Breaking: California Democrat State Senator Indicted for Public Corruption; UPDATE: Yee Detained
SAN FRANCISCO — State Senator Leland Yee has been indicted for public corruption as part of a major FBI operation Tuesday morning spanning the Bay Area, according to law-enforcement sources.
Yee, D-San Francisco, highlights a string of multiple arrests that also includes infamous Chinatown gangster Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, connected to a variety of charges including racketeering and drug crimes, sources said.
FBI agents and local police are serving arrest and search warrants throughout the Bay Area, with agents seen in locations in San Francisco and San Mateo, as well as Yee’s Capitol office in Sacramento. One of the searches was at the San Francisco Chinatown office of the Gee King Tong Free Masons and is linked to Chow’s arrest.
I think they mean “Wednesday morning” because my impression is that this is all going on right now.
Thanks to MM.
P.S. Perhaps my favorite tidbit:
Yee is the state’s third Democratic legislator recently tied to corruption allegations. In February, State Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, surrendered to authorities after being indicted on bribery charges. In January, Assemblyman Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, was convicted of voter fraud and perjury stemming from a 2010 indictment.
Voter fraud? Why, voter fraud never happens!
Never fails. Republicans always have the sex scandals, while Democrats tend to have the corruption scandals.
UPDATE: Yee has been detained, per the L.A. Times:
State Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco has been detained after a series of raids by FBI and gang task force officials Wednesday, according to various media reports.
FBI agents searched Yee’s state Senate office Wednesday morning but declined to comment to The Times on the nature of their investigation. News photos showed Yee, a Democrat who is also running to be California’s secretary of state, in the backseat of a patrol car as he arrived at a federal courthouse in downtown San Francisco.
Dan Lieberman, Yee’s press secretary, told The Times his office would not comment on the FBI raids, which were reportedly linked to the arrest Wednesday morning of Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow.
Somehow the L.A. Times declined to provide one of those photos. If a reader finds one, let me know and I will post it.
UPDATE x2: Here is the first photo I have found, from NBC Bay Area:
UPDATE x3: Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina also arrested on corruption charges today. Prepare for a shock: it’s another Democrat.
Charlotte Mayor, Patrick DeAngelo Cannon, was arrested today by FBI agents for alleged violations of federal public corruption laws, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. The federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, charges Cannon, 47, of Charlotte, with theft and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud and extortion under color of official right.
Thanks to crosspatch.
UPDATE x4: Yee recently received an award for making government more transparent:
For his efforts to bring greater government transparency, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) will be honored with the Public Official Award by the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) on Thursday, March 20, at 6:00 PM, at the City Club in San Francisco.
“I am honored to receive this award from the Society of Professional Journalists,” said Yee. “I’m proud to share the stage with so many who have done so much to keep our government open and accountable.”
Yee received the award in recognition of his opposition to efforts to weaken the California Public Records Act by loosening disclosure requirements for local governments.
Yee has authored numerous bills designed to make government more transparent.
Thanks to K.T.
Ding.
Patterico (c29bec) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:12 amI know its California, but you’d think there’d be a limit to public tolerance.
gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:17 amKFSN in Fresno is now reporting that both Yee and Raymond Chow, leader of a powerful Chinatown gang in SF, have been taken into custody — arrested.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/politics&id=9474569
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:21 amMr Gulrud naïvely wrote:
Oh, I’m sure there is, but the limit of the public’s tolerance does not extend so far as to replace Democrats with Republicans.
The Dana who left California when he was in elementary school (3e4784) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:22 amHoly crap! Corrupt senators, a ganster named “Shrimp Boy” and a Chinese Tong?
Did The Shadow take them down?
Pious Agnostic (7eb3b0) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:26 amSen. Wright’s conviction was for voter fraud in the form of lying about where he lived, when declaring his candidacy. Basically he claimed to live in a district he didn’t live in.
That’s not “illegal votes swaying the outcome of an election” style vote fraud.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:26 amAbove according to KGO-TV 7 in SF
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:28 amUPDATE: Yee has been detained, per the L.A. Times:
Somehow the L.A. Times declined to provide one of those photos. If a reader finds one, let me know and I will post it.
Patterico (c29bec) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:30 ampoor Dem Leland Yee
Colonel Haiku (a6d597) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:31 amcommits crime later hungry
to commit some more
Also, LOLWUT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_8th_State_Senate_district
Shows that the Sen. Yee currently represents the far eastern portion of the state. That district renumbering seems broken.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:39 amIt’s not like Loretta Sanchez was initially elected due to vote fraud or anything.
Nathaniel Wright (223924) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:39 amYou can see information on an investigation regarding her election here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt416/html/CRPT-105hrpt416.htm
Nathaniel Wright (223924) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:40 amUPDATE x2: Here is the first photo I have found, from NBC Bay Area:
Patterico (c29bec) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:43 amThat is true in SF because there simply aren’t enough Republicans to get anyone elected there. But I do believe that 2014 is going to see an increase in Republican office holders in California state government and in county and municipal elections, too.
In fact, I believe the story of Democrat losses at the state and local level nationwide is going to be a bigger story than elections having to do with DC. The Democrats are going to be swept out of power in several areas at lower levels of government.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:45 amNathaniel, at 11:
you’re right. Your document itself says that there isn’t evidence to substantiate the claim that Sanchez was elected due to vote fraud.
> In conclusion, had the Task Force and Committee not acted to consider the merits of this contest,significant vote fraud and vote irregularities would have goneundetected. However, the number of ballots for which the Task Force and Committee has clear and convincing evidence that they were cast improperly by individuals not eligible to vote in the November 1996 election is substantially less than the 979 vote margin in this election.
That is to say
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:46 am(a) there is evidence of vote fraud and voting irregularities
(b) the number of cases of vote fraud for which there is clear and convincing evidence is SMALLER than the margin of victory.
Video of Lee arriving in a car, appears he might be in handcuffs. San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Leland-Yee-arrested-in-corruption-case-5350602.php#item-28329
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:50 amI would be shocked to see a significant increase in Republican power in California as a result of this election. Nationwide, yes. In California, no.
http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2459.pdf shows the following:
* voters living in districts with Republican congressmen are not inclined to re-elect them, by a 43 (not inclined)-36 (inclined)-21 (depends) margin.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:50 am* voters living in districts with Democratic congressmen are somewhat inclined to re-elect them, with a 47 (inclined)-36 (not inclined)-17 (Depends) margin.
Forget it, Jake…
mojo (6db70b) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:54 amImpressive. In PA the AG cries “racism” and cancels the investigation.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:59 amPatterico: Assemblyman Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, was convicted of voter fraud and perjury stemming from a 2010 indictment.
This was actually a matter of falsifying his address, in order to run in a certain district, and only incidentally, voter fraud.
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:00 am@10- Actually, no.
Until the 2014 election names a senator for what is the 8th district (the one from the recent redistricting) there is no senator representing them. The confluence of the new boundaries and the staggered terms of state senators left portions of the new district unrepresented until the 2014 election. “One man, one vote” only means something when the government says it does.
Yee is the senator for the current 8th district, which will get different boundaries and a new number. I believe he is termed out, anyway, but has announced as a candidate for Secretary of State. He will probably win, indictment or not.
gramps, the original (e6edf4) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:00 amWatch. Looks like Republicans will likely pick up at least one US House seat at least, and maybe two. But the largest influence on November’s election hasn’t happened yet. California is going to be faced with a brutal drought this summer. We have had practically no rain this winter. The Central Valley is going to be a dust bowl. Over 200 million heads of lettuce and tons of table grapes are not going to make it to dinner tables this year. The price of fresh produce is going to skyrocket.
Meanwhile, Brown shovels dollars to projects that do not provide one single drop of additional water and provide projects for maybe someday cities can drink their own sewage. While all that is going on, we have billions earmarked for a train set that nobody wants.
Everyplace outside of the urban Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay metro areas is going to be fired up by the time November comes around. The problem is, those two places have 2/3 of the voters in California.
If you don’t live in California and you have room for a garden, I would recommend you plant one this year even if you don’t usually do so.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:00 amHas the state senate expelled the convicted Roderick Wright yet? It’s been about 2 months since his conviction.
It’s not as if he would do the right thing and just resign.
JoeH (187d65) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:00 amLooks like today is “lets bust Democrats” day. Democrat mayor of Charlotte, NC was arrested, too.
http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2014/03/26/13/41/54VTX.So.138.pdf
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:08 amCrosspatch, I lived in California prior to 2011, and I’m familiar with the politics.
I think that – aside from SecState, where I think Dan Schnurr has a chance – the most likely outcome is that all of the statewide officeholders remain Democrats after the November election.
Conservatives have been predicting a Republican-Conservative resurgence in the state for 20 years, and it hasn’t been happening. The drought, and the economic effects thereof, provide them with an opening … but the state Republican party has shown itself to be incapable of taking such openings and making successes out of them.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:12 amUPDATE x3: Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina also arrested on corruption charges today. Prepare for a shock: it’s another Democrat.
Thanks to crosspatch.
Patterico (c29bec) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:15 amHey, don’t forget us here in Illinois! Rep. Farnham ran unopposed for reelection in the March 18 primary after the FBI raided his home and office looking for kiddie pron and resign afterward.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-24/news/ct-farnham-resignation-met-20140325_1_south-elgin-elgin-dairy-explicit-conduct
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:15 amOops. The second paragraph is mine.
Voter fraud? Why, voter fraud never happens!
Not voter fraud. Voter fraud by means of impersonation at the polls.
And there’s a reason it almost never happens.
For this to happen, on a more than individual basis, two things have to be true:
1) It is not easy to do absentee ballot fraud – that is, in that jurisdiction most voting must be in person.
2) The people committing the fraud do not control the election machinery – because if they did, they’d just stuff the ballot box, have voters sign in who never voted.
Furthermore, to get away with this without scandal, a third thing has to be true:
3) There must be no significant political opposition in the elections in question.
There are two kinds of cases of organized in-person voter impersonation fraud in the United States. In one case there was an organization in part of Brooklyn that did in person impersonation in the 1980s. Absentee ballots are hard to get in New York – and they didn’t control the election machinery, and there was very little opposition.
I think they actually used made up names whom they registered, although they could have used people who’d died or moved away. After many years these people were indicted and convicted.
The other kinds of cases were minor party primaries, where again there was very little organized political opposition. They voted in primaries in the names of people who maybe didn’t even realize they were registered in that party and would never show up to vote. Very few people cared about that election.
This was also in New York. In most other states, they would do absentee ballot fraud, which also happens here.
Voter ID, by the way cannot prevent in-person impersonation fraud.
In Israel it happened in 1999 in a Knesset election and it happened last year in the Beth Shemesh municipal election.
In Israel there is almost no absentee balloting – something designed to prevent Israelis living abroad from voting, with exceptions for diplomats, and people must use their national ID cards.
The way it works is like this: A political party or organization collects identity documents from people whom they are not sure will go to the polls, assembles a group of people, and matches them to the pictures.
In both cases religious parties were involved, in the second case it was sort of like a coalition.
In such cases there might be enough trust, or dependency, for people to surrender their documents. Not every party can do this.
Also required maybe is that only one dcument would work. If not, the person who turned over his document for the day might listen to someone who was encouraging people to vote and, like an idiot, show up at the polls.
In the first case, the vote was for the Knesset where there is proportional representation, so no other party was really hurt by some other party maybe getting an extra seat out of 120, so there was in effect, no significant political opposition with an incentive to go after the fraud. Half the other parties were happy enough anyway to see the extra seat go to them.
It was just a story in a newspaper and the investigation, if any, sort of died, I think. They had some 50 men with beards to cast votes for others. They each had to make sure they memorized the number before they went in to vote because they are asked for it before voting and most people know that by heart.
In the more recent case, it went to court, and the election was re-run, with the party that cheated winning the second time. (they also used new registrations from people who had lived outside before, and this was based on people who consented to lend their identity documents, so there were real people, who just attempted to give other people their proxy but were willing to vote for them anyway. This involved both men and women. People were overheard talking. It was actually the women who pushed this and got the election poverturned. And there was a raid during election day where a collection of ID documents was found. The legal case is still active.)
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:17 am** facepalm ** another Sammylanche.
SPQR (768505) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:20 amFrom the SF Chronicle article:
aphrael: Obama took several counties of California by less than 5 points. The affinity for Democrats is not all that strong in many places. The real problem is numbers. Republicans as a percentage of voters statewide are only 28.7% of registered voters compared to 43.6% who are Democrats. It isn’t even close and you can’t blame the state GOP for that.
In fact, most California voters have no idea how the GOP is organized and believe it is organized like the DNC is. For example, if you live in California, your local county Republican Committee is not affiliated with or funded by the RNC. It is completely separate. Local Democrat Committees ARE affiliated with the central DNC. That is how the DNC could pressure Democrats to support Filner by threatening to kill their political career for life as a Democrat if they didn’t support him.
In the Republican party the local county and state committees live on donations directly to them. Most people who are registered Republican do not know that and believe the RNC has some role in state / local politics, it doesn’t.
When you have a considerably smaller portion of the population as Republicans and the majority of those people in relatively rural areas, you can’t bring in a lot of money. The state committee was talking about closing their office in Sacramento for lack of funds only 2 years ago. The California GOP just doesn’t have much money. The Democrats in California get huge sums from the newly minted millionaires at Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The Republicans get their money from farmers that are being driven out of business in the Central Valley.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:29 amSammy – Didn’t Al Sharpton and various other Democrat dignitaries just attend a party for an Ohio woman who was just released from prison after serving time for in person voter fraud?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:32 amHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…………..
and Yee is a major gun control freak as well.
good riddance to bad rubbish.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:34 amHere’s the story:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/03/wow-al-sharpton-democrats-honor-convicted-voter-fraud-felon-melowese-richardson-at-welcome-home-party/
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:35 amWe have to face facts. People just do not seek political office in order to represent and be servants of the public much these days. There’ve always been bad eggs and corruption and bought votes but I really do not think to the degree we’ve seen almost nationwide recently.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:35 amYee to be arraigned at 1:30 at the federal court in San Francisco.
Also note that Leland Yee was a candidate for office on Secretary of State — the office that polices elections in California.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:38 amComment by crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:45 am
A GOP candidate for Long Beach (CA) City Council related that Jim Brulte (head of the CA GOP) told candidates that at the local level, there are more elected Republicans than Dems, but this isn’t trumpeted because these offices are all “non partisan”.
As to Yee, I’m sure this was all ginned up by Rush Limbaugh in response to Yee’s criticism of a Rush comedy gig on his show using “pidgin Chinese”.
askeptic (2bb434) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:38 amNo corruption in Sacramento, not even a smidgeon.
daleyrocks don’t make people play “guess the party”. Rep. Farnham is a Democrat. And he resigned the next day saying he’d been “ill for a long time”.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:40 amTo many Democrats getting in trouble; we’ll need to catch a Republican somewhere messing with an underaged boy.
The Dana who expects it soon (3e4784) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:44 amI’m glad that SF has had the opportunity to inform us what the NYT position on “alleged” voter-fraud is – it is just another fantasy moment.
askeptic (2bb434) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:45 amFarnham was “…well-liked and active in the community…” the better to prowl for kids.
askeptic (2bb434) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:47 am31.33. I didn’t know this. It didn’t make the headlines here.
The story seems to be she was a pollworker, and she voted absentee and then also voted at the polls!
This was the only charge they had against her, it seems, but they threw the book at her and sentenced her to 5 years in prison, and there was a whole campaign for a reduction of her sentence, which succeeded.
There must be something more to it than that.
She claimed she wasn’t sure the absentee vote would count.
It might be that had some protections in place against this kind of double voting (i.e. the name should be removed from the list of voters at te polling site) but maybe she committed some kind of fraud in order to do that.
I also would think the first rule before counting absentee ballots is to check whether or not the voter voted at the polls, if that’s possible.
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:48 amReinforcing the absolute belief at the Times that voter fraud never happens (because they never acknowledge it).
askeptic (2bb434) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:49 amThere are still more counties in California with a Republican majority than with a Democrat majority but many of these counties have sparse populations. But these counties all have governments so they have all the same sorts of positions so yeah. Heck, there are even a couple of Republicans on the San Jose city council.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:52 amSF, I remember a study from a decade ago that showed that 10’s of thousands of residents (home owners) in PA were also registered to vote at their second homes in FL.
askeptic (2bb434) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:53 amNow, why would you do that if you didn’t plan to vote at both addresses?
Yeah, right, it was just so they could engage in property tax issues (please roll that bridge up, we’ve go a sucker for it).
Just to register in two different jurisdictions is, according to the letter of most voter law, is a violation, a fraud.
“And he resigned the next day saying he’d been “ill for a long time”.”
elissa – He resigned after the primary, not after the raids, which preceded the primary. Those illnesses suddenly became an obstacle to Keith campaigning and serving after the raids/unopposed primary. I question the timing!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:56 am“31.33. I didn’t know this. It didn’t make the headlines here.”
Sammy – Of course it didn’t because voter fraud doesn’t exist. But Democrats celebrate those who commit it. Enough of your lame crap.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:58 amWonder how long until Obama starts to purge Republicans from the FBI. Clinton already purged them at the Justice Dept. HQ.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:00 pmShe might actually have voted six times:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/19/ohio-poll-worker-obama-supporter-investigated-for-potentially-voting-six-times/
She might have voted in the names of four other people, one of whom was her granddaughter, by filling out absentee ballots in their names. Her granddaughter says she gave her permission..but proxy voting is not legal. It violates ballot secrecy for one thing.
And the other three were absentee ballots that came from her address, signed with handwriting that looks like hers. Richardsom claimed that some of them (?) reside at her house.
An issue here also is that she used her position as a poll worker to cvover her tracks.
Apparently there is some suspicion there could even have been more cases.
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:01 pmSan Jose Murky News — interview with Shrimp Boy
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_25424379/raymond-shrimpboy-chow-profile?source=rss&cid=dlvr.it
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:02 pmWatch. Looks like Republicans will likely pick up at least one US House seat at least
They will also pick up a couple of state senate seats. The current state senate is better than 2/3rd Democrat (28-12), despite the GOP picking up a seat in a by-election. They are keeping Wright, Calderon and no doubt Yee in their seats to maintain their super-majority.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:05 pm44. Comment by askeptic (2bb434) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:53 am
SF, I remember a study from a decade ago that showed that 10′s of thousands of residents (home owners) in PA were also registered to vote at their second homes in FL.
There’s a lot of that, because when someone registers in another state, they are not, or were not, automatically removed from the first state. So it is possible.
Now, why would you do that if you didn’t plan to vote at both addresses?
One registration might have been done in 1984, and the second in 2002, when they bought the second house, or spent more time there, so there might not be any intention to do that at all.
But people have been known, I think, to vote in both places, not so often in the same election.
It would hardly ever get checked out. I’m not sure how Congress dealt with that after 2000.
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:07 pmI don’t think the story of Melowese Richardson even made the New York Times.
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:11 pmthe state Republican party has shown itself to be incapable of taking such openings and making successes out of them.
Perhaps, but the state party seems to be far less concerned with social issues than it once was. It is not only the drought but the water diversions from the central valley and the damn bullet train that could flip some seats.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:11 pmBut this is, again, absentee ballot fraud.
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:11 pmWas Yee one of the Asians that opposed new affirmative action rules? There must be a reason for the Holder DoJ to go after a Democrat. Obviously it isn’t embarrassment.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:14 pmThat’s absolutely correct daley, but Farnham’s name was already on the ballot and there were no other candidates. There were only a very few days between the time of the actual raid and his actual resignation. Primary day was one of those days and there had been early voting. People were scratching their heads over the ICE raids cuz he’s such a “great guy”. The feds were mum but once the papers ferreted out what the feds were looking for a coupla days later, it was over and he resigned the day after the primary. As an added feature he had sponsored legislation to crack down on kiddie pron. Kind of hoping for the Pete Townshend defense in case he got caught, I imagine. These pedophiles are truly evil.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:17 pmUPDATE x4: Yee recently received an award for making government more transparent:
Thanks to K.T.
Patterico (c29bec) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:19 pmYeah, never happens.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:19 pm“An issue here also is that she used her position as a poll worker to cvover her tracks.”
Sammy – It’s funny how that works. A group here in Chicago recently announced that they found at least 70,000 ineligible voters, people who had died or moved or ineligible for other reasons, still registered in just four wards.
You say you had not read about stories like Melowese Richardson and I’m not surprised at all. I don’t think the news sources you use have any interest in covering stories like that which go against “teh narrative.” They similarly in avoiding coverage of legal gun owners defending themselves against crime so gun control nuts believe all gun owners are crazed red neck killbots.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:19 pm==I don’t think the story of Melowese Richardson even made the New York Times.==
Do you ever write to the editors of the NYT, Sammy? If it’s true that they never printed the story or only lightly mentioned it, you would do the citizens of your country proud by asking them why.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:20 pm“As an added feature he had sponsored legislation to crack down on kiddie pron. Kind of hoping for the Pete Townshend defense in case he got caught, I imagine. These pedophiles are truly evil.”
elissa – Absolutely. Gotta understand the subject you are writing bills about. RESEARCH!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:22 pmAll of these deceased people voting just proves that Barack Obama and the Democrats have a core constituency among the brain dead !
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:23 pmOr something.
==I don’t think the story of Melowese Richardson even made the New York Times.==
Proves my point! Thank you.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:28 pmWhen an automatic voter registration renewal card or information about a polling place change can’t be delivered to a deceased person it goes to the dead letter file and ultimately back to the sender (the county clerk or some such). Crooked ones then know exactly whose names they can “vote” under and can effect a fictitious “address change”. I hate to say it but I fear this happens a lot when you are dealing with “public servants” to whom their oath of office means nothing, and for whom the “end justifies the means”.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:30 pmSammy – Did the ACORN voter registration scam that was being spilled by insider Anita Moncrief ever fully make the New York Times?
No, they spiked the story.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:31 pmOh, great. I live in the best of places.
Maxine Waters is my Congresswoman.
Roderick Wright is my state senator, still.
And now, in my brand-new-for-2014 state senate district, there are no Republicans even running, and one of the Dems on the ballot is Sandra Fluke.
I really have to move.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:34 pmelissa – I’m not disagreeing with anything you are saying about Farnham. I’m just pointing out that his “health issues” apparently did not prevent him from seeking reelection. I don’t believe his original resignation announcement mentioned them either. I think the “health issues” were suddenly revealed to give clarification to the reasons for his resignation.
Personally, given his health issues, I think Illinois Democrats should use him as a posterboy for Obamacare!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:38 pmI’m curious and am too lazy to look it up, Kevin M. Does Fluke have actual ties to California, or is she there simply to run for office in a favorable environment? For some reason I assumed she was an east coaster.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:40 pmdaley,
it is also interesting that all those ACORN locals reformed in 2010-2012 as 501(c)4 groups with nary a peep from the IRS.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:40 pmHer wikipedia entry says she lives in Los Angeles and she passed the CA bar in 2012.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:41 pmThanks. I assume Fluke’s being groomed and positioned to replace Boxer or Feinstein.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:43 pmFluke got her JD from Georgetown, which is probably what you are thinking of. She got married in 2012, and that is probably why she now graces my town.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:43 pmI assume Fluke’s being groomed and positioned to replace Boxer or Feinstein.
What a horrible thought. The Paris Hilton of politics.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:44 pm“The Paris Hilton of politics.”
Kevin M – ERMAGAWD! I hope Fluke does not put out a sex tape.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:52 pmSandra Fluke puts the “F” in the expression, “WTF ?!”
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:58 pmCrosspatch, at 30:
I’m aware that Obama took several counties by less than 5 points and that there isn’t a strong Democratic affinity in a lot of places.
On the other hand, I’m also aware that there’s a strong anti-Republican affinity in a lot of places.
The best demonstration of this, to my mind, comes in the electoral career of former LA County DA Steve Cooley. DA is a nonpartisan race, so his partisan affiliation didn’t appear on the ballot any of the times he ran for DA; in those elections, he carried LA county by large margins. He won in 2000 64-36; He won in 2004 and 2008 by winning outright majorities in the primary.
When he ran for AG against Kamala Harris (disclaimer: I voted for *Cooley* in that election), and his partisan affiliation appeared on the ballot, he lost Los Angeles county, 53-39.
What this says to me is that, in LA County at least, the Republican label is toxic.
> The real problem is numbers. Republicans as a percentage of voters statewide are only 28.7% of registered voters compared to 43.6% who are Democrats. It isn’t even close and you can’t blame the state GOP for that.
Why can’t I blame the state party for that? Isn’t increasing Republican registration the state party organization’s job?
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:59 pmKevin M, at 53:
I understand the concept that prior results are not necessarily predictive of future results, and I can see where the drought is a huge issue in the central valley. That said, from what I can tell from afar, the suburban LA and bay area voters have been generally content with the Brown administration, and so I find a large-scale revolt unlikely … and Republican fixation on the drought, and the train, to be yet more wishful thinking of the sort the party has been good at for the last two decades.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:00 pmKevin M – is Sandra Fluke as Senastor really more horrible a thought than Gavin Newsom as Governor?
[Disclaimer: I voted for Maldonado for Lt. Gov. in 2010]
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:00 pmIrony, has a crunchy taste;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/08/palin-stanislaus-speech-l_n_529629.html
narciso (3fec35) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:09 pm==I don’t think the story of Melowese Richardson even made the New York Times.==
Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:28 pm
Proves my point! Thank you.
I need to check somewhere else because the New York Times search site isn’t working right it seems, spinning its wheels sometimes.
I don’t thnk it made the New York Post either, or the Wall Street Journal, but need to check.
Acorn probably did, much later.
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:11 pmThis is Anita Moncrief’s very ooccasional blog. (last post: March 8, 2013; previous post: October 6, 2010 – she actually got a new site then: emergingCorruption.com – but it was hacked in 2012, and she may not have been able to restore the site.
http://anitamoncrief.blogspot.com/
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:12 pmSammy – Anita Moncrief is very old information at this point. The reason for bringing her up is to illustrate the bias of The New York Times in avoiding coverage of stories which run counter to the liberal narrative.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:16 pm“Why can’t I blame the state party for that? Isn’t increasing Republican registration the state party organization’s job?”
aphrael – I think it is. We have a crappy state party in Illinois.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:22 pmIMHO
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:23 pm77. SF and the surrounding counties are far more Democratic than SoCal. Even LA isn’t 70-80% Dem like SF, San Mateo and such. The state as a whole is about +10 Dem. Republicans won the governorship in 82, 86, 90 and 94, with people far more conservative than Arnold.
IMHO, the decline has been mostly by an aversion to the social issues that the national party has been beating on. Lose that, and let the Dems try to run on pocketbook issues and their track record alone, and things will change.
It would also help to recover the Asian vote and make inroads among middle-class Hispanics.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:26 pmSandra Fluke as Senator really more horrible a thought than Gavin Newsom as Governor?
Not in the abstract, of course, but as MY state senator? Perhaps.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:27 pmOh, US SENATOR. Yes, worse. There are term limits on Governor and Fluke is young.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:30 pm> Republicans won the governorship in 82, 86, 90 and 94, with people far more conservative than Arnold.
True, although the state as a whole is less conservative today than it was then. In those days, for example, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties were swing counties; they aren’t any more. (Neither is LA county, for that matter).
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:33 pmOthers from my state may well disagree, Kevin M. and I respect that. But as far as I’m concerned you have somewhat described the political landscape in IL as well. Many areas of Cook and the collar counties have a lot of votes and a lot of economic concerns and some money. The influx of professional level Asians, for example, here over the last decade is breathtaking.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:36 pmKevin M.,
George Deukmejian or Pete Wilson could never win the Governor’s mansion in CA today.
The demographics of the CA electorate have changed too much since when they ran for office.
Also, the public employees are too numerous, and too powerful in CA.
This is much more than just getting the conservative message out to voters.
In LA county, the Registrar reports that voter ID is 50% Democrat to 22% Republican.
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:38 pmAnd about 19% declined to state.
Interesting bit from the summary of a recent PPIC poll:
> In the roughly two years since the districts were drawn, their party complexion has changed in a fairly uniform way that matches statewide trends: roughly static Democratic registration, declining Republican registration, and climbing independent/other registration. The largest deviations from these broader trends have occurred in one area of Riverside County, where Assembly Districts 60 and 61, Senate District 31, and Congressional District 41 have seen a drop in the share of independent/other registration and an unusually large increase in Republican registration. There are also a few districts in California where Democrats have fared especially well compared to Republicans (AD 13 around Stockton and CD 47 in Long Beach and northern Orange County) and a few where the opposite has been true (AD 21 and SD 12 around Merced and CD 10 around Modesto).
This is interesting because it suggests that the independents are largely dissatisfied Republicans, and because it suggests a Republican surge in the Inland Empire, which could be significant in local legislative races in November.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:43 pmThe numbers from http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/other/APR_Brown0114.pdf are interesting, too:
Brown favorability
All adults: 58/26/16
Independents: 57/30/13
Central Valley: 53/25/23
Bay Area: 72/16/12
LA: 58/27//15
Orange+San Diego: 54/27/19
Inland Empire: 49/31/20
That suggests that Brown’s support is softest in the Inland Empire, which is consistent with my inferences from the registration report. Oddly his support in the Central Valley seems fine.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 1:46 pm58. Comment by crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:19 pm
Yeah, never happens
Did Evelyn E. Burwell vote in person, or by absentee ballot? A lot of older people, who may have once requested an absentee ballot on account of sickness, or limited mobiliy, will cotinue to get that year after year. Did she still get mail? Or was she, in 1997, a resident of a nursing home or assisted living center?
Or as this at home? Was someperson who knew her impersonating her? Was this every year?
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/6-100-dead-people-on-nassau-voter-rolls-newsday-analysis-finds-1.6349860
Newsday says the numbers of such dead voters are too few and far between to constitute a coordinated fraud attempt. They say some of these votes coud be clerical errors (people signing on the wrong line? People with the same or similar names? How?)
There were about 6,100 deceased voters still registered in Nassau County – more than in any other New York county, and 4 New York City boroughs and Erie County (Buffalo) I think have higher populations – of which 270 votes after dying, or about 4.5%. Suffolk County had 2,490 of which roughly 50 voted at least once after dying, or 2%.
There are 842,000 registered in New York who haven’t voted in ten years (people used to be removed after 2 years without voting, then 4, then never. I think now they went back tp purging, but mail has to be returned and then people not vote in 2 federal elections)
There are 5,820 voters still registered, as of last October, who died before the 2000 election.
Sammy Finkelman (d6ef88) — 3/26/2014 @ 2:31 pmWas Yee one of the Asians that opposed new affirmative action rules?
Apparently so, though I think I also remember seeing an interview with him where he was desperately trying to figure out a way to restore some sort of affirmative action program without it impacting on Asians — a suggestion for expanding total annual UC enrollments with the new slots reserved exclusively for black & Latino kids, so that there would not be a net reduction in Asians. As if that weren’t trying to have it both ways.
JVW (9946b6) — 3/26/2014 @ 2:56 pmOthers from my state may well disagree
I do not doubt that social conservatism works in many states, but it stopped working in California some time ago, and now repels people. There are any number of people, particularly younger women, who now vote straight Democratic because of the abortion thing. No woman of child-bearing age has even known abortion to be illegal or birth control to be unavailable. This genie is not going back in its bottle any time soon — it will take a cultural revulsion BY YOUNG WOMEN before it does.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 3:34 pmI agree with aphrael that we are unlikely to see a Republican surge in November. I use my own CA Senate district as a barometer: it’s the one where Sandra Fluke is running (alas). The field right now is something like five Democrats, but it appears that the only Republican who had expressed interest didn’t collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Granted, this Senate district is tilted about 60-40 in favor of Democrats and granted, holding elective office in California is a lot more attractive prospect to Democrat activists than it is to GOP activists, but considering the crowded Democrat field and the open primary where the top two go on to a runoff, this would have been an excellent opportunity to get a Republican into the final run-off against what potentially may end up being a hard-core left-wing activist. But when your party is so disorganized that it can’t even recruit and qualify its candidate, there isn’t much to suggest you are going to make headway in the next election.
JVW (9946b6) — 3/26/2014 @ 3:34 pmBTW, this must mean that House Republicans are squeaky-clean or Holder would be having a field day.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 3:35 pmJVW–
Fluke vs a gay Republican, say, might have worked. IIRC, you can file with completely bogus signatures and you have to either fix the deficiency or pay a fee.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 3:37 pmOne of the reasons that the GOP may surge in the 2014 CA state senate is the way the reapportionment played out. A lot of districts changed numbers, and the even-odd election scheme made some areas unrepresented for two years, or represented by people they never would have elected. Many of these even numbered districts are in the northern forest or the San Joaquin valley. I see a likely two seat gain here.
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 3:42 pmIIRC, you can file with completely bogus signatures and you have to either fix the deficiency or pay a fee.
I hope that’s correct. The Republican (some politician from Beverly Hills, I think) is appealing the decision, so hopefully he can get it straightened out. Hell, I’ll sign his petition if someone would tell me where I go to do it.
If the Democrats are going to be in an ObamaCare hangover and won’t flood to the polls, and if conservatives are motivated to get out the vote, and if Independents decide they will vote for Jerry Brown but will consider GOP Assembly and Senate candidates, then I think there is a chance for a Republican in CA Senate District 26. Lots of “ifs” but still in the realm of possibility.
JVW (9946b6) — 3/26/2014 @ 3:42 pmLeland Yee – another corrupt gun grabber.
This investigation would never have begun under California’s hyperpartisan state attorney general. Pennsylvania’s AG has nothing on Kamala Harris.
David (099e1f) — 3/26/2014 @ 3:57 pmthe Yee story gets better: they are charging him with firearms trafficking.
gun grabber and a weapons criminal. 1st mention on page 5
http://media.nbcbayarea.com/documents/complaint_affidavit_14-70421-nc.pdf
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 3/26/2014 @ 5:19 pmRaymond “ShrimpBoy” Chow
Colonel Haiku (5e29e1) — 3/26/2014 @ 5:28 pma prawn in Yee’s crooked game
dim sum bad apples
Thank you for the link to the complaint, redc1c4. This saved me the trouble of looking for it. 🙂
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/26/2014 @ 5:30 pmEven the LA Times has the gun-trafficking angle.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-yee-charged-trafficking-firearms-fbi-20140326,0,4807012.story
Kevin M (b11279) — 3/26/2014 @ 6:13 pmThis really ought to utterly put paid to the vile hypocrisy and jack-booted thuggery that is the current gun control extremist movement.
SPQR (768505) — 3/26/2014 @ 6:16 pmHistory has shown over the years that when government attempts to tax things at prohibitive levels (cigarettes) or ban things outright, it provides a market that organized crime fills. It would not surprise me that someone active in controlling legitimate access to something would be involved in the illegal trafficking of that thing.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 6:29 pmI don’t normally like to cross pollinate re: Twitter but tonight @gaypatriot is retweeting Leland Yee’s gun control tweets.
And I think I need to go to the ER to get these ribs of my x-rayed from laughing so hard.
SPQR (768505) — 3/26/2014 @ 6:29 pmIronic.
Dana (9a8f57) — 3/26/2014 @ 6:32 pmAt some point the Republicans are going to run a black hispanic lesbian and the mess from all the Bemocrat heads exploding in LA will take months to clean up.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/26/2014 @ 6:33 pmFunny how California is that state that first elected Reagan, and Texas is the state that first elected LBJ.
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/26/2014 @ 6:35 pmNow, California is known for Nancy Pelosi, and Texas for Ted Cruz.
Yes, a form of insider trading. Pols do it all the time with their legislation. Usually not so blatantly illegally though. Stuff like this:
http://greencorruption.blogspot.com/
“Climate change” is a scam. It’s the pretext for what’s just a heist. Like Barack Obama’s stimulus.
This stuff should be just as illegal as Yee’s activities. Which can be fairly characterized as a scam, too. Second Amendment advocates have pointed out for years that criminals can always get guns. Places that ban guns are awash in them; just about every foreign country I’ve ever been to has banned or tightly restricted legal firearm ownership. It isn’t like people like Yee are too stupid to get that. They just see that as a business opportunity to exploit. Of course, he was just stupid enough to get involved in criminal activities with Shrimp Boy, a guy who’s been caught and convicted so many times I’m amazed at his headwork.
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/26/2014 @ 7:15 pmthe story goes farther back, back in the 80s, he was investigating BCCI, among other elements, while he was receiving campaign funds, from the BCCI South Florida’s front man, David Paul, for the Senate campaign committee,
narciso (3fec35) — 3/26/2014 @ 7:22 pm“This really ought to utterly put paid to the vile hypocrisy and jack-booted thuggery that is the current gun control extremist movement.”
SPQR – I don’t know, I think a lot of the gun control extremists are just racist liberals who don’t want scary black people to own guns but mask that guilt by implementing stupid rules that impinge on the constitutional rights of all gun owners. Just look at correlation between where crime is the worst and gun control is the strictest.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 7:50 pmDavid Paul was a mega scumbag.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/26/2014 @ 7:51 pmI know it goes back further. It’s why these people arrive in Congress broke or just well off and leave as multi-millionaires. Not just the pols but the bureaucrats as well.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/six-of-countrys-10-richest-counties-in-d.c.-area/article/2515827
They’re looting the rest of the country.
Recall how when these green energy companies would go bust the Obama administration would pay off the investors first rather than “the taxpayers” even though the law said otherwise about first in line. It was Obama was paying people like Kerry off.
It was happening right out in the open. A massive theft. It was frustrating to watch it as it happened and no one seemed to notice.
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/26/2014 @ 7:56 pmIn another apparent instance of Democrats behaving badly, the Charlotte NC mayor resigned hours after being arrested for public corruption (theft and bribery).
DRJ (a83b8b) — 3/26/2014 @ 8:45 pmOkay, this was already in the Updates. Yikes! I need a keeper.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 3/26/2014 @ 8:45 pmIn other news:
http://www.redstate.com/2014/03/25/illinois-democrats-home-raided-child-pornography-investigation/
Typical. We have a gun-grabber gun runner getting arrested in Kali. And we have a child-advocate kiddie porn Illinois.
Lest you think I’m rushing to judgement, when Farnham resigned it was the day after he had won his primary unopposed. So I suspect there’s something to this.
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/26/2014 @ 8:56 pm*child-advocate kiddie porn enthusiast in Illinois.*
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/26/2014 @ 8:57 pmSteve57–that was covered up mid thread also.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 8:59 pmOne of the cross beams has gone askew on the treadle.
I think that about sums it up.
The only reason I bring up a Monty Python quote is because we seem to be living in a farce of reality.
Nothing, including people, are working. Everyone seems to be going along, keeping their collective head down, hoping for something better.
The Democrats and their media have finally achieved their goal of a mindless public.
They finally succeed and they have no clue what to do with it.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 3/26/2014 @ 9:02 pmSorry. I somehow missed the Farnham story earlier.
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/26/2014 @ 9:21 pmThis wasn’t covered.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?id=9480500
All in all a banner day for the Democrats.
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/26/2014 @ 9:25 pmNaturally they didn’t include this until the 5th paragraph:
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/26/2014 @ 9:31 pmI do wonder why pro-lifers do not try to run in the Democratic primaries…
Michael Ejercito (906585) — 3/26/2014 @ 10:16 pmOh good lord. Here’s an R running for Governor in California. He’s a registered sex offender and served a decade in prison for voluntary manslaughter. He may be a changed man and may have found God but governor? Really?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/27/republican-candidate-for-calif-governor-is-sex-offender-served-decade-in-prison/
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 11:03 pmI don’t know, elissa, I think it’s rather fitting that the new governor of kali would have go down to a Sacramento PD station and register while giving them the address to the governor’s mansion. It’s sort of a metaphor for the entire state.
Of course I’m joking. The only way you can get elected to anything as a registered sex offender and after spending 10 years in prison is to register as a Democrat and run for city council in Washington DC.
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/27/2014 @ 12:11 amSpeaking of Democrats and prison, it looks like there’s at least one in Pennsylvania who’s royally PO’d that more of them aren’t being thrown in it.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/374003/philly-da-blows-whistle-pennsylvanias-state-ag-john-fund
I like how Miss Liberal White Guilt thinks she can tell Seth Williams what racism is. Apparently the state AG refused to prosecute because the sting only netted black officials. So unless investigators don’t have an affirmative action program to catch corrupt white officials she thinks she should toss the case.
The problem with that is that the police informant who agreed to wear a wire to cut a deal on his fraud charge made offers to Republicans and Democrats. But only the Democrats took the bait.
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/27/2014 @ 12:25 amSteve57- locally the thought is that Kane did not want to prosecute because it only netted Dems, the fact that they were Black allowed there to be a reason.
Comment by Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/26/2014 @ 9:25 pm
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 3/27/2014 @ 5:41 amDidn’t see that.
yup… the white girl AG decided the probe was raycissssss because they didn’t catch any white crooks.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 3/27/2014 @ 6:50 amYou gotta love the L.A. Times headline:
Leland Yee Indictment May Mark Abrupt End to His Political Career
May mark? If it doesn’t end his career, then the Democrats truly are the party of crooks and liars.
Chuck Bartowski (11fb31) — 3/27/2014 @ 8:31 amHi, Chuck. I also left this comment at Uncle’s. Legislators have no business selling guns to gangs. That’s for the police to do — like it’s done in Chicago and New York.
nk (dbc370) — 3/27/2014 @ 8:53 amNo elected official does. Like a former President of the San Francisco school board. Who is named in the indictment along with Yee and Shrimp Boy.
http://www.jammiewf.com/2014/former-top-ca-educator-busted-in-murder-for-hire-plot-blames-racism/
Nobody identifies his party. But considering the last few times I was anywhere near SF during an election and it’s always been Democrat vs. Socialist, I think we can eliminate Republican.
Steve57 (a017ec) — 3/27/2014 @ 9:10 amElissa – it’s decently easy for utter kooks to get on the primary ballot in California. He’ll get creamed in the primary and then quietly go away.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/27/2014 @ 9:44 amI hear that Sen. Lee was a big advocate of gun control for law abiding citizens.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 3/27/2014 @ 9:50 am“Oh good lord. Here’s an R running for Governor in California.”
I live here, I’ve never heard of the guy. There are only two GOP candidates that have any real visibility: Tim Donnelly who is the “Tea Party” candidate, great guy, but not taken very seriously outside of the Central Valley and Neel Kashkari who is most likely to win the nomination. I had never even heard of the guy you mentioned until your posting and most likely few others in the state have either.
crosspatch (6adcc9) — 3/27/2014 @ 10:08 amFWIW, http://www.ppic.org/main/pressrelease.asp?i=1483 has Donnelly winning the second spot in the primary. I assume if that happens he’ll get creamed in November.
aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/27/2014 @ 10:15 amMD in Philly,
Yeah, I have a new post about all that.
Patterico (c29bec) — 3/27/2014 @ 10:24 am“Legislators have no business selling guns to gangs. That’s for the police to do — like it’s done in Chicago and New York.”
nk – Or the ATF to direct in Arizona. 🙂
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/27/2014 @ 10:26 amNo, the ATF didn’t sell any guns to gangs; it let gun stores in Arizona (and other places) intentionally sell them to straw buyers for gangs.
The BATF didn’t collect any money, except possibly in the form of bribes.
Sammy Finkelman (2c707f) — 3/27/2014 @ 11:04 am–Elissa – it’s decently easy for utter kooks to get on the primary ballot in California. He’ll get creamed in the primary and then quietly go away.
Comment by aphrael (5cffd4) — 3/27/2014 @ 9:44 am–
Aphrael and Crosspatch–I know it’s not a huge deal, and as one of 4 running on the R primary ballot obviously you’re right about the outcome for Mr Jailbird. But this kind of thing just reinforces the “crazee Republican” theme to those who do read about him. Am I wrong to assume that the Dog Trainer and other larger California papers and TV stations always do a series of “Know the Candidate” profiles leading up to the primary? election?. Good times.
elissa (1aca9b) — 3/27/2014 @ 12:16 pm52. 59. 60. 60.==I don’t think the story of Melowese Richardson even made the New York Times.==
Comment by elissa (1aca9b) — 3/26/2014 @ 12:20 pm
Do you ever write to the editors of the NYT, Sammy? If it’s true that they never printed the story or only lightly mentioned it, you would do the citizens of your country proud by asking them why.
Not often, but now they promise to be more interactive:
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/28/2014 @ 2:33 pmI found nothing about Melowese Richardson but I found these stories and editorials about fear of voter fraud in Ohio:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/ohio-mistrusts-democracy.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/us/politics/groups-like-true-the-vote-are-looking-very-closely-for-voter-fraud.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/12/politics/12theory.html
I think that year it was Democrats.
I also found this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/opinion/sunday/the-great-gerrymander-of-2012.html
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/28/2014 @ 2:38 pm