More Change and Hope…
Yesterday, Ben Smith at The Politico announced the latest addition to the Obama Campaign, Patrick Gaspard:
Patrick Gaspard, a New York labor official Obama’s campaign tried to recruit in the primary, is joining the campaign as its political director, the campaign announced.
Gaspard is the top political of the powerhouse New York-based healthcare workers union 1199, an SEIU affiliate and the largest local union in the country, where he specialized in winning state and local races through powerful,well-organized and energized ground operations.
So who is this Patrick Gaspard and why was the Obama Campaign so eager to put him on staff?
In 2004, Patrick Gaspard Served As National Field Director For 527 Organization America Coming Together, a group that was later fined $775,000 in civil penalties by the federal government.
The Washington Post reported:
The Kerry effort will be aided by America Coming Together, an independent group working to get out the Democratic vote. The group plans to stage marches before Election Day to polling stations that open early in key states to put ‘peer and community pressure’ on low-propensity voters, said Patrick Gaspard, the group’s national field director.
In 2004 ACT Hired Dozens Of Felons As Voter Canvassers In Missouri, Ohio And Florida, Including People Convicted Of “Crimes Such As Burglary, Forgery, Drug Dealing, Assault And Sex Offenses”:
A Democratic group crucial to John Kerry’s presidential campaign has paid felons – some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary – to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in at least three election swing states. America Coming Together, contending that convicted criminals deserve a second chance in society, employs felons as voter canvassers in major metropolitan areas in Missouri, Florida, Ohio and perhaps in other states among the 17 it is targeting in its drive. Some lived in halfway houses, and at least four returned to prison. … A review of federal campaign finance and state criminal records by The Associated Press revealed that the names and hometowns of dozens of ACT employees in Missouri, Florida and Ohio matched those of people convicted of crimes such as burglary, forgery, drug dealing, assault and sex offenses…
ACT canvassers ask residents which issues are important to them and, if they are not registered, sign them up as voters. They gather telephone numbers and other personal information, such as driver’s license numbers or partial Social Security numbers, depending on what a state requires for voter registration…
[ACT Spokesman Mo] Elleithee confirmed that felons have been hired in Missouri, Florida and Ohio and said it is possible they have been hired in the other 14 states in which it’s conducting its drive: Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Seven of the ACT employees lived at Missouri halfway houses and at least four returned to prison:
Some of the felons lived in halfway houses, and at least four returned to prison… Five ACT employees lived at the Kansas City Community Release Center and two others at the St. Louis Community Release Center earlier this year… Four of ACT’s former employees living at a Missouri halfway house have since been returned to prison – two for drug violations, one for endangering the welfare of a child and another for walking away from the facility.
Because of this the Missouri Department Of Corrections banished ACT from its pool of potential employers for Parolees, saying, “They did not want offenders handing sensitive personal information:
Citing security concerns for the public and for the felons, the Missouri Department of Corrections in April banished ACT from its pool of potential employers for parolees in its halfway houses in Kansas City and St. Louis, department spokesman John Fougere said. Five ACT employees lived at the Kansas City Community Release Center and two others at the St. Louis Community Release Center earlier this year. ‘From a public safety standpoint, we didn’t want offenders to be in a situation where they would be handling that information,’ Fougere said.
The names of two of the ACT employees even matched those of people convicted of murder and rape! And, of course, ACT submitted hundreds of faulty registrations to St. Louis, via KMOV:
Sleuths at the St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners are trashing hundreds of faulty voter registrations, most of them collected by voter drive groups like Pro-Vote and America Coming Together… KMOV presented [Commissioner David] Welch with a list of names of voters who apparently registered twice, using variations of their names – registrations that had not yet been flagged.
And, ACT was also good at getting the dead voters signed up in time for the election.
ACT was sued in Ohio by the Republican Party for placing calls telling Republican voters to go to the wrong polling place:
The Ohio Republican Party sued in Marion County just before its county courthouse doors closed at 4:30 p.m., asking for a restraining order against state and county Democrats and the political group America Coming Together. The suit claimed they were peppering the Republican strongholds of Marion and Greene counties with misleading taped phone messages. Republican attorney Mark Weaver said several dozen GOP voters complained to party headquarters that the messages directed them to an improper polling place or told them, incorrectly, that they needed to bring identification or a utility bill to the polls.
It’s funny how we didn’t hear much about this at the time?
That is a little backround on ACT.
No wonder the Obama Campaign wanted Patrick Gaspard in their camp!
Change- Hope?… Don’t think so.
