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Blog
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Welcome to the Holtzman Vogel Law Blog. We aim to keep you
up to date on important legal developments and other items of interest. On this
blog, we'll track developments in the news and changes to the rules and regulations
affecting political committees, corporate PACs, trade associations, non-profit groups
and advocacy organizations. We'll also keep you updated on the lobbying and ethics
arena. The Law Blog is designed to supplement our regular newsletter.
On behalf of the Holtzman Vogel team, I hope you find this site helpful and interesting.
And we hope you'll become a regular visitor. (If you'd like to receive our newsletter,
please click here to sign up.)
Jill Holtzman Vogel
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Saturday, April 24, 2010
John Fund in WSJ: Wisconsin and the Voter Fraud Agenda
John Fund has this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal: "An attempt to hijack the state's election laws and open the door for voter fraud failed at the last minute this week in Wisconsin's legislature. But threats to ballot integrity continue in other states, and Congress may rush to pass ill-conceived legislation this year that would only sow confusion and increase the potential for chaos on a national level....Sadly, it looks as if Congress could follow Wisconsin's example instead. The Milwaukee Police Department's report on the 2004 election concluded 'the one thing that could eliminate a large percentage of the fraud' would be to end same-day registration. Today, eight other states have some form of Election Day voter registration: Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Wyoming. Montana began Election Day voter registration in 2006, North Carolina in 2007, and Iowa in 2008. But Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, a Democrat, has introduced federal legislation to mandate same-day registration in every state, claiming the system has worked well in his state. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is readying a bill to override the election laws of all 50 states and require universal voter registration—which would automatically register anyone on key government lists. This is a move guaranteed to create duplicate registrations, register some illegal aliens, and sow confusion."
Saturday, February 20, 2010
RNLA: "Saving Freedom From Vote Fraud" Highlights
The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) has highlights from their CPAC session.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
John Fund: Invasion of the Election Snatchers
John Fund writes in the Wall Street Journal that "Local Democrats have encouraged weekend residents [in upstate Columbia County, New York] to register and vote on the theory that their ballots aren't needed in New York City, where Democrats already hold an overwhelming registration edge. In a lightly-populated upstate community, however, a few transplant votes can represent the balance of power. That was certainly the case last month in the town of Taghkanic, which has about 1,500 people. In a closely contested race for local offices, more than 20% of the ballots were cast by absentees, almost all of them by weekend residents who appeared to have delivered narrow victories to local Democrats. In response, Republicans have sued, pointing to evidence that many of the absentees were people whose jobs, drivers licenses and primary residences were in New York City and legally should have voted there. Some may even have voted in both jurisdictions. Approximately 60 absentee ballots are at issue and could sway the result of some races if disqualified."
Click here to read the entire post.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Criminal Charges in Ohio Voter "Bounty" Payment Case
The Athens (Ohio) News reports, "Already facing multiple felony counts for alleged mishandling of funds in a political campaign, Athens County Democratic Party Chair Susan Gwinn was indicted on two more charges Monday, for her alleged involvement in a plan to pay student campaign volunteers a $5 bounty for every voter they brought out for early voting Oct. 30 in Athens. . . . On top of the charges already pending against Gwinn of theft in office, money laundering, unauthorized use of property, and falsification, an Athens County grand jury has now added two counts of elections-related bribery. The charges relate to Gwinn’s alleged involvement in a plan to pay members of the OU College Democrats $5 for every voter they brought to the polls in the city of Athens’ Fourth Ward on Election Day, Nov. 3. That ward was the only one in the city that had a contested City Council race."
Click here to read the entire post.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Chris Berg for RNLA: Clever and Contemptuous: A Review of ACORN’s Targeted Voter Registration Drives
Chris Berg has written this article for the RNLA's magazine.
Click here to read the entire post.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Washington Post: ACORN Funded Political, For-Profit Efforts, Data Show
The Washington Post reports "Documents released by a Senate Republican on Thursday show that leaders of the ACORN community organizing network transferred several million dollars in charitable and government money meant for the poor to arms of the group that have political and sometimes profit-making missions."
Click here to read the entire post.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Politico: ACORN fights back
Politico reports "A week after undercover videotapes made it the butt of a national joke, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is launching a three-pronged effort to rebuild its reputation and try to hold on to the millions of dollars in funding it gets each year from the federal government. First, ACORN’s top officials have been on a media apology tour and have dismissed the wayward employees in the infamous pimp video as bad apples who shouldn’t diminish the important work the group does in housing and low-income assistance. Then on Wednesday afternoon, ACORN went on the legal offensive, suing conservative filmmakers James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles for secretly videotaping in their office. And finally, the group is launching a charm offensive on Capitol Hill, as its Washington lobbying shop has been quietly meeting with sympathetic congressional offices, reminding them that ACORN’s services help low-income residents of urban areas."
Click here to read the entire post.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
CNN: Justice Dept. inspector general to launch limited ACORN investigation
CNN reports "The activist community-organizing group ACORN will be the subject of a limited investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general, the internal watchdog office announced Monday. . . . In a brief letter to Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, Fine said he will investigate whether ACORN applied for or received any Justice Department grant funds, and if so, whether the Justice Department had conducted any audits or reviews of ACORN's use of such funds."
Click here to read the entire post.
Friday, September 18, 2009
WSJ: Acorn May Cut Voter-Registration Work
The Wall Street Journal reports "Community-organizing group Acorn said Thursday it was considering quitting its voter-registration work amid a growing political storm over its activities, a move that could hurt Democrats at the polls. In the latest rebuke, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to block the group from receiving federal funds."
Click here to read the entire post.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
ACORN In The News
The Washington Times reports that ACORN's federal funding may be coming to an end ("Videos jeopardize ACORN's funding"). John Fund has this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal ("Acorn Runs Off the Rails"). And the Wall Street Journal's editors have this piece ("Acorn Live! Democrats still fund this rogue operation."). AP reports that "The Senate voted Monday to block the Department of Housing and Urban Development from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in several voter-registration fraud cases. The 83 to 7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN. . . ." The New York Times has this piece ("Conservatives Draw Blood From Acorn, Favored Foe"), although it's impossible to tell if it's a news article or an op-ed.
Click here to read the entire post.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Miami Herald: 11 accused of faking voter registration cards in Miami-Dade
The Miami Herald reports " Eleven people hired to register potential voters in Miami-Dade County before last year's presidential election were sought Wednesday, accused of falsifying hundreds of voter registration cards. By late Wednesday, seven were in custody and being held without bond, authorities said. The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office issued arrest warrants for each of the 11 suspects, all of whom worked for the local chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN."
Click here to read the entire post.
Friday, June 05, 2009
RedState: New Report Suggests 2,812 Dead Minnesota Voters In Last November's Election
From RedState: "A review of Minnesota’s statewide database of registered voters revealed at least 2,812 deceased individuals voted in last November’s general election, according to a new report by the 'traditional values' advocacy group Minnesota Majority. After obtaining the list of voters who participated in November’s election, the group hired an independent firm who specializes in 'death suppression' for direct mailing lists to review the data. . . . Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann argues the discrepancies unearthed by the group are merely the result of election workers updating the voter database with faulty information and were not instance of voter fraud."
Click here to read the entire post.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
John Fund in the Wall Street Journal: More Acorn Voter Fraud Comes to Light
According to Fund, "Democrats are split on how to deal with Acorn, the liberal 'community organizing' group that deployed thousands of get-out-the-vote workers last election. State and city Democratic officials -- who've been contending with its many scandals -- are moving against it. Washington Democrats are still sweeping Acorn abuses under a rug."
Click here to read the entire post.
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
McClatchy: Nevada files voter fraud charges against ACORN
McClatchy reports "Nevada's attorney general on Monday filed criminal charges accusing liberal community activist group ACORN and two of its employees of facilitating voter registration fraud in November's election by requiring canvassers to submit 20 applications each day or face termination. Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, both Democrats, announced the charges, stressing that there's no evidence that the phony registrations led to the casting of votes using fake identities. . . . The Nevada complaint alleges 26 counts of 'Compensation for Registration of Voters,' which it called a felony under state law."
Click here to read the entire post.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Washington Times: Conyers weighing probe of ACORN
According to the Washington Times, "Opponents of the liberal activist group ACORN have found an unlikely champion in House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., who is clashing with his own party to pursue hearings on accusations that the group has committed crimes ranging from voter fraud to a mob-style 'protection' racket."
Click here to read the entire post.
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