29 October 2004

GOP Trickster Defends Shady Tactics

Nathan Sproul, under fire, for allegedly destroying Democrat registrations.
"It's unethical to not register anyone who comes to you to register," said Karen Osborne, a Democrat who is elections director for Maricopa County, Arizona's most populous county.

Whether the Justice Department is investigating Sproul is unclear. The department did not immediately return a call for comment, but Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller said the FBI has taken the lead on an investigation into claims of voter fraud in his state by a company headed by Sproul.

Sproul is fighting back. After former canvasser Eric Russell of Las Vegas claimed that he saw a Sproul supervisor tear up eight to 10 registration forms completed by Democrats, Sproul hit Russell with a slander suit.

Russell said he managed to grab some of the shredded documents as evidence.

It's a shame when a "Christian" justifies such unethical practices, including adopting a name to purposefully confuse and mislead the public.

Voters Outreach of America — an organization reportedly run by Nathan Sproul, the former head of the Arizona Republican Party — has run registration drives in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida and Nevada. These registration drives are often run under the name "America Votes," which is a problem, since America Votes is an actual nonpartisan political organization.

"Voters Outreach is not in any way, shape or form associated with us. They called themselves America Votes when they were registering voters," said Carrie Sandstedt, the Nevada director of America Votes. "We've actually sent out a letter to Sproul & Associates [Sproul's Arizona-based political consulting firm] asking them to stop calling themselves America Votes."

Salon has published a lenghty piece on the matter, showing that it's not just one "disgruntled employee" telling of impropriety with this RNC funded enterprise.

It should be a slam dunk if Russell indeed saved "shredded paperwork" that includes signed voter registration forms. Of course, lawyers for Sproul can counter that he was the one who destroyed those forms, unless Russell's testimony is collaborated.

And here is a videotape of past Sproul work, in an anti-Clean Elections campaign, demostrating more dishonesty.

Comments

Oh look, John Kerry is winning in the Arizona Republic online poll, 54.44% to 43.80%.

http://www.azcentral.com