Posted on 10/20/2010 12:44:17 AM PDT by American Dream 246
Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher reports voter intimidation in Harris County, Texas (Houston) by volunteer poll watchers trained by King Street Patriots, a local non-partisan group who started the True The Vote campaign. Tommy leads with this inflammatory paragraph saying:
In a story that’s sure to draw comparisons to the New Black Panther Party member who brandished a nightstick at a Philadelphia polling place in 2008, a Tea Party group called the King Street Patriots has been accused of “1960s style” voter intimidation in primarily minority precincts on the first day of early voting in Texas. The group is being sued by the Texas Democratic Party, following the filing of 14 voter intimidation complaints with the county clerk, and another two dozen with the Texas Democratic Party chairman.
Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of King’s Street Patriots strongly denies the allegations and noted that it was absurd that “little old ladies” would be intimidating anyone. She says that one 65 year old woman poll watcher came back from poll watching, after being kicked out for simply being present–itself a violation of the law–in tears.
Engelbrecht also notes that King’s Street Patriots learned they were being sued by the Texas Democratic Party at 11 a.m. yesterday morning when not one poll watcher had yet been removed and not one complaint sent to the county about any untoward actions.
In one instance, three poll watchers were yelled at by a Democrat Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee who said,”Why are you here? We have never had poll watchers here. Ya’ll need to get on out of here.”
Lee then demanded that the polling place judge give him information about the three poll watchers and the presiding judge complied–giving him their private information. The three poll watchers now fear for their safety and wonder what will be done with their personal information which included their phone numbers and home addresses.
Tommy Christopher, who, it should be noted is a White House correspondent and not a Texas native nor a Texas reporter, makes an outrageous linkage to the Philadelphia Black Panther case. In that case, Black Panther members were armed and preventing people from voting.
The alleged cases here in Houston are unsupported accusations with no documentation and no video or audio proof. Meanwhile, the poll watchers themselves report being yelled at and harassed, told to leave, and intimidated.
Catherine Engelbrecht expressed frustration about the situation–about being sued, about the constant barrage of negative national media and the misunderstanding around the purpose of True The Vote.
“We want everyone to have a free and fair election,” Englebrecht said. “That’s all we want. We are 100% innocent.”
Houston blogger Kevin Whited notes that it looks like the “Colorado Model” is being brought to Harris County, Texas. He goes on to explain:
Of course, Matt Angle features in The Blueprint, a fine piece of political journalism that describes how a handful of committed millionaire progressives managed to flip formerly reliably Republican Colorado to the Dems over a few election cycles, through strategic funding of down-ballot political races, creation of a loose network of “independent” news organizations and “ethics” groups to pound targeted opponents, and liberal use (no pun intended) of the legal system to tie up ostensibly conservative organizations. Angle all but promised to bring the Colorado Model to Texas, in the form of his Lone Star Project (and associated groups).
And if you begin to connect the dots locally — as Cory Crow also does — you can see elements of the Colorado Model at work, right here in Harris County. Now, There’s nothing illegal or unethical per se about the model. In many ways, The Blueprint is a great political novel that just happens to be true. However, given the state political media’s occasional interest in the influence of big money in politics (when it happens to be a donor like, say, Bob Perry), it would be nice to see that same interest extend to progressive big money and the machinations of nominally “independent” front groups.
Another local Houston blogger, Cory Crow does connect the dots:
It’s interesting to note that, on the same day the HCDP added KSP to their lawsuit the George Soros/Matt Angle backed Texans for Public Justice filed an ethics complaint against KSP based almost entirely on reporting found in another Colorado Model media outlet, The American Independent, which was then dutifully carried by another Colorado Model “news” outlet The Texas Tribune which conveniently forgot to disclose TPJ’s funding ties to Texas Democratic king-maker Matt Angle.*
So we have several (allegedly) Democratic partisan groups suing and filing ethics complaints against an (allegedly) Republican partisan group for (allegedly) performing the exact same actions they’re (allegedly) involved in.
Now, to connect the dots even further. Earlier today, I noted that The Texas Tribune just partnered with the New York Times who has just opened a Texas division. From Poynter Online there’s this:
In addition to Texas Tribune’s public policy reporting, the Times plans to publish some cultural and lifestyles coverage in the new regional pages. Evan Smith, who was a longtime editor of Texas Monthly before becoming editor of Texas Tribune, will commission and edit the additional content separately from his duties at the Tribune.
The Democrats seem to want to make Texas a battleground state–by any means necessary. The only sticking point has been a small grassroots organization simply wanting to make sure Harris County elections are free and fair.
No doubt, this is not the last we’ve heard on this story.
where is the legal and political action against this elected official??
That takes too much time....it’s ass whooping time like ...right now!!
We The People have Our eyes and ears everywhere with cameras. The Fraud-creating RATs would be wise to realize that ASAP. We The People want them exposed and doing time in prison. Gitmo would be appropriate where they can spend time with like-minded America haters.
Pingaling!
I agree. We are already having problems here in Houston since they burned those voting machines. That Mr. Lee is going to be prosecuted for his illegal deeds.
I quite agree.
But in the past, poll-watchers have avoided particular areas. And as a result, the fraud and thuggery have thrived.
One of my sisters lived in New Orleans for several years and her polling place was in a very dangerous area. The first time she went to vote there, she felt intimidated when she saw what sorts of people were hanging out front and didn't even park her car. She just left. She did early voting after that.
It's time we sent a message that we're not going to put up with that crap anymore.
BTW in Fance(aka frogistan) there are socialist anti-democratic riots !
It would be the opposite ,i hope, in USA....rather rebellion against socialist tyrany for freedom
Key fact: The Democrats filed suit before there were any complaints. Typical dirty tricks by cheaters.
Please do try to post in breaking and please ping me!
It is VERY IMPORTANT that we make public ANY problems at the precincts! It is obvious that these poll watchers were doing what they are supposed to do, and the false accusations are being made because there are many who do not want poll watchers present! Why? So voter fraud can continue.
American patriots everywhere are joining in the effort to stop all voter fraud! We all want fair elections where every eligible voter can vote without intimidation from ANYONE!
Hi All, Tired brain tonight, for sure! So glad this was posted in breaking! :)
Hey man...I wasn;t even poll watching just trying to get a petition off the ground on E-Verify and a Dem operative was so pissed at all the eyes on the elections that she went after me...It was an all blk. location...educating the evils of unbridled immigration is strictly forbidden...she screamed that’s a REPUBLICAN ISSUE to voters walking up to the polls from the parking lot.She asked me why I was in this neighborhood...go back to my part of town...called me a TEA PARTIER! I said I am my own tea party when it comes to immigration issues.She warned all approaching voters to not sign any petition. Finally a black gal that I had been around up there for the past two days told her to Shut up and leave that woman alone...IT WAS INSANE!TENSION BIGTIME!
Why is it going to get nasty? The pubs won’t do anything about it. They never do.
Shows time and time again!
The Socialist/Progressive/Sheeple just can't take it when the truth is presented to them!
The pubs are useless. Just face it. They’re all a bunch of candyassed wimps.
Where are they in this incident? NOWHERE TO BE FOUND AS USUAL. DOING NOTHING AND LETTING IT HAPPEN AS USUAL.
That’s why the left keeps getting bolder and bolder in their vote fraud schemes. In some places, they don’t even try to hide it.
Pubs are worthless.
Now if you had taped that, or even got names of witnesses, she would never darken the voting door ever again.
If the Harris Co. GOP was “on it”, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
Do you think people will just sit and watch much more crap?
Do you think people will tolerate this crap forever?
We need people like Darth to help us formulate NOW, today.
We need a timeline plan by tomorrow.
Last thing you want is to be locked into an organized situation where you have to trust many people.
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