VOTE 2002: Taxpayers League says group backs voter fraud

Pioneer Press ^ | Oct. 15, 2002 | Tom Webb

[mondonico]

WASHINGTON — It's all in how you interpret the words: Is it a little campaign help or "one of the most transparent attempts to steal an election since the Daley machine ran Chicago politics"?

The national director of the Democratic Socialists of America says a press release about the group sending as many as two dozen young people to Minnesota this month to help the campaign of Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., has been misinterpreted.

The group says it intends to register young Minnesotans to vote, and to get them involved in the political process. Here's how it describes the Minnesota project on its Web site at www.dsausa.org/dsa.html:

"…We are mobilizing to bring young people to Minnesota. Minnesota is one of the few states that allow same-day voter registration. We will therefore focus our energy on registering young people. Wellstone will need a high percentage of young people to register and vote for him…"

But to the Taxpayer's League of Minnesota, those words suggest possible voter fraud. The league lashed out Monday at what it interpreted as an effort to import non-Minnesota students to falsely register as Minnesota voters. A league statement called it "one of the most transparent attempts to steal an election since the Daley machine ran Chicago politics."

"That's pretty ludicrous," replied Frank Llewellyn, national director of the Democratic Socialists of America. "We don't do illegal things. … We're not asking people from outside Minnesota to move to Minnesota, change their registration and vote. We're encouraging people who already live in Minnesota to register and vote."

Llewellyn said he wrote the Web site blurb, and scoffed at the Taxpayers League interpretation of a voter-registration effort. "I'm not used to having people deconstruct every word for the worst possible interpretation," he said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Webb can be reached at twebb@krwashington.com or (202) 383-6049.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Is this Pioneer Press the biggest newspaper in the Twin Cities?

[gore_sux]

No, the Red Star Tribune is bigger, but nobody reads the articles in it because its so biased.