FBI Corrupts an Election to Fight Election Corruption
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I'm in shock over this:
Has the FBI never heard of the Butterfly Effect? Perfectly innocent people — from voters to campaign workers to lobbyists to the other candidates themselves — all went through processes that were immeasurably and unpredictably altered by the planting of a fake candidate. Thought processes, spending decisions, appearance scheduling, speech writing. All based at least in part on the totality of the circumstances, including the actual field of opponents.
I try to avoid hyperbole and histrionics, but this is the worst case of coordinated government misconduct since Watergate. Many high-ranking heads must roll.
If West Virginia politics are hopelessly corrupt, then fine, bring in the Feds — but to supervise the elections, not to treat them like bait (or more correctly, like trolling nets that ensnare the guilty, the innocent and the wholly uninvolved).
Voters have a right to a tamper-free election the same as they have a right to a functioning voting machine or a paper ballot that doesn't leave dimpled chads. But neither the FBI nor any other agency has the right, or the need, to destroy an election in order to save it.
An egregious example of the cure being not only worse than the disease, but downright fatal.
UPDATE: Here's another, totally unrelated example of FBI misconduct.
Thomas Esposito's campaign for the [West Virginia] Legislature seemed to be following the usual pattern. The longtime Democratic mayor issued press releases, raised money and bought newspaper ads. Signs bearing his name popped up in yards around rural Logan County.I couldn't care less how serious, or rampant, election fraud is in West Virginia or anywhere else. What right does the FBI have to play mind games with voters by planting fake candidates?
But less than a month before the May 2004 primary election, Esposito dropped out, saying he had to withdraw because of his ailing mother-in-law.
The real reason surfaced only later: The FBI had planted Esposito among the field of candidates to help find evidence of vote-buying in southern West Virginia.
Has the FBI never heard of the Butterfly Effect? Perfectly innocent people — from voters to campaign workers to lobbyists to the other candidates themselves — all went through processes that were immeasurably and unpredictably altered by the planting of a fake candidate. Thought processes, spending decisions, appearance scheduling, speech writing. All based at least in part on the totality of the circumstances, including the actual field of opponents.
I try to avoid hyperbole and histrionics, but this is the worst case of coordinated government misconduct since Watergate. Many high-ranking heads must roll.
If West Virginia politics are hopelessly corrupt, then fine, bring in the Feds — but to supervise the elections, not to treat them like bait (or more correctly, like trolling nets that ensnare the guilty, the innocent and the wholly uninvolved).
Voters have a right to a tamper-free election the same as they have a right to a functioning voting machine or a paper ballot that doesn't leave dimpled chads. But neither the FBI nor any other agency has the right, or the need, to destroy an election in order to save it.
An egregious example of the cure being not only worse than the disease, but downright fatal.
UPDATE: Here's another, totally unrelated example of FBI misconduct.
Related Posts (on one page):
- On the (Possibly) Pending Voting Machine Crisis
- FBI Corrupts an Election to Fight Election Corruption
- New Orleans Voting Machines Not Delivered for Gay Marriage Vote
- Are You Sure You Want a Popular Vote?
Posted by Kip on
4 December 2005
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