Free Republic

QUITMAN, GA (WALB) - 12 former Brooks County officials were indicted for voter fraud. The suspects are accused of illegally helping people vote by absentee ballot. State officials launched an investigation after an unusually high number of absentee ballots were cast in the July 2010 primary election. "As a result of their grand jury findings 12 individuals were indicted in that particular matter and we will be trying that case in a court of judicial law instead of a court of public opinion so that will be pending this next year," said District Attorney Joe Mulholland

Newly elected Cook County Commissioner Jeff Tobolski is leaving the office of mayor of the Village of McCook, Illinois. Now, a few weeks after the election, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that he and his father before him have filled village government with relatives from top to bottom raking in a combined $350,000 in yearly salary (not including benefits), tax money elicited from a tiny village of only 200 some residents. Naturally, in another installment of the "name that party" game, the Chicago Sun-Times seemed to somehow forget to mention in its coverage of this outrageous nepotism that Tobolski is yet...

Daytona Beach City Commissioner Derrick Henry and his campaign manager were arrested this morning and charged with absentee ballot fraud, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. Henry, 41, is charged with two counts of absentee ballots/voting violations, nine counts of being a principal to absentee ballots and voting violations-one count of conspiracy to commit absentee ballots and voting violations. Genesis Robinson, 21, is accused of 11 counts of being a principal to absentee ballots and voting violations and one count of conspiracy to commit absentee ballots and voting violations. All of the charges are third-degree felonies. They will be taken...

A judge on Tuesday sentenced former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez to three years in prison for taking a bribe and attempted extortion, saying he had to be held accountable for his actions despite all his good deeds. Hartford Superior Court Judge Julia Dewey said Perez also must serve three years of probation after the jail time.

Over the years a lot of suspicion has built up across the country about Washington and its population of opportunistic transients coming to see themselves as a special kind of person, somehow above average working Americans who don't work down in that former swamp. Well, finally, an end to all those undocumented doubts. Thanks to some diligent digging by the Washington Post, those suspicions can at last be put to rest. They're correct. Accurate. Dead-on. Laser-guided. On target. Bingo-bango. As clear as it's always seemed to those Americans who don't feel special entitlements and do meet their government obligations. We...

Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo resigned Thursday just before charges were filed in connection with the largest and most widespread corruption probe in Ohio history. Russo resigned by letter to Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones at about 9 a.m., said Jim McCafferty, spokesman for the commissioners. Russo, 60, of Bratenahl, was then charged at 9:30 a.m. in a 21-count criminal information in connection with the Cuyahoga County public corruption investigation. Federal prosecutors allege that Russo enriched himself at the expense of taxpayers. Here is Frank Russo's resignation letter, which was addressed to county commissioners: I humbly submit my resignation...

For a political hopeful in Alabama, it could be the ultimate endorsement -- a show of support from University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban. Bessemer Councilwoman Dorothy Davidson, who is running for mayor of the city, claims she secured Saban's endorsement of her campaign three weeks ago. Davidson printed it on a color campaign flier that shows her and the coach smiling side by side on a golf course. (snip)

In a bombshell new development in the AL GORE SEX SCANDAL, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that the former vice president has finally been interviewed by police in the Molly Hagerty case. Sources close to the investigation reveal that detectives from the Portland, Oregon, Police Bureau traveled quietly to San Francisco on Thursday for the secret meeting with the 62-year-old Nobel Prize winner. "Al Gore has finally been interviewed face to face by detectives in the Molly Hagerty case," a close source told The ENQUIRER. "Details of what was disclosed in the police interview by Gore --and exactly how long...

KNOXVILLE, TN (WMC-TV) - Trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the case of a Germantown High School graduate who is accused of hacking into Sarah Palin's email account. Monday, David Kernell and his attorneys left a pre-trial hearing at the federal courthouse in Knoxville without commenting.

A 66-year-old Hernando County man has been arrested in connection with a threatening voice mail message left at the district office of U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville. According to the FBI, agents arrested Erik Lawrence Pidrman at his home in Spring Hill without incident Sunday. On March 25, Brown-Waite reported that someone left the following message: “Just wanna let you know I have 27 people that are going to make sure that this b**** does not live to see her next term. Good-bye." The call came amid reports that a number of Congressional Democrats have gotten threats or had bricks...

Prosecutors want to send the longtime mayor of Newark, N.J., back to prison to serve more time for steering sweetheart land deals to a mistress. But a lawyer for 74-year-old Sharpe James asked a U.S. appeals court to reverse his conviction. James is in a halfway house finishing up a 27-month sentence after leaving prison this month.... Prosecutors say Riley flipped the $46,000 land for $665,000. They say a federal judge ignored those profits in calculating James' sentence. They had sought a 20-year term.... James served as Newark's mayor from 1986 to 2006.

Most of the indicted militia members accused of being anti-government extremists have active voting records, a check with area voter registration offices showed yesterday. One is a registered Democrat, and the party affiliations of the rest could not be determined. Jacob J. Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio, voted as a Democrat in the 2004 and 2008 primary elections. He also voted in 10 other elections since 2000. Party affiliation in Ohio is determined by which party's ballot they requested in the most recent primary election.

Former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford was sentenced Friday to 15 years in federal prison for taking some $235,000 in bribes in return for lucrative bond work. U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler imposed the sentence on Langford, 63, who told the court, "I am sorry all this has occurred."

Police in Cambridge, Mass., gave state Sen. Anthony Galluccio a ride home because acquaintances told them he was too drunk to drive about 13 hours before he was involved in a hit-and-run accident. Police were called to a gas station in Cambridge about 4:40 a.m. Oct. 4 after receiving a call about an intoxicated man. The station attendant told police he believed Galluccio was too drunk to drive. Police said another man told them he was trying to drive Galluccio home but couldn't find his house. Police said they drove Galluccio home in their cruiser. About 13 hours later, a...

If you watched the debates or look at the candidate’s websites, you will never see the dreaded “D” word spoken nor spelled out. You know why, and so do these wily candidates. The “D” word conjures up images of Pelosi, Reid and billions of dollars flying out of your collective pockets and into the hands of millionaire bankers and insurance executives. Some will tell you that no one mentions the “D” word because the Houston Mayoral Race is a non-partisan race. Really? You sure you want to go with that one? According to the letter of the law, the race...

HAMMOND, La. (AP) - A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long. Neither Bardwell nor the couple immediately returned phone calls from The Associated Press. But Bardwell told the Daily Star of Hammond that he was not a racist.

Democratic State Sen. Hiram Monserrate was found not guilty today of the felony assault after Queens Supreme Court Judge William Erlbaum rendered his verdict after reflecting on the evidence. Monserrate was found guilty of the lesser charge of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, in the non-jury trial for dragging his girlfriend down a hallway, an incident that was caught on surveillance cameras. Monserrate, who gets to keep his seat as a result of being acquitted on felony charges, faces up to a year in jail. He will be sentenced Dec. 4.

Reuters newswire service recently published a story reporting that accused swindler Allen Stanford has been moved to a federal lockup facility in downtown Houston in order "to be closer to his attorneys." In fact in a fairly long story as wire copy goes, Reuters reports all sorts of details of Stanford's alleged financial crimes and current status. There is only one little detail that Reuters seems to have forgotten to report. Allen Stanford was a major fundraiser and lobbyists for some of the biggest Democrats in the country. There isn't a single mention, for instance, that Stanford lobbied Congress for...

Two sources with knowledge of the situation told the Tribune today they have been notified that Christopher Kelly, a key figure in the federal corruption probe into former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is dead. The Cook County medical examiner’s office today confirmed that a body identified as Christopher Kelly was brought to the morgue from Stroger Hospital. The office would not provide any details, including his age, address and manner of death, because the family had not yet arrived at the office. Kelly’s attorney, Michael Monico, declined to comment today when reached by a Tribune reporter. Kelly is a former confidant...

Here is video of a cyclist being hit by an SUV in Wisconsin that ran a red-light. The SUV was driven by a Wisconsin state lawmaker. Miraculously, the cyclist was not seriously injured. . . . . (Watch Video)