Letters to the Editor

• Wow

  [Read the article: Voter suppression in North Carolina?]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  My head is spinning. I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, I really shouldn't.

  Alex, you're a goddamn hack and a shill.

  I would like to refer everyone reading this to a host of other articles that have covered this organization's activities. A word to those who don't like to read bad things about people connected to Hillary Clinton: most of these articles don't have "they're too stupid to be evil" as their thesis.

  http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/labels/women's%20voices%20women%20vote.asp

  "As we have already noted, many of the group's top leaders have worked for Bill and Hillary Clinton in some capacity. Founder and President Page Gardner, for example, served as the deputy political director for the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign and worked on his presidential transition team. Executive Director Joe Goode was a pollster for Bill Clinton, and former Women's Voices leadership team member and strategic planner Maggie Williams is now Hillary Clinton's campaign manager.

  "The Center breaks new ground by showing just how heavily and disproportionately Women's Voices principals have invested in the Hillary Clinton campaign. According to the chart, they have donated a total of $34,800 to Hillary Clinton or HillPAC since 2000. At the same time, they have donated only $3,600 to the Obama campaign and $2,300 to John Edwards."

  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90114863

  "The Institute turned up other complaints about the group as well, in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. A 'Lamont Williams' robocall similar to North Carolina's ran in Ohio last fall. In Virginia, robocalls days before the February primary caused voters to flood the board of elections with phone calls, in turn triggering an investigation by the state police.

  "Kromm says this shows at least five months of a 'deceptive tactic, illegal in many states.' He notes, 'Each time this group is criticized for this activity, they apologize for the confusion.'"

  http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/nonprofit_womens_voices_women.php

  "As Facing South notes in detail, this is not the first time that there have been complaints about WVWV's activities. There have been complaints in several states.

  "And in Virginia this February, the state police there even investigated the calls as a possible identity theft scam, only to find that WVWV was behind them. The calls had gone out shortly before the Virginia presidential primary."

  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x501721

  "In a statement posted yesterday to the website of Women's Voices Women Vote, the D.C. nonprofit behind the illegal and deceptive robo-calls placed to North Carolina residents, President Page Gardner claims her group notified the N.C. State Board of Elections about their activities in the state before sending out registration forms to voters:

  "In advance of the mail, a letter was sent to Gary Bartlett in the North Carolina Board of Elections Office. A copy of the letter and a press release sent to North Carolina media announcing the registration effort is attached.

  "There is no copy of a letter or press release attached to the posted statement. But more important, the group did not notify state elections officials about their registration effort in advance, as Gardner claims -- at least not the whole of that effort. The following e-mail was sent today, May 1, by Board of Elections attorney Don Wright to Joyce McCloy, an elections watchdog with the N.C. Coalition for Verified Voting:

  As of yesterday's mail, this office had not yet received a mailed copy of the Women's Voices, Women Vote letter. The attached faxed copy was faxed to me around 5:50 pm on Monday April 28th. As you can see, it does not say anything about automated phone calls, and informs this office that the voter registration mailings "will arrive in homes the week of May 1st". Prior to this fax, this organization had not communicated to this agency about its current actions.

  We are aware of the statement posted on their website and the fact it refers to attachments that are not available.

  Don Wright

  General Counsel

  Permalink Friday, May 2, 2008 02:09 PM