts at the time.
“There is no tolerance for them at all,” said Reince Priebus, the RNC’s chairman.
Sproul has operated companies under a number of names, including Sproul & Associates, Lincoln Strategy Group and Strategic Allied Consulting, according to The New York Times.
The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Sproul is now working with a company called Issue Advocacy Partners.
In May and June, the Wisconsin Republican Party paid $505,000 to Issue Advocacy Partners to do door-to-door canvassing as Democrats tried to recall Gov. Scott Walker and Republican state senators, according to campaign finance records and an interview with Conrad. Issue Advocacy Partners has a issueadvocacypartners.com/”>website that was virtually identical to Strategic Allied Consulting’s until recently. Both sites had the same design, photos and text.
Sure they dumped them at the time, but when you hire Nathan Sproul to do your dirty work that is exactly what you are going to get. Similar to when you hire former felon – granted immunity in the original caucus scandal, Kelly Reindfleisch, for stealing from Taxpayers, you know exactly what you are going to get as a worker in your office.
When republicans want to stop all of those voter suppression games, then they can have a seat at the adults table and we can discuss real election reform. Until then they are just a bunch of whiny little children who have their own club and play silly games.
