AARP Voter Fraud Article - Misrepresentation
- From: "++" <galja101@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 14:34:20 -0800 (PST)
Paid GOP workers say they misled Wis. voters
November 4, 2008 - Associated Press Online
MADISON, Wis., Nov. 4, 2008 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- Four
employees hired by a temporary staffing agency to encourage absentee
voting for Republican presidential candidate John McCain say they were
instructed to tell people they were GOP volunteers.
Kevin Kennedy, director of the state's Government Accountability
Board, said he received complaints that the workers were told to
mislead voters into believing they were volunteers. The complaints
have been forwarded to local district attorneys, he said, but it's
unclear whether the alleged deception would be a crime.
The employees told The Associated Press on Monday they were hired by
Allstaff Labor Group to go door to door in the Milwaukee suburbs
locating McCain supporters and distributing absentee ballot request
forms. Allstaff recruited them under a contract with a consulting firm
hired by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to run its absentee ballot
program.
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/politics/articles/paid_gop_workers_say_they_misled_wis_voters.html?print=1
The workers claim they were told to say they were GOP volunteers even
though they were getting paid $10 an hour. They were required to sign
agreements stating they would not publicly discuss their work but said
they decided to speak out because they were angry they had not been
paid for the last few days. They claim they are owed between $200 and
$300.
GOP spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski confirmed there was a dispute over
how many hours the employees worked and said the party's vendor was
working to resolve it.
She said the workers spent three weeks distributing the forms to
McCain supporters around the state. The program's managers were
instructed to "accurately represent the program" to the workers,
Kukowski said.
The paid employees, who were working at GOP offices alongside
volunteers, may have picked up scripts intended for volunteers, she
said.
"We did not instruct them to misrepresent themselves," Kukowski wrote
in an e-mail.
Allstaff representatives did not return phone messages seeking
comment.
The agency was only one of many hired by GOP consulting firm Lincoln
Strategy Group to run the party's absentee ballot request distribution
program.
"I told the Republican Party and Allstaff I wanted to know why we were
lying to these residents," said Loyalty Dixon, 26, who worked in
Waukesha for about two weeks. "I said, `Isn't that fraudulent?' They
didn't give me a good explanation. They said, `You guys know you're
getting paid. Don't worry about it.'"
She recalled getting praised by people for being a McCain supporter.
Some even asked whether she was getting paid, she said.
"We had to lie to these people and say we were volunteers," she said.
Three other employees shared similar stories.
"They had us say, `I'm volunteering for the Republican Party of
Wisconsin," said Marquis Mayes, 23. "I asked them, why would we say we
were volunteers and we're not? They didn't have an answer for that."
Newstex ID: AP-0001-29166205
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