Leader of quashed recall arrested, criminally charged (Election Fraud - Benton Harbor)

AP ^ | 4-18-05

[Dan from Michigan]

Leader of quashed recall arrested, criminally charged
4/18/2005, 7:11 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) — The leader of an effort to recall a Benton Harbor city commissioner was arrested and charged with election fraud Monday, three days after a judge voided the commissioner's ouster.

Berrien County Prosecutor James Cherry said Edward Pinkney offered cash payments to sway unsuspecting voters, attempted to influence absent voters and improperly possessed absentee ballots.

Pinkney, 56, of Benton Harbor was being held on a $100,000 bond pending arraignment by video Tuesday afternoon, Sheriff Paul Bailey said.

If convicted of the single misdemeanor count of influencing voters with money, Pinkney faces up to 90 days in jail. The one count of trying to influence absent voters and three counts of improperly possessing absentee ballots are felonies punishable by up to five years in jail and a $1,000 fine.

A message was left Monday evening at the Watervliet office of Pinkney's attorney, Tat Parish.

Chief Judge Paul Maloney of Berrien County Trial Court cited widespread fraud Friday in throwing out results of the Feb. 22 election in which Glenn Yarbrough was removed from the commission by a vote count of 297-246.

Maloney's ruling came in a civil lawsuit that Cherry filed against Benton Harbor and City Clerk N. Jean Nesbitt.

"The court concludes this election was miserably administered by the city clerk," Maloney said. "To my knowledge, there is no reported case in our state that contains anywhere near this breadth of wrongdoing, and no case in which the administrator of the election was complicit."

Besides voiding the election results, the judge also ordered a new recall election for August and told the city to appoint someone other than Nesbitt to oversee it.

Maloney said Pinkney instigated the fraud and Nesbitt, at the very least, turned her back on the wrongdoing.

Yarbrough reclaimed his commission seat Monday. It will be his until at least the next recall election.

Yarbrough testified last week that he had heard the day after the election that Pinkney had bought votes by paying cash, generally $5 apiece, to people who cast absentee ballots against Yarbrough. The civil case centered on the unusually high percentage of absentee ballots cast: 47 percent.

Nesbitt has been suspended with pay since March 28.

[Dan from Michigan]

Benton Harbor is where they had the riots a couple of years back. It's a ghost town of about 20,000 and is 95% democrat, but luckily not big enough to alter even a state rep position in Berrien County since the rest of the county is 60%+ republican.

[oolatec]

So this guy is a Dem, huh?

[Dan from Michigan]

Benton Harbor
Bush - 161 - 4.26%
Kerry - 3600 - 95.29%

[Just A Nobody]

So this guy is a Dem, huh?

I read the article to find out. When no party affiliation was mentioned, I came to the conclusion he must be a demonrat. We all know perfectly well had he been a pub we would have seen REPUBLICAN at least 10 times.

[Once-Ler]

Benton Harbor is where they had the riots a couple of years back. It's a ghost town of about 20,000 and is 95% democrat

From Berrien County judge finds fraud in recall election, voids results

Several voters testified that they believed they were voting in support of jobs while filling out employment applications, and didn't know they were voting a city commissioner out of office.

Two witnesses said they went to the clerk's office and asked for their $5 to vote, and Nesbitt's response was that she didn't know anything about that.

You can't get me to fill out a form without out at least a $3,000 line of credit.

[Tamzee]

Looks like the "Reverend" Pinkney is a progressive activist... nice article from Workers World.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/556.html

http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6892

[an amused spectator]

ping to you