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| Katherine Fernandez Rundle, too busy rounding up cat killers to stop Absentee Ballot Fraud. |
This quote irritated me the most in Pat Mazzei's article in the Miami Herald Saturday:
“Historically, absentee voting is the source of all voter fraud”
Said by: State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle
A cottage industry of ballot brokers has grown up around absentee ballot collection. Absentee ballot collection even has a reigning Queen: Republican political operative Sasha Tirador (Who is a close friend of disgraced David Rivera, also known for absentee ballot collection).
"Garcia blamed the region’s rough-and-tumble politics..." for what happened with his aides. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING. The theft of our votes shouldn't be minimized, written off as "politics as usual." Our vote is sacred to each of us.
And what has Mayor Gimenez done to help? First he denied hiring the Boletera seen lurking in his office before she was arrested. Then he created a voter task force after the election and puts - of all people - Lynda Bell on it. Lynda Bell was working out of David Rivera's office for a while during her campaign and the rumor is Rivera ran her absentee ballots. How did she win her election: ON ABSENTEE BALLOTS. What County Commissioner had her name in the indicted Boletera's book: Lynda Bell. Coincidence? What was the Mayor thinking?
Back to our State Attorney: Rundle should be at the bully pulpit every single day begging the Legislature to change the laws on absentee ballots. She should be leading the charge to each and every Election Department head in the State of Florida to get on board with reform. Her lukewarm response for 2 decades, to a problem she fully acknowledges makes me want to puke.
Has anyone thanked the Miami Herald for uncovering the local IP addresses? pmazzei@MiamiHerald.com
And by the way, I don't want these vindictive, stinkin' politicians having my date of birth. Will someone make the elections department stop giving our dates of birth to candidates?
Let's not do absentee ballots anymore for the general public because they just don't work.
58 comments:
I am 100% behind you. The problem is out of hand and no seems to care except us. Where is the mayor besides that foolish task force?
Garcia's aides have fucked it up for the Republicans. They can't point a finger but it will only open them up to the same abuse.
It is the only answer. Get rid of them exception the military overseas.
They should end absentee ballots in Miami. We just can't be trusted. I call for a moratorium. Some of the old folks in the nursing homes don't even know what they ate for lunch. They wouldn't know the candidates they voted for except maybe president. Because of that, Ballot brokers have hundreds of votes they influence. We only have one vote. How is that fair? They change elections.
The elections department gives out our date of birth?
Well said. Rundle, fix it or go home and find another profession.
Throw all the bums out.
It's a state wide problem. Our Rick Scott stepford husbands & wives in the legislature wouldn't even make AB fraud a felony! Bell wouldn't be in office today if it weren't for them and I'm sure many others the same. In saying the above Miami Dade is ground zero of the issue though. If we have a prosecutor not doing her job and literally has to recuse herself because of incestuous connections among these campaigns, just get rid of AB's all together except for military personnel overseas or the infirmed. If that doesn't work, let's get the Fed's. Oh, wait, our chief law enforcement guy is under investigation!!! Geez, we're just screwed with bad people getting illegally elected. I don't say that in Garcia's case though. 11% is no AB error. He won that one without them.
This whole situation is very frightening. That the fradulent ballots were traced to the source, is a miracle in itself. Even after the Grand Jury flagged it, given the time lag after the Miami Herald's investigative reporter narrowed it down to three electoral districts, I thought they had abandoned the investigation. With that in mind, I thought the voters were left hanging and DEMOCRACY as I had come to know it was dead in Miami-Dade County. So I am very happy that the culprit/s have been found for this component of the crime. The investigation must continue to locate the culprits with the foreign addresses.
Since Garcia's aide has admitted guilt, he and anyone else involved must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I live in this Congressional District and I won't vote for Garcia again. The vote is the heart of our democracy and anyone who doesnot understand this basic principle, doesnot deserve to be in public office.
I don't want my personal voting record, name, address, email address, or phone number given to any candidate or any of their operatives here or anywhere else in the world. I want the law changed to make this possible.
Rundle and her cohorts have been useless in fighting corruption. In fact, Rundle is accused of hiring many of the "usual suspects" to help her win her own elections. How aggressively will she go after her own campaign consultants?
Eye On Miami has written numerous blogs on this AB fraud. The voters on early voting days and election day vote for one candidate, the AB fraud puts these candidates behind and they lose the election. This has happened over and over again with no political will to correct this problem because it usually favors Republicans.
The state legislature won't put teeth in AB fraud because it favors the Republicans elections.
With the local mayor, some commissions, and the state attorney's office using the same people perpatrating the AB fraud, it is almost impossible to fix the problem
Then we have to call the Feds in. Without the vote, you do not have a democracy.
Maybe the Republicans will crack down more since it involves a Democrat now.
Wait a minute - are you going to apply the same logic to Medicare fraud? South Florida/All of Florida can't be trusted not to commit fraud with Medicare so eliminate Medicare in Florida? No way - I worked overseas for a couple of years and absentee ballot was my only option. How is it fair to take away my right to vote? If something is broken, fix it, don't eliminate it. Clearly there is Abuse going on - we need to fix that by any means necessary but I do not think taking away someone's right to vote is the answer.
Yes every candidate that pays for the list gets your date of birth. I suspect people who steal identities have gotten their grubby hands on election dept. lists from ethically challenged candidates.
Miami Exile: we had absentee ballots before but not for the general public. Don't you remember? That is what every here means. Go back to the old way of doing it.
Everyone here means.
Don't rock the boat Rundle. That should be her motto.
They need the date of birth so they can target the seniors. Why else would they need to give it out?
Rebeca Sosa do something!
Let me see if I understand this. The Chief of Staff and key political operative for a Democrat Congressman engages in outrageous absentee ballot fraud, the Democratic Statte Attorney has looked the other way for decades, and your headline is about Republicans? LOL! Why don't you just blame Bush while you are at it?
Releasing detailed voter information like that given by the Elections Department, in this day and age is an unwitting invitation to criminal activity. In looking at the diary of the absentee ballot worker, it was interesting how individual seniors were systematically indentified and "worked over" to get their votes. Using these lists, all kinds of criminal activity can be generated including ID theft, robbery, extortion, protection-racket scams, credit card scams, predatory lending, and a host of other crimes where criminals need this type of information to target and "work over" potential victims.
I like Garcia - then again, anyone was better that David Rivera. however, he should have been a little more humble about it, and apologized strongly. Blaming it on the system has made me lose confidence in him. I have alwys believed that in my business, the buck stops right here - with me. If one of my staff screwed up, it's me they should be looking at. Tough - but true.
Ever hear of ACORN?
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/democratic-officials-and-activists-linked-to-acorn-plead-guilty-in-voter-fraud-case/
Most of your readers are absolutely ignored about the privacy laws better described as unprivacy laws that offer voter data of everyone in the county for $20 including election participation history, $10 for voter data statewide, $60 for every teacher in Miami Dade Public Schools and God knows the info available to private parties through the DMV.
As for this AB fiasco, its been going on at least 2 years and there has been no audit into past records not just in flagged requests but in all of them that were not automatically flagged.
Remember, this is the same Elections Dept that illegally remained open on the Sunday before last November's election and the county mayor Mr. Gimenez did nothing.
Hammy- Rundle is a Democrat. And no one in Miami will dispute that the Republicans have been responsible for most of the fraud for years and that they started and perfected the fraud. You obviously didn't read my article. I blame both parties but facts are facts on how it began.
Never heard a Republican call it a " well intentioned effort" though. The balls on Garcia. Got to give him that.
Someone raised the question about audits of pass elections, and there was deafening silence from officials as we wondered if they would even get to the bottom of this fradulent effort.
Notice that Lester "don't pester me" Sola still works for the county.
All of these avenues for data need to be closed. There are other ways to make money rather than offering us up for predatory or criminal victimization.
The Herald found that the Miami-Dade elections supervisor Penny Townsley failed to turn over the local IP addresses to the State Attorney's office. She should have never been handed that $200k job without a competitive recruitment. How much more of her incompetence can we handle?
Sorry Cee your conspiracy theory was annoying and too troll sounding. When you sound like Rush it ain't going to cut it on this blog.
It is democracy in the Twilight Zone. Or is it Toilet Zone?
Legitimate campaigns do need voter info in able to ID favorable demographics for honest to goodness GOTV efforts.
DOBs may not be absolutely necessary (Age might suffice). But know that there are legit companies that mine and sell lots more info than available at elections department.
There is a different way of thinking about campaigns. Maybe you focus your efforts on media ads and buys, web sites, public events, canvassing neighborhoods, developing position papers for public view, strategies that do not involve specific targeting of voters. I resent receiving tons of flyers in the mail, and my neighbors do too. The people who get phone calls, hate them and complain bitterly. They need to step back.
That's just you talking and maybe a few other folks (anecdotal stuff) results (numbers) show different story Obama campaign mastered this in 12 and was able to mobilize more voters, granted some segments do show fatigue but overall good GOTV strategies work. When they don't work they'll stop using them and do something else (Like incessantly email you or twitter)
This is what happens when wining is more important than anything else. You completely disregard democratic values, the high ideals people fought and died for, your career, your life, the integrity of your boss, and his political career. Was it worth it? No. While he knew he had done an awful deed, he did not step-up during the campaign and admit it. He did not step-up when the Grand Jury flagged it. He did not step-up when the Miami Herald narrowed it down to three districts. Actually, he never stepped up. He made us spend money on investigators to find him. When the trail lead directly to him, he admitted his guilt.
As quoted in the Herald:
"M-D St Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle’s office has said there is no evidence Rep. Garcia had knowledge of the ballot operation". Ha!
She will never turn against Garcia... they are both Democrats!
Although I agree that the AB problem is out of control, to blame the Republicans as the catalyst for the state of things today is unfair.
Does the term "Condo Commandos" mean anything to anyone? That was the term used to describe the "boleteras" of Aventura and North Miami Beach. Not a Republican among them.
I used to be a Miami-Dade County Department of Elections Registrar when I was younger and it was my voluntary duty to go to local malls, and large stores to personally register and yes (swear-in) new voters; and next to their signatures was MY signature. So if there was any fraud come election time, I was responsible for that registration.
However, since the Congress passed the Democratic sponsored with strong Republican opposition of the "Motor Voter Law," in 1992, anyone who wants a voter's registration form can get one without showing proof that they were citizens. Since then, I have personally known dozens of people who vote in elections without even being legal residents. Why? cause the Department of Elections does not have the manpower to check legal status of the individual.
Where's the ACLU you may ask? Turning the other cheek. Why? cause most of THOSE votes tend to vote Democrat. So, with all due respect, Genius, you are a great blogger but a bit biased, wouldn't you say?
I don't expect this to be posted but I had to get it off my chest.
As chief of staff, Jeffrey Garcia received a salary of $29,224.21 between Jan. 17 and March 31st.
That means he earns an annual salary of $151,965.89. Pretty good salary, don't you think?
There is NO WAY this long-time friend and political ally would do this without Joe Garcia's knowledge.
David Rivera is a cockroach
Joe Garcia is a cockroach
Whatever happened to the concept of "public service"?
Voter fraud has been "politics as usual" for Democrats throughout our nation.
Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and many other Democrat controlled major cities have been implicated in absentee voter fraud It is standard operating procedure there and has been for the past 40 years.
As Malcolm X said “The democrats are playing you for a chump and if you vote for them, not only are you a chump, you are a traitor to your race.”
There is no way Joe "didn't know". NO WAY!
I am a registered Republican and have been for a couple of years.. Did you not know that?
I don't think either party are angels. But condo commandos are very different from those going into nursing homes to get absentee ballots of near catatonic voters. I think I have attacked both parties in this post pretty equally.
You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.
Malcolm X
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/malcolmx390503.html#9SfYJytTWQqilIMJ.99
Republicans quoting Malcolm. X. What's that sound? It is Malcolm X turning over in his grave.
At least get the quote right:
"In Washington D.C., in the House of Representatives, there are 257 who are Democrats; only 177 are Republican. In the Senate there are 67 Democrats; only 33 are Republicans. The Party that you backed controls two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and still they can't keep their promise to you, 'cause you're a chump. Anytime you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that Party can't keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you're dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that Party, you're not only a chump, but you're a traitor to your race."
You previously said you only became a republican to vote against rubio in the primary. why don't you be honest about your lifelong party affiliation?
My lifelong party? I have no idea what you are talking about. I was an independent most of my life.
Genius,
You are not a Republican. You are a Liberal, a Socialist, a Leftist... You may be registered in any party... but you are NOT a Republican.
I said I am a registered Republican and I am. What don't you understand about that?
Dios mio! Give Genius a break. Its people who attack others with nonsense that make this city the way it is politically... people like you are full of criticism and no solution. Go Genius!
Let's not forget the most important question here: Joe Garcia is responsible for the actions his staff made during the political campaign. When will we see him removed from office?
In 1998, Mayor Xavier Suarez was removed from office because members of his staff committed voter fraud. Time to apply the same treatment with Congr. Garcia.
He was removed from office because a judge threw out ALL THE ABSENTEE BALLOTS in the race because some were tainted. It had nothing to do with his workers. Without the absentees, Suarez lost. Had he had enough votes without the absentees he would have been Mayor.
How about Steve Marin, Al Lorenzo, Francoise Illias and all the other money middlemen? Those who solicit absentee ballots?
Once the Democrats get their game on and narrow the leads in AB balloting, historically ABs in Florida tipped in favor of Republicans, there will be no investigation by the Republican leadership. Garcia did wrong in playing dirty and the Republicans thought they could smear him. They can but there will be fingers pointing right back at them. We all do wrong when we excuse this by saying everyone is doing it. It is time for Miami to stop being afraid of calling out corruption AND we must start doing something about it. This is not a Latino cultural thing. It is a cultural thing, period. We have allowed this to go on for generations, well before Latinos arrived so we can't blame them. We just need to cut the BS, clean up and throw people in jail.
Noting that the fradulent 2,500+ absentee ballots did not impact the results of the election, does not speak to the reason it did not happen. Garcia requested the absentee ballots and was waiting for them to be delivered. In the meantime, the Elections Department intercepted them and did not mail them out. So he was surprised when the ballots did not show up in the mail as he requested, and knew something had gone wrong with his scam. So the fact that the scam failed due to the actions of the Department does not mediate Garcia's actions, nor his intent to fradulently impact the outcome of the election.
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