[FURTHER UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers. Note the petition below.
[UPDATE]: Thanks to Randy Mastro and RedState’s Francis Cianfrocca – who will have a lot more to say about these races – here’s the petition cataloging said skulduggery; and you will not find it dull reading. (If you’re having trouble reading it, try here.)
It’s not that our opponents are geniuses at skulduggery. It’s that they’re unaccustomed to being challenged on it. When they do, they make mistakes. [Witness this latest from NYC for an example:]
A City Council hopeful won’t cough up documents related to whether the Working Families Party is scamming the campaign finance system — because the case could involve “criminal liability,” according to documents released yesterday.
The bombshell development was revealed at a court hearing where lawyers for the WFP and the campaign of Staten Island candidate Debi Rose tried to get a suit against them tossed.
Former Giuliani administration Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, the lawyer opposing the Rose campaign, called it an “extraordinary development.”
The suit itself – I’m working to get a copy of it sent to me – alleges that WFP (which is, of course, a front for ACORN) is violating campaign finance laws by having WFP front group Data and Field Services provide “canvassing and other services for [City Council candidate Debi] Rose in her primary campaign against [current Conservative candidate* Ken] Mitchell for which the firm received far less than the market value.” In that context, trying to avoid financial disclosure on the grounds of possible self-incrimination is at the very least eyebrow-raising; which is why they tried to walk back on it before 24 hours had passed. It should also be noted that the Rose race in Staten Island is not the only one where this sort of thing went on; Queens City Council candidate James Van Bramer is likewise heavily involved with WFP/Data & Field Services, as this diary from the Daily Kos (of all places) makes clear. I’m sure that his campaign is watching this case unfold with great interest.
The moral here? Well, aside from the obvious one of “ACORN taints everything that it touches,” it’s this: one-party rule makes people stupid. And stupid people make mistakes. Keep that in mind the next time you’re trying to decide whether or not to fight City Hall.
Moe Lane
*Who is actually a Democrat. Welcome to New York fusion politics.
Crossposted to RedState.
When will RICO statutes kick in, this is going on all over the United States apparently with 15 indictments brought forth against ACORN and its affiliates. Mr. Obama was head council for ACORN in the Chicago area and has worked closely with the “Working Families Party” also. Is there anyone in the Democrat Socialist Party not a crook?
The Democrats have used a certain word before to apply to others. And now, surprise surprise, it applies to them: hubris. Arrogance. And nemesis isn’t far behind. The only trouble is that they’ll take all of us with them.
link doesn’t seem to work for the petition, btw.
It’s working for me. Here’s the http:
http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=124b0c975cf8368f&mt=application%2Fpdf&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fui%3D2%26ik%3D421184df2a%26view%3Datt%26th%3D124b0c975cf8368f%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dattd%26zw&sig=AHBy-ha8DFxHPYQM3R-dfXzgmpZ4z0dQpg
I think that link is to the mail attachment in your gmail account.
Well, it’s fixed all the way now.
This is how it works – ACORN is subcontracted out under different names to do canvassing – often in league with a chapter of SEIU. Top organizers get a little money – other money is funneled into political campaigns, and then the database created in the canvassing is resold in the next election.
But we’re onto them now. And one by one you’ll start to see local ACORN chapters unravel, along with their corrupt local counterparts.
The arrogance is astounding. Everyone needs to start looking at their local elections. What they find will shock them, then anger them, then eventually make them realize what we are up against.
Could Democrats win nationally without ACORN and similar scams? I’m not so sure.
Yeah. Fun stuff there. I’m shocked, shocked, I tell you, at the allegations.
Of course one party rule makes people stupid. Do you think the whole Abramoff/K Street Project scandal could have happened if the GOP skunks in the Congress and lobbying community had had a Democratic DOJ to worry about? When it is only the fox who is guarding the henhouse, the other predators get sloppy.
“Is this Nemesis, come to punch my ticket?”