Why is the Left So Determined to Smear True the Vote?

The Texas Democratic Party has joined AlterNet’s leftists in smearing True the Vote, the Houston-based group that’s auditing Wisconsin’s recall petitions. The Texas Democratic Party is running the following email fundraiser that accuses True the Vote/King Street Patriots of “voter intimidation.” Your state’s Democratic Party may be doing something similar to this.

Dear Xxxxx,

Guess who just got involved in the Wisconsin recall election?

The King Street Patriots, the Houston-based Tea Party group that made national news last election cycle for intimidating voters at minority polling sites, has decided to take their “talents” to Wisconsin.

Our lawsuit against this group continues and we fully intend to keep pursuing it until we force them to drop the facade that they’re anything other than a front group for Republicans’ dirty work.

Full details are in our press release below, and if you’d like to support our legal battle, you can click here to give $5, $10 or any amount. (link intentionally broken -bp)

Thanks.

Anthony

INFAMOUS TX VOTER INTIMIDATION GROUP INSERTS ITSELF INTO WALKER RECALL ELECTION 
King Street Patriots Challenging Walker Recall Petition

“True the Vote” is a front group for the King Street Patriots (KSP), a Tea Party nonprofit corporation based in Texas. KSP made national news last election cycle when their members were caught [1] conducting a voter intimidation program in Houston which consisted of the KSP training “poll watchers” who were then assigned by the local Republican Party or a Republican candidate to “watch” people voting inside poll sites. As was widely reported, what the KSP poll watchers actually did was show up to poll sites and leer over the shoulders of voters, argue with election judges and generally cause disrupt voting within poll sites, all of which were in minority precincts. The many instances of voter intimidation resulted in the Department of Justice sending federal inspectors to monitor the election.Among the KSP’s other infamous Texas exploits was a revelation that they produced a promotional video in which they falsified a photograph of an African-American woman to make it appear that she was holding a sign that advocated for voter fraud, when she was actually holding at a Gore / Lieberman rally and the sign actually said “Don’t Mess With Our Vote”. [2] Earlier this year the KSP also held a fundraiser with Matthew Vadum – an ultra-rightwing author who believes that “registering the poor to vote is un-American.”The Texas Democratic Party has an ongoing lawsuit against the KSP because the Tea Party group has, without exception, been working to suppress Democratic turnout and enhance the prospects of Republican candidates. However, as a nonprofit corporation filed in Texas, the group is prohibited from conducting that type of political activity and is essentially operating as an illegal political action committee. By maintaining itself as a nonprofit corporation, the KSP are able to conduct their vote suppression scheme without disclosing the people bankrolling it all.

TDP spokesman Anthony Gutierrez released the following statement:

“The King Street Patriots are nothing more than a front group in the Republican assault on voting rights. Just as Scott Walker paved the way for Republicans in their war on the rights of workers, Texas Republicans like the King Street Patriots are trailblazers when it comes to thinking up new ways to keep elections out of the hands of voters. It’s no surprise that the king Street Patriots are eager to insert themselves in the Wisconsin race given that recent polls show Scott Walker losing against all the leading Democratic candidates.”

Many of the Republican policies being pushed around the country today which seek to make democracy less accessible were originated by Texas Republicans like the King Street Patriots.

We sincerely regret that this extremist group has expanded their operations outside of Texas. We will continue our legal battle and have no intention of giving up until we force them to admit that they are a Republican political action committee and stop operating in the shadows.”

[1] Talking Points Memo
Eyewitnesses report intimidation by Texas poll watchers

[2] Huffington Post
Right-wing Voter Suppression Effort Caught Using Doctored Photo

Anthony Gutierrez
Deputy Executive Director
Texas Democratic Party

The pathetic, out of touch Texas Democrats haven’t won a statewide race in 18 years. They have fought sensible voter ID laws in Texas despite overwhelming support for such laws across the state’s diverse population, and despite longstanding evidence of voter fraud. But they’re raising money to help a recall in Wisconsin? Shouldn’t this hapless bunch of leftists attend to their own state first?

Mr. Gutierrez has put his and his party’s name on a pack of lies. He has once again tainted his entire party as cheaters, or supporters of cheaters. It’s rich for the Texas Democratic Party, with its shameful racist history and its long record of voter fraud going back at least to the time of Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1948, to accuse anyone else of wrongdoing. That party continues to use a two-step primary system that allows party bosses to rig outcomes. And it’s hilarious that any ally of the Obama/Holder Department of Justice that dropped a won case of actual voter intimidation against the Black Panthers now accuses anyone else of voter intimidation. But there is more than just the usual Democrat/left hypocrisy at work here.

True the Vote is auditing the petitions to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. That recall is being run by the usual suspects, Big Labor and and the state’s Democratic Party, and they overwhelmed the state election board with over a million signatures. The left, judging by its own behavior, does not want those signatures reviewed. At all. While they’re accusing True the Vote of “voter intimidation,” the truth is that the left is trying to intimidate and discredit True the Vote itself. And here’s why: True the Vote’s audit is uncovering widespread fraud on those petitions.

The number of blank, incomplete, invalid and outright fraudulent petitions makes clear United Wisconsin’s intentions. One Democrat even appears to have entered his brother’s name four separate times. His brother was against the recall. He also signed up his mother, other family members and possibly even neighbors without their assent or knowledge. The entire effort recalls the familiar Democrat battle cry: “Win, even if you have to sell your mother.”

True the Vote is a genuine grassroots organization dedicated to one thing: Ensuring election integrity. That the Texas Democrats, AlterNet and other leftists are do determined to destroy them says quite a bit. The left cheats and will do whatever it can to retain the ability to keep on cheating.