Cruz tries to shame Iowa voters by sending out mailers with their personal information.
Last edited Sat Jan 30, 2016, 07:01 PM - Edit history (6)
Source: Cow Generation (+ The Hill, Wapo)
Across social media, pictures of Voting Violation mailers issued by the Cruz campaign have been circulating.
The mailers include the party affiliation of the resident, along with their regularity grade of caucusing.
Labeled in all capital letters, one side of the card read, ELECTION ALERT, VOTER VIOLATION, PUBLIC RECORD, and FURTHER ACTION NEEDED. On the other side, in red letters at the top, the mailer said, VOTING VIOLATION. The text then reads:
You are receiving this election notice because of low expected voter turnout in your area. Your individual voting history as well as your neighbors are public record. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well. CAUCUS ON MONDAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE and please encourage your neighbors to caucus as well. A follow-up notice may be issued following Mondays caucuses.
Read more: http://cowgernation.com/2016/01/30/cruz-tries-to-shame-iowa-voters-by-sending-out-mailers-with-their-personal-information/
(All but) informing citizens that they must vote is as much an offence as saying they must not vote. The Cruz Campaign has apparently confirmed that the mailers were real.
The envelopes received at people's houses are an affront to decency, the democratic process and the law.
ADDENDUM: "Your individual voting history (is on the) public record" ... many of (your neighbors) will see your score as well" ... "A follow-up notice may be issued following Mondays caucuses. WTF !!!
TDale313
(7,820 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I hope the results are
Ben Carson
Rubio
Trump
Rand Paul
Cruz
I hate Cruz the most out of all of them. Ben won't get traction. Rubio won't get traction at least not NH. Trump and Cruz will be hurt and that is needed. Remember 1 of these guys will win. Which one is the question. My scenario is best. Hope it works.
StevieM
(10,500 posts)yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)I think our candidate can beat Rubio.
persuadable
(53 posts)forest444
(5,902 posts)much less run for office (and president at that!).
http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-senator-marco-rubios-brother-in-law-is-a-convicted-drug-trafficker-2011-7
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/12/30/marco-rubio-helped-brother-in-law-get-real-estate-license-after-prison-release-report-says/?_r=0
persuadable
(53 posts)and you never will
forest444
(5,902 posts)Covering up fo the scandalous and growing influence of the drug rackets in both our evonomy and politics is a big part of that - plus, it's something a lot of people don't want to hear about anyway, as it's so depressing.
StevieM
(10,500 posts)Eventually, the voters will realize what a ridiculous clown Marco Rubio is.
I would rather run against Rubio or Christie than Bush or Kasich.
persuadable
(53 posts)He is old line establishment, and represents no change to Republicans, as Hillary represents no change to Democrats. The two just represent different types of no change.
People do not realize how far to the right Rubio is, he is seen as being young, handsome, and dynamic, a 21th century candidate. The Sanders youth vote may very well go to him. or sit this election out. People do not realize he was elected Senator as a Tea-bager. He has a great personal story, and many people think he is middle of the road, that is why he gets no support in the Republican electorate now.
Kasich would be tough, if this election was based on experience and qualifications, but it is not. But why are we even talking about this. After Monday, Trump will be the Republican candidate. and he may very well beat Hillary in this crazy election year.
BTW, I support Hillary because I believe in experience and a stronger foreign policy.
cannabis_flower
(3,765 posts)I wouldn't vote for any of them.
I think Ben Carson is weird and crazy.
I hate Trump because he's crazy like a fox, evil and very smart.
Fiorina is an hateful witch.
I'm surprised I haven't heard Trump say that Christie is yyuggee!
I think Rubio (and Jindal was also) is slimy and weaselly.
Rand Paul is Libertarian only where it suits him.
Cruz is creepy and evil.
I don't agree with everything most of their positions but I didn't hate Lindsey Graham and I don't hate John Kaisich, although I might feel differently if I lived in Ohio or South Carolina. Heck, I don't hate Rick Perry even though I'm from Texas, but I thought he wasn't the brightest tool in the shed. I thought he was bad but Greg Abbott is 100 times worse.
Oh, I forgot Scott Walker, I thought he was boring and I had heard some bad things about him but I can't remember what it was. I think I put him in the same category as Rick Perry.
Did I leave anyone out?
trillion
(1,859 posts)I'm not a tv watcher. I only really watch Democracy Now's daily news hour and Netflix and then listen to npr in my car.
So I missed The View entirely(if that is the show trump came from.)
When he showed up for president and started speaking I couldn't believe how utterly unintelligent and "unsmart" he was. I bet I'm right that daft Carson is brighter than Trump.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)many times just a few hundred votes win.
noamnety
(20,234 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)Or is mail fraud legal now in the U.S.?
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)They probably WON'T arrest him for that shit, but he'll probably come out of Iowa behind the "GOP Presidential Candidate" who was picked up by the cops last week for trying to go to Malheur to kill federal agents.
onenote
(42,759 posts)Yes, mail fraud is still illegal. But Cruz's mailing, while tacky, tasteless, incredibly bad form, etc. is not in any way unlawful under the mail fraud statute which requires the government to prove all of the following beyond a reasonable doubt: the defendant (1) used either mail or wire communications in the foreseeable furtherance, (2) of a scheme to defraud, (3) involving a material deception, (4) with the intent to deprive another of, (5) either property or honest services.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)the mail to deliver threats. The threatening language here is really creepy.
onenote
(42,759 posts)require a threat of physical harm.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Iowa Sec of State has weighed in that this mailer comes right up to the line (suggesting that Iowans have broken the law by not caucusing and suggesting that the state of Iowa is 'grading' voters' conduct).
Hope this dominates the local airwaves today and tomorrow to cripple Cruz.
rurallib
(62,448 posts)Even for Republicnas these guys are lower that low lifes.
No doubt their tactics will be studied in great detail by future Republican politicians.
Retrograde
(10,156 posts)as is whether or not you've voted in the last election.
Cruz is still a scumbag, though.
denem
(11,045 posts)is criminal misfeasance.
onenote
(42,759 posts)I"m not sure what you think "criminal malfeasance" is but I can assure you that Cruz's mailing isn't a criminal act. Its a lot of bad things, but its not criminal.
retrowire
(10,345 posts)WOWWWWW
forest444
(5,902 posts)riversedge
(70,299 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)this approach becasue they think like he does. He knows this batter than anybody and that is why he is doing it.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,020 posts)snagglepuss
(12,704 posts)MariaThinks
(2,495 posts)revolting state a cruz government would create.
he has no understanding of what is morally right or wrong.
assuming most of these went out to republican voters so that's a good way to piss them off.
tanyev
(42,610 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)denem
(11,045 posts)What the hell is this supposed to mean? We will be reporting you to your neighbors? You are now a person of interest?
This should go to the MSM, the DOJ and anyone else who supposedly treasures democracy. Voter intimation, pure and simple. Disgraceful.
Politicub
(12,165 posts)Disgusting.
Botany
(70,581 posts)BTW I stole this meme from a caller on last friday's Steph Miller show.
StevieM
(10,500 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)That said, it certainly would get me out to caucus for anyone but him.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)It looks like impersonation of government authorities to me.
WhiteHat
(129 posts)Hard to imagine Cruz doing his thing this badly, but if he wanted to piss off the majority of his correspondents, he's found the magic button. One minute's reflection will flip those voters to Bernie.
Threatening voters with exposure, publicity, etc., is so unAmerican you can't even see Democracy from there. How horrific for people who really would prefer to vote GOP.
Hope it's a wake-up call.
PoliticalMalcontent
(449 posts)ejbr
(5,856 posts)I fortunately would not give a shit what my neighbors thought of my voting record.
exboyfil
(17,865 posts)Obama in 2012.
http://journal.ijreview.com/2016/01/252498-said-undecided-iowan-received-controversial-mailer-ted-cruz/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/victory_lab/2012/10/31/moveon_can_its_voter_report_card_shame_slackers_into_turning_out.html
Not as egregious but still sucks. At least the names of the neighbors are not in the mailing by MoveOn.
This topic is up to nearly a 1000 comments in Free Republic. It has hit a nerve. Some speculation is that it is a rival's false flag, but the Cruz camp has confirmed it is theirs. Wonder how many heads will roll.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3390550/posts
TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)I could look up everything I could find out about you from public records (if I knew who you were), print it all out and send copies to your neighbors, and I would not have broken any law. Of course just because something is legal doesn't mean it's not one of the worst ideas a campaign has ever had.
TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)Cruz is like some kind of comic book villain, you can just look at him and tell he's full of shit.
karynnj
(59,504 posts)- if I am seeing this correctly.
I don't see how anyone on his team thought this would make people more eager to come out to vote for him. (In fact, the story would make more sense if say - Rubio - sent it out as if it were from Trump.)
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)And he's just proved himself an idiot - guess that reputation for being smart, if smarmy, was not deserved.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)In republican land it isn't too hard to become known as smart. The bar is very low.
Turbineguy
(37,365 posts)It's the republican way now.
Old Codger
(4,205 posts)With all apologies the shit .... He is the lowest low end politician I have ever had the displeasure if seeing in my entire life... anyone who seriously considers him presidential material should be committed to the nearest asylum
gregcrawford
(2,382 posts)... should be saying, "All right! Enough is enough! FUCK this asshole!"
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)use all of the illegal data collected by the NSA against American citizens.
Yes sarcasm.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)What they will do in the event Cruz wins.
Hope for the best but plan for the worst.
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)suicide should be the first or last option.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)more on this question.
On a tablet, so cannot easily copy and paste.
Android3.14
(5,402 posts)There is a fairly large contingent of people who like the idea that someone will tell them what to do to become better people.
Nay
(12,051 posts)AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)Because it most likely comes right up to, but doesn't cross, the line.
As I said below, this reminds me of those government-envelope and official-language pieces of junk mail I get from time to time. I have no clue what the scam is because I toss it immediately after taking it from the mailbox.
Totally disgusting, authoritarian tactic -- make people vote out of fear.
It should be illegal to design anything that looks like anything close to an official government mailing/document. Like counterfeiting.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)If you send out something screaming "VOTER VIOLATION" on the front, it could make the recipient think there's something wrong with how they've registered, or that they shouldn't be voting at all. The campaign says these are very narrowly targeted at "people who havent voted before", and Trump could easily claim that such people would be more likely to vote for him, since he's the biggest 'outsider' in the Republican contest.
That the small print is encouraging (well, bullying) the recipient to vote might not be good enough.
denem
(11,045 posts)denem
(11,045 posts)AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)Especially among people who probably don't know any better, sort of like those "official" pieces of junk mail that take in clueless saps all the time. NOT the way to win friends and influence people.
The only place this needs to go is straight into shredder.
(I'd add that Cruz should be ashamed of himself, but I know that's not possible.)
saltpoint
(50,986 posts)inferred that Ted Cruz is an immoral slimeball.
But it never hurts to say it again, especially when it's so demonstrably true.
It does not speak very well for the so-called "evangelical Christians" supporting him that he appeals to their sense of mission.
One of the verses in "Swinging On A Star" asks listeners, "Or would you rather be a pig?"
Just sayin'.
47of74
(18,470 posts)The Iowa Secretary of State is weighing in on this;
Additionally, the Iowa Secretary of State's Office never "grades" voters. Nor does the Secretary of State maintain records related to Iowa Caucus participation. Caucuses are organized and directed by the state political parties, not the Secretary of State, nor local elections officials. Also, the Iowa Secretary of State does not "distribute" voter records. They are available for purchase for political purposes only, under Iowa Code. - Paul D. Pate, Iowa Secretary of State
trillion
(1,859 posts)LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,621 posts)trillion
(1,859 posts)Congratulations Ted Cruz, you have taken me, a liberal who believes we should stop all deportations, and made me realize you should be deported back to Canada.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)and fire whoever came up with the idea, which is probably about the worst tactic in the history of the Iowa caucuses.
0rganism
(23,970 posts)damn, really?
well i guess we know what kind of dystopian future he'd like to promote
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Pate continued, "Additionally, the Iowa Secretary of State's Office never 'grades' voters. Nor does the Secretary of State maintain records related to Iowa Caucus participation," Pate said. "Also, the Iowa Secretary of State does not 'distribute' voter records. They are available for purchase for political purposes only, under Iowa Code."
Cruz, however, was defiant to reporters when asked about the mailer in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday night.
"I will apologize to no one for using every tool we can to encourage Iowa voters to come out and vote," he said.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)exclude democratic votes and drag in R votes even if a vote costs money to bring in- WINS.
Ana Hauhet
(67 posts)That way Cruz is able to show his true colors! Creepy!