Posted on 01/25/2005 1:40:26 PM PST by snowrip
Lawmaker's Son Charged in Tire-Slashing NewsMax.com Wires Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2005 MILWAUKEE - The sons of a first-term congresswoman and Milwaukee's former acting mayor were among five Democratic activists charged Monday with slashing the tires of vans rented by Republicans to drive voters and monitors to the polls on Election Day.
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Sowande Omokunde, son of Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and Michael Pratt, the son of former Milwaukee acting mayor Marvin Pratt, were charged with criminal damage to property, a felony that carries a maximum punishment of 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The activists — all employees of the John Kerry campaign — are accused of flattening the tires on 25 vehicles rented by the state Republican Party to get out the vote and deliver poll watchers Nov. 2.
The GOP rented more than 100 vehicles that were parked in a lot adjacent to a Bush campaign office. The party planned to drive poll watchers to polling places by 7 a.m. and deliver any voters who didn't have a ride.
A criminal complaint said the defendants originally planned to put up Democratic yard signs, placards and bumper stickers at the Republican office in a scheme they called "Operation Elephant Takeover." But the plan was dropped when they learned a security guard was posted at the GOP office, the complaint said.
One witness told investigators the five defendants, dressed in "Mission Impossible" type gear, black outfits and knit caps, left the Democratic Party headquarters at about 3 a.m. on Nov. 2, and returned about 20 minutes later, extremely excited and talking about how they had slashed the tires.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Seth Boffeli said the five were paid employees of Kerry's campaign, but were not acting on behalf of the campaign or party.
"This is not something we engage in, or encourage. We had to make it clear that this is something these individuals were doing on their own," Boffeli said.
Rick Wiley, state GOP executive director, discovered the vandalism on the morning of Election Day.
"It was unbelievable that people could stoop this low in a political campaign," he said. "I figured it had to be someone from the opposition. But I didn't think someone on the paid Kerry campaign would do this."
Wiley didn't say whether the vandalism prevented anyone from voting, but said poll watchers were about two hours late.
Moore attended the court appearance for her son, but declined to address the felony charge after the proceeding, saying only that she had to catch a plane. A message left on Marvin Pratt's cell phone was not immediately returned.
The judge denied a motion made by Omokunde's attorney, James Shellow, to dismiss the charges based on a flawed criminal complaint.
Also charged were Lewis Caldwell, Lavelle Mohammad, and Justin Howell.
Sometimes it feels so good to be a Republican.
What a shock - Democrat kids acting like punks.
I live in Madison WI and it does not surprise me how filthy these little children in Milwaukee can be. The only thing that supercedes them are the infants at UW Madison.
"Sowande Omokunde, son of Rep. Gwen Moore Dem. -Wis..."
Whose real name is 'Slash' Moore...
From what I've seen, this is not a child, but a grown adult...
Photos, please..
Right on! Where is Jesse Jackson whining about disenfranchisement? Didn't Bush only lose Wisconsin by like 14K votes??
Wonder if she had to catch a plane back when she could have been teaching the punk right from wrong.
Easy for you to say...
This is an old Union attack,just like Communist. The Unions and the Democrat Party are Communisms representative in America and are locked arm in arm.
Not kids. Adults. Felons. What they were doing is quite literally attempting to deny voters their civil rights. This should be a federal prosecution.
Just building up their street creds for future careers in the Democrat party. Liberals hate when you call it the "Democrat" party, by the way.
Here are several other threads from search results on the same story with quite a few replies.
Two percent (or more) of the vote in the US is stolen by the democrats in every election. Bush actually carried Wisconsin, and Rossi is the genuinely elected Governor of Washington State.
EBONICS TRANSLATION... Sowande Omokunde, son o' Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., an' Michael Pratt, da son o' former Milwaukee acting mayor Marvin Pratt, wuz charged wiff criminal damage ta property, uh felony dat carries uh maximum punishment o' 3 1/2 years in prison an' uh $10,000 fine. Ya' know what I'm sayin'?
If these tire-slahers had been working for the Bush campaign, Barabra Streisand would be producing a TV movie about it.
Supreme Golden Wanker
Self Parodying Nitwit
Universal Lee Derided
Supreme Unleaded with Techron
Princess Beef Szechuan Style
It sure is... and like Communism, "unionism" in the US will eventually be uncovered as the sham that it really is. Jackbooted thugs, anyone?
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