Orange County Register: False GOP converts

Saturday, April 1, 2006

False GOP converts

By TONY SAAVEDRA, KIMBERLY KINDY and BRIAN JOSEPH
The Orange County Register

More than 100 Orange County residents who thought they were simply signing petitions to cure breast cancer, punish child molesters or build schools were duped into registering as Republicans, an Orange County Register investigation found.

The ruse took place over several days in December and January at shopping centers throughout Anaheim, Santa Ana, Buena Park, Westminster and Garden Grove, where paid petitioners begged, cajoled, lied and committed forgery to get so-called Republican converts. Petition circulators were paid as much as $7 for each GOP registration.

(snip)

The Register traced the bogus registrations to Christopher Scott Dinoff, who took out 13,000 blank affidavit cards from the Orange County Registrar of Voters Office, records show. Each affidavit is numbered, linking Dinoff to the doctored cards. Dinoff, who was fired from the Orange County Republican registration drive for being too aggressive, declined to comment. It is unlikely that he acted alone; professional petition circulators such as Dinoff usually hire other people to help harvest signatures.

(snip)

Virtually all the victims interviewed by the Register told the same story: They were asked to sign petitions while shopping. Without realizing it, they also signed voter registration cards listing their party designation as Republican. When pressed for an explanation, signature gatherers said they needed to list people that way because it was a Republican-sponsored petition. They said it wouldn't change the party affiliation. Sometimes petitioners told victims to leave blank the box designating party.

(snip)

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1083406.php

Our registration would no doubt remain intact.

In primaries, we could vote for the least likely to win.

Later, we could vote for our Democrats of choice.

Except that then one loses the opportunity to choose the Dem in the primary. But since the DLC and other groups like to pick "for us" in the primaries :sarcasm: Maybe it doesn't matter. In any case, the plus side is that it would be unlikely that a person registered as a Puke would be purged from the records, as you note. I think they should automatically register all Felons as 'Pukes...would save time as more and more are convicted.

curious as to why someone who looked like me was voting in a republican primary. I told him that I was "proudly" casting my vote for Pat Buchanan:)

1996, I think, I voted for the weakest Republican to challenge Boxer

From the story

But Frank Barbaro, Orange County Democratic Party chairman, isn't so sure that the Republican Party is blameless. Barbaro said the GOP benefited because the boosted numbers strengthened the party's fundraising ability in the heated 34th District.

"It gives the Republicans all this energy," Barbaro said. "They take those numbers around the state and raise money, saying, 'We can win that district.'"

Ok, of they can inflate the number of registrations, are they using it to cover sliding a higher number of D votes to R with electronic machines.? hmmm? That's what I suspect. I don't put it past them.

nahhhhh

for any sort of career advancement.

Sad that there is even a suggestion that our right to franchise depends on registering with the "official" party

I registered as repuke during the 70's for the very same reason.

the Bushbots.

From the article:

Celia Trevino and her husband, Joseph, both 71, tried to ignore the young couple waving a clipboard at them as they left the Anaheim Wal-Mart.
But the petitioners said the two words Celia Trevino couldn't ignore: child molesters.

"Right away, your bulb lights up," Trevino said. That night the Trevinos, lifelong Democrats, left the parking lot as Republicans. But they didn't know it until they got a card from the Orange County registrar's office.

Deborah Haertel thought somebody screwed up when she got a postcard welcoming her to the Republican Party. But she grew concerned when more and more GOP mailers began to arrive.

"Excuse me. I am NOT a Republican," said Haertel, 42. "I think they have no business taking over your life and turning it into something else without your permission. It's sneaky and underhanded."

Lessie Wood, another victim, doesn't want to stay Republican any longer than she has to. Wood said she was told that her signature on an anti-pedophile petition wouldn't count unless she was Republican. She now plans to change back to the Democratic Party.
(snip/...)

Goddamned filthy Republicans. Since they have no consciences to inhibit their criminality, maybe the law should be applied, just for the hell of it.

the system is filled with loopholes....Ehrlich/Steele did the same thing in the 02 Maryland Governor's race--Dig up some lowlifes off the street to canvass (black) neighborhoods and get them to either switch parties, vote Ehrlich, or if all else failed, convince the surefire dem votes to stay home....IIRC, it is (or was) illegal in MD to pay campaign volunteers per signature, but even then the Ehrlich HQ promised some nice cash for the "volunteers", i.e., 2-3 bucks a name (and in some communities, the campaign was LITERALLY taking homeless off the street and cleaning them up, so two bucks a name sounds real good to them)...True to Ehrlich's nature, once he won the race, his campaign organizers STIFFED the 'volunteers' and gave them NOTHING (because, after all, paying the volunteers would be a campaign violation and illegal)...The next year an attorney went to court on behalf of the volunteers against one of the lower-level sleazy campaign organizers, but lost--Naturally, given the hierarchical structure of the campaign, Ehrlich/Steele of course had NO links whatsoever with that organizer, and were able to easily deny any involvement using the "We had so many campaign workers that we couldn't possible keep tabs on them all" line while laughing in the Governor's mansion.

Believe me, I know even worse instances than this example...

credibility when their rigged voting and vote counting machines proclaim a Republican "winner"? Or what? It makes no sense to me at all. :shrug:

It certainly doesn't gain them votes in a General election,nor does it make them more popular...

The only thing I can come up with that would make that whole scam "worth" doing for the GOP is the idea that if they have that signed card registering a Dem as a Republican, MAYBE those voters can then be kept from voting in a Dem Primary. It might allow a GOP promoted Dem to slide thru a Primary election, thus, swinging the candidate selection to a more GOP friendly Dem choice in a General.

Frankly, I think that would be a really bad move for any party, simply because I think (especially in local races) that a lot of voters are turned off by the constant polarization and in-fighting between the two parties.

We've seen it locally with a County Board race where two Dems faced a primary challenge and several Republicans crossed over to support them in the primary. Dems are pissed off about it, but the bottom line is that those two Dems won, and they are effective in getting things done.

I dunno. I have almost come to the point where I'm wondering about the idea of a completely open primary where you vote for two and the top vote getters then run in a General.



Laura

It gains the petitioner $7 per registrant. I think that's what this is about, an individual trying to make some money by scamming people. I don't doubt that the Republican party has pulled many many illegal and underhanded tricks, but in this case the guilt may go no further than this particular petitioner. Like you say, what does it gain them? Paying petitioners per registrant should probably be made illegal.

to people who don't want it. :shrug:

If you openly commit a crime and get away with it, you are someone who is not to be messed with

if you believe in something, you oughta be out there getting signatures on your own time and expense.

the pay per signature racket is a nuisance at best and a scam at worst.

these collectors would sell their own children into slavery for 50 cents a name.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/impeachbush.htm

didn't know about this ruse but am glad i didn't sign.

I saw a guy getting some signatures for a cigarette tax at the Target there. I get tired of being accosted every time I try leaving a store, no matter the cause, and so I ignored him. Maybe a good thing.

Any idea how to double check my registration online, or would I need to physically go down to the registrar's office? (in CA)

Paranoia has become my friend, lately.

Shitheads!

.... heh, heh,heh, i always leave an anti-* flyer in my cart when i'm done! one time i left one in a hannity book, LOL!

Sandy Cohen and Ryan Atwood are duped into registering Republican:

Ooh, the drama.

after all, what is now titled the "Republican" Party is in no way shape or form republican any more.

You never hear of the Democratic Party doing such things.

Never.

All of these CRIMES always involve REPUKES doing somthing harmful to DEMOCRATS.

And they will get a slap on the wrist and no compensation to the Democratic Party or the individual Democrats.

Figures.

This is a major plan of the REPUKE party, it is NOT just "cooincidental".