Politics

What’s Up, Wisconsin?: Is the Koch-Funded Americans for Prosperity Playing Dirty Tricks with Voters in the Badger State?

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

It appears that Americans for Prosperity, a group co-founded by the Koch Brothers, may be involved in voter shenanigans in Wisconsin. According to David Catanese at Politico, AFP “is sending absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork after the election date.” Think Progress has reported that the AFP mailer isn’t actually a ballot but a “form letter that looks like a normal absentee ballot application.” The Absentee Ballot Processing Center that is printed on the last page of the AFP mailer is actually registered to a right-wing advocacy group called Wisconsin Family Action PAC—and not to an actual processing center or election board.

Eric Kleefeld of Talking Points Memo reported that an organization called Wisconsin Right to Life had previously used that same address (Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center, P.O. Box 1327, Madison WI 53701-1327) “for absentee ballot application letters and phone calls that were sent out shortly before the July 12 Democratic primaries, but after the official deadlines for the applications.”

Catanese also noted in his Politico article that the “absentee trickery comes just as AFP has purchased $150,000 in ad time in Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison to boost GOP candidates.”

Yesterday, David Bice wrote in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  that Matt Seaholm, who is the state director of Americans for Prosperity, blamed the mistake on a typo and claimed that his group was not trying to mislead anyone.

Bice also reported that other sources said the fliers were received by “card-carrying Democrats active in the recalls” of state Sens. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls) and Rob Cowles (R-Allouez). In addition, Bice wrote: “Two of the activists who received the AFP mailers are expected to file complaints with the state Government Accountability Board later today. Copies of the complaints were obtained by No Quarter.”

Click here to see the Americans for Prosperity “absentee ballot” fliers.

Click here to see copies of the complaints obtained by No Quarter.

Going Back in Time: Paul Weyrich’s Idea of Republican Voter Suppression

SOURCES
Conservative group sends absentee ballots with late return date (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

John Nichols: Gov. Walker, David Koch and the charges of voter suppression (Madison.com)

AFP Wisconsin ballots have late return date (Politico)

Koch Group Mails Suspicious Absentee Ballot Letters In Wisconsin (Talking Points Memo)

David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity Plays Dirty Trick In WI: Mails Absentee Ballots To Dems With Wrong Election Date (Think Progress)

59 thoughts on “What’s Up, Wisconsin?: Is the Koch-Funded Americans for Prosperity Playing Dirty Tricks with Voters in the Badger State?”

  1. mahtso,

    I found the following article. Is this the one you were talking about?

    Political groups fumble recall date
    http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/126555698.html

    Excerpt:
    And the Democratic National Committee has been making robocalls to voters – including some Republican activists – giving them the wrong date for the upcoming recall election for state Sen. Dan Kapanke, a La Crosse Republican.

    *****

    I may be a progressive–but I do like to be fair and balanced.

  2. That’s not the only curious election-related activity going on before the high-stakes recall races.

    Duane and Claire Cina of Viola – self-described Republican activists – said they received a robocall asking if they would be voting in the upcoming Aug. 16 recall election pitting Kapanke against Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Shilling.

    The only problem with that is that the election is Aug. 9.

    Claire Cina, 50, said she believes the call was coming from Democrats hoping to confuse Kapanke supporters.

    “I don’t think it’s good politics,” Duane Cina said.

    Harrington, the Kapanke staffer, said her office received numerous complaints from backers upset about the calls. Her office eventually contacted state election officials.

    Reid Magney, spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, said the Democratic National Committee fessed up to making the calls with the wrong date.

    “We contacted DNC and asked about the robocalls,” Magney said in an email. “They called us back and said they had initiated them and discontinued them as soon as they realized the dates were wrong.”

    Officials with the DNC didn’t return calls or emails.

    Harrington isn’t buying that this was just an innocent mistake.

    “I don’t know how you mix that up,” she said. “The biggest thing is the election day.”

    Unless, of course, you’re trying to keep certain people from the polls.

    (Source)

    Terrorists!!!!

    The republic is going to fall!!!!!

  3. So is it now ok to call your political opponents terrorists?

    Terrorists violently murder innocent people, often by blowing them up. I get that.

    And people who disagree with your political views violently murder innocent people how exactly? (By only allowing the federal budget to grow by only $200 billion over the next decade in a bipartisan supported bill?)

    Why not throw in a Hitler and Nazi reference in there as well? Surely we can tie these violent murders into a claim of genocide?

    It’s funny how at least two commenters who bring up “false equivalence” the most are the ones doing the most complaining on this thread.

  6. A column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (jsonline.com) covered this issue. It also pointed out “dirty” tricks by the Democrats (e.g., robo calls to Republicans that give the wrong election date.)

    The sharkandshepeard blog suggests that the problem may be that the recall elections were not all set for the same date (he writes they were bifurcated by party).

  8. culheath & rafflaw,

    Remember how the “liberal media” gave George Bush a buy on the Iraq War? How some members of the “liberal media” always used the term “enhanced interrogation techniques/methods” instead of “torture” in their reports? How members of the “liberal media” fell for the Mission Accomplished claim of Bush? Remember Judith Miller?

    Liberal media? I think not. I’d call it corporate media.

  9. Roco,
    I think you missed the point. The Koch Brothers are the playing field when it comes to contacting voters. Besides, are you suggesting to us, in good faith, that Fox News is not available as a playing field for any Teapublican issue under the sun? Are they not a national media?

  10. Roco,

    “Although as far as the robocalling is concerned, we dont have a national media that will do that for us so we have to level the playing field as best we can.”

    Elaborate please?

  11. culheath:

    I cant speak for the others, but for me voter fraud is voter whether it is right left or center and has no place in our republic.

    If the Koch Bros are involved and have broken the law they should go to jail or be fined or endure whatever penalty is applicable under the law.

    Although as far as the robocalling is concerned, we dont have a national media that will do that for us so we have to level the playing field as best we can.

  14. You want to talk about voter fraud? This is about as fraudulent as it gets.
    This sort of thing reminds me of the robocalls used by the right made to Democratic voters telling them that there was no need to vote because their candidate was already so far ahead in the exit polls.

    Let’s see how out recent trolls react to this bit of right wing chicanery.

    Thanks for the heads up, Elaine.

  15. Otteray,

    “We have the best Congress and President money can buy.”

    Unfortunately, when it comes to politicians, money doesn’t actually buy the best.

  16. OS and Gene,
    I prefer to call them domestic terrorists. To put it in Bushspeak, the Koch Brothers are “evil-doers”!
    Great article Elaine.

  17. Gene, yes, sometimes a Mont Blanc pen is a more formidable weapon than an Army division. Especially when it is used to write checks that buy politicians. We have the best Congress and President money can buy.

  18. You’ll catch no argument from me on that statement, OS. I feel the same way about criminals in general. The worst of the lot don’t ever touch a weapon pointier than a pen.

  19. Gene, not all terrorists carry bombs, knives and firearms. Some wear suits and ties, and their weapons are all on paper. They are economic and social terrorists.

  20. Of course they are, Elaine.

    It’s what the Koch Brothers do – try to rig the political system to favor their business interests every chance they get.

    Along with our war criminal and special interest corrupted politicians, the Koch Brothers are a far larger threat to democracy than any terrorist ever could be.

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