Embattled Athens County, Ohio Democratic Chairwoman Susan Gwinn was indicted Monday on two counts of election-related bribery, special prosecutors announced today.
Gwinn, who last month was charged with six felonies for campaign finance crimes and money-laundering, became the subject of a voter fraud investigation after an email from College Democrats Vice President Kellie Galan surfaced in which students were promised a cash bounty for every voter brought to the polls.
“Remember, if you bring a friend from 4th ward they are more then [sic] a friend, they’re 5 bucks!” Galan wrote to fellow College Democrats in the email.
Athens’ 4th Ward featured a hotly contested city council race between College Democrat-endorsed incumbent Christine Fahl and Republican challenger Randy Morris. Fahl defeated Morris by a slim 30 vote margin.
Athens GOP County Chair Pete Couladis demanded an investigation after news of the email broke, telling reporters “maybe the College Democrats received a stimulus check to help get people to vote.”
“If money was being paid or offered by the College Democrats to college students or anyone else to vote, this is a serious violation of Ohio’s elections laws,” said Couladis.
Athens County Prosecutor Dave Warren, a Democrat, said at the time the investigation was launched, “I think it smells like the Democrats are trying to buy an election.”
The evidence overwhelmingly suggests as much, and also suggests College Democrats played a central role in this crime.
According to Ohio’s bribery statutes concerning voting, “advance, pay, or cause to be paid or procure or offer to procure money or other valuable thing to or for the use of another, with the intent that it be part thereof shall be used to induce such person to vote or refrain from voting” is illegal.
Presently, no members of the College Democrats have been indicted in the vote bounty scheme, likely attributable to the logistical and public relations nightmare in trying dozens of co-eds with voter fraud.
Moe Lane
Dan McLaughlin
Dan Spencer
Jeff Emanuel
Neil Stevens
Caleb Howe
If they did the crime...
martellus (Diary) Tuesday, December 1st at 5:48PM EDT (link)They do the time. I don’t care if you have to go to the far side of the moon to find them. Indict them all and everyone.
The Hammer
agreed.
RSSS Tuesday, December 1st at 6:49PM EDT (link)where there is voter fraud it needs to be investigated, and the guilty parties brought to account.
thanks for this post.
Contrast these Ohio elections with Honduras...
nessa (Diary) Tuesday, December 1st at 9:39PM EDT (link)and the elections there. Why do we allow shenanigans like these? And why on earth allow a bunch of co-eds to get away with it merely because catching them might be hard? I guess it would be just as hard as prosecuting black panthers who threaten voters.
“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Contributor to Unified Patriots
teh twitter
The Real Question??
kicker Tuesday, December 1st at 10:21PM EDT (link)The real question isn’t whether or not voter fraud took place, that’s almost a foregone conclusion. The issue is whether or not the election will be allowed to stand, and the Democrat allowed to remain in office.
If the election isn’t overturned, then the process should be viewed as a success by the Democrats. In exchange for a few slaps on the wrist, a Democrat is ensconced in office, and given the difficultly in getting an incumbent out, who knows for how long.
When evidence of voter fraud becomes evident, elections need to be overturned and special elections held. To do otherwise is to cheapen one of our most vital freedoms.
As I understand the indictment, the prosecution is a bad idea
Pilot Tuesday, December 1st at 11:21PM EDT (link)Perhaps I’m missing something, and if I am, please tell me. However, it appears to me from reading the source material links that the criminal vote bribery indictment is based not on allegations that any voter was offered (or paid) $5 in order to vote (theoretically for persons/parties unknown) but rather that vote canvassers (here the college Democrats) were paid based upon how many legal, registered, voters a canvasser could get to show up at the polls on election day. Call me crazy, but isn’t the idea of paying at least some of your get out the vote people for their time and efforts, standard operating procedure in any well funded campaign?
Don’t get me wrong, if money changed hands (or was offered to change hands) to any voter to get that voter to come out to the polls then there absolutely should be a criminal vote bribery prosecution with the full force of the law. But if the basis for the prosecution being instituted is simply that people were paid to engage in get out the vote efforts, that’s an awfully dangerous proposition to support. Otherwise, the next time any campaign, be they GOP or Democrat pays people to man a campaign phone bank, or pays a person who provides transportation for legal, registered, voters to get to the polls, those campaigns and the workers for them might be subject to prosecution under this statute. After all, those individuals (the get out the vote personnel) would have received a thing of value (compensation) in return for getting other people to vote. And if someone can explain to me in how that type of behavior is different in principle from paying a guy for his efforts in rounding up all of his buddies who are legal voters to get them to come to the polls where no $$ is ever offered to any of the actual voters, I’d love to hear it.
Kellie doesn't quite look like a crook..
ladyimpactohio (Diary) Wednesday, December 2nd at 9:39AM EDT (link)here she is on facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Kellie+Galan&init=quick
But then again, some criminals can disguise themselves well as cute, attractive female college democrats.
I saw info on this in a post here a couple of weeks ago, and because I am an Ohioan became interested in it. I found the Ohio U College Dems web page, and it also came with an e-mail address. So I e-mailed asking for an explanation regarding this. When no response was forthcoming, I figured poor, misguided, cute Kellie was in a psych unit somewhere because of all the publicity. So I made a second attempt, stating that the story “made one of the most prestigious conservative blogs on the net.” That one did it and I got a response from the prez of OUCD. Here it is:
http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/71bmzw
Of course they admit no wrongdoing, and put all the blame onto the county Dems. But can’t help it. Gotta twist the knife just a tad. Gonna send the prez, Liz Clark, a link to this post.
We the people tell government what to do, it does not tell us.–Ronald Reagan in his farewell speech