Posted on 04/09/2024 1:11:29 PM PDT by Red Badger
April 9 (UPI) -- New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Tuesday that two men will pay $1.25 million for robocalls targeting Black New Yorkers before the 2020 general election discouraging them from voting by mail.
Conservative operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman were found liable in March 2023 for transmitting false information to more than 5,000 Black voters in the New York area in a threatening manner meant to discourage them from voting by mail.
Some of the claims made by the men, James said, suggested that voting information would be shared with law enforcement, debt collectors and the government.
"The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and its belongs to everyone," James said in a statement. "Wohl and Burkman orchestrated a depraved and disinformation-ridden campaign to intimidate Black voters in an attempt to sway the election in favor of their preferred candidate. My office will always defend the right to vote."
In October 2022, Wohl and Burkman each pleaded guilty in Ohio to a single felony charge in connection to making some 67,000 robocalls across the country that targeted minorities and suspected Democratic voters, warning them not to vote by mail.
James' office said one of the recorded calls said: "Did you know that if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts? The CDC is even pushing to use the records for mail-in voting to track people for mandatory vaccines."
James' office said all of that information was false and against the law.
"This groundbreaking settlement should send an emphatic message to anyone who aims to prevent Black people from exercising their right to vote," Damon Hewitt, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement. "Voter suppression and voter intimidation are illegal, immoral and anti-democratic."
Like I said...time to expel New York from the Union.
There’s no sense putting up with this crooked trash.
Interesting they assume its black voters that were targeted
Instead of, you know, maybe just felons/criminals
Oh the racist assumptions of the left
It might be false but it’s not against the law.
We Republicans were saying the same thing....go to your polling place...
This drunk with power rancid sow is outta control.
Donk advocacy good. Conservative advocacy bad.
How long until it’s a crime to vote Republican?
mebbe the whole story is an AI created and supported illusion generating a narrative for the election when blacks don’t turn out for the Dems....
But for Letitia James it’s probably just fine to send robocalls to black voters telling them that Trump wants to put them in camps.
She’s insane...And she’s all about BLACK....just like Fani
I believe these two clowns have a case against them in Michigan too for calls in the Detroit area.
I think I see how NY plans to balance their budget this year...
Burkham was more brief. “I would just echo Mr. Wohl’s sentiment,” Burkman said. “I think the same.”
Wohl admitted to probation officers during a pre-sentencing investigation that the robocall scheme was “a political stunt meant for attention and profit.”
They were also fined by the FCC. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-394089A1.docx
See my reply #12.
Stupid people do stupid things. Bet it didn’t effect a single person.
LaShita is out of control
“”making some 67,000 robocalls across the country””
Across the country? And James is the “dark” knight in shining armor to bring them to justice? What about the other states where it happened? Not one to pass up the chance to find the big bucks???
I’d like to know HOW they knew the calls they made were to blacks?
Stupid people do illegal things.
See my reply #12. They have appealed a Michigan ruling. While James may not be on our Christmas card list, she is far from the only prosecutor who has gone after them.
How do you get drunk with a power-rancid-sow? Hoist a few with Letitia James.
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