Posted on 06/25/2004 2:02:40 AM PDT by kattracks
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A political group that paid felons to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives with the aim of ousting President Bush in the 2004 election pledged Thursday to weed out any employees convicted of violent or serious offenses.
America Coming Together announced a new policy for background checks after The Associated Press reported Wednesday that ACT had used people convicted of burglary, assault and sex offenses to canvass neighborhoods in at least three election swing states - Missouri, Florida and Ohio. It declined to define what it considers violent or serious offenses under the new policy.
Since spring, "our policy has been that we're not going to employ violent felons," the group's Washington-based spokesman Mo Elliethee said Thursday. "We're going to conduct this background check to ensure we're not."
ACT is an independent group not affiliated with the campaign of Democratic candidate John Kerry. Although federal law forbids a campaign to coordinate activities with such groups, veteran Democratic political operatives, many with past ties to Kerry and his advisers, work for ACT.
The Kerry campaign said Wednesday it was unaware of ACT's hiring practices and had nothing to do with them. ACT plans to spend about $100 million on initiatives to get out the vote in hopes of boosting Kerry's chances.
ACT employs about 1,000 canvassers in 17 swing states, paying them $8-$12 an hour to ask residents which issues are important to them and, if they are not registered, sign them up as voters. Employees gather telephone numbers and other personal information - birth dates, driver's license numbers or partial Social Security numbers, depending on each state's requirements for voter registration.
A review of federal campaign finance and state criminal records by The Associated Press revealed that the names and hometowns of dozens of ACT employees in Missouri, Florida and Ohio matched those of people convicted of crimes such as burglary, forgery, drug dealing, assault and sex offenses. At least seven parolees were still living at Missouri halfway houses when employed by ACT, and four of those later were returned to prison.
Elliethee said ACT would fire - or refuse to hire - anyone convicted of "violent or other serious offenses." He said the decision to start background checks was made during a Wednesday night meeting of the group's senior staff.
"We continue to believe people deserve a second chance, and we will continue to offer that chance for people who are re-entering society to participate in our program," he said. "But our policy is to not hire anyone who we deem not to be safe."
ACT also targets voters in major metropolitan areas in Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
ACT does not employ felons in West Virginia, officials with the group's state chapter and in Washington, DC, said Wednesday.
This is really gonna be tough. Where are they gonna find Democrats without a felony.
Independent group, yeah that's the ticket.
Well, that's nice. But, what will the little darlings do to while away the hours now?
Go back and pilage the homes they just visited.
Birds of feather flock together.
I believe him, I believe him. Not.
Or at least they will stop talking about it.
Our Founders
Grassroots and political leaders who share a vision of a progressive America and are committed to help defeat George W. Bush, elect progressives up and down the ticket, and mobilize millions of people to register and vote around the critical issues facing our country started America Coming Together (ACT).
Ellen R. Malcolm, President of ACT, is the founder and president of EMILY’s List – a political action committee that supports pro-choice Democratic women candidates. Under her leadership, EMILY’s List – an acronym for “Early Money is Like Yeast” because it “makes the dough rise” – has grown to be the largest political action committee in the country. Since its founding, EMILY’s List has help send 11 pro-choice Democratic women to the U.S. Senate, 55 to the U.S. House of Representatives, and to elect seven governors. Malcolm will lead the effort to build ACT’s membership and raise $95 million to support ACT’s voter contact program.
Steve Rosenthal , Chief Executive Officer of ACT, was Political Director of the AFL-CIO from 1996-2002, where he developed a groundbreaking voter contact program that increased voter turnout of union members by 4.8 million during a time when nonunion turnout decreased by 15 million. During the first three years of the Clinton Administration, Rosenthal served as Associate Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor where he acted as former-Secretary Robert Reich’s chief advisor on union matters. Before that he was Deputy Political Director for the Democratic National Committee under Chairman Ron Brown and Political Director Paul Tully. Rosenthal will design and execute ACT’s voter contact program.
Minyon Moore heads Dewey Square’s state and local practice. She was formerly Chief Operations Officer of the Democratic National Committee and before that Assistant to the President of the United States and Director of White House Political Affairs.
Gina Glantz has a distinguished 30-year career in campaigns and grassroots organizing. She was National Campaign Manager for the Bill Bradley for President campaign.
Carl Pope, Treasurer, is Executive Director of the Sierra Club, an organization of 700,000 environmental activists. Pope has spent 30 years in the environmental trenches, and worked to enact such statutes as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, the Superfund and California Desert Protection Act.
Cecile Richards is President of America Votes, a coalition of almost 30 national organizations working together to educate and mobilize voters in the 2004 elections on a broad range of issues including the environment, civil and human rights, women’s rights, choice, education and labor.
Looks like the felon-hiring idea would have been Rosenthal's (according to the above description). Mr. Former AFL-CIO probably knows a little bit about arm-twisting and strong-arming.
No fooling. See my posts above. The buck stops with Rosenthal, former AFL-CIO honcho. This hiring of felons was probably his brainchild. Gee ...... why am I not surprised?
I've been interviewed by these people!!!! For Pete's sake!!
Good research there.
So - how is "Minion MOORE" related to the porcine producer?
Or is it just a clever alias?
Interesting interveaving of the usual suspects - Union thugs, environmental whackkos, Abortionists and Feminazis.
Did they say which Wahabbie Mullah serves as "Chaplain" to this organization? And can we wonder how much of their operating budget comes right from the generous old Komrade/Uncle George SOROS checkbook?
One name that is conspicuous by it's absence is that of "Bugsy" DALEY, Gore's former Campaign Manager and son of the notorious Mayor Charles (?) DALEY of some reputation, IIRC, in the Chicago area.
When it comes to "getting out the vote" ledgend has it that there are few if any better at it.
Where is the Revv-Runnnnndd Jessie JACKSON here? Are these libs a bunch of Racists, or what?
Might we assume that some of ACT's activists, operatives and directors would just as soon not have their names on the credits for one reason or another?
Isn't it nice though, that ACT had a miraculous epiphany of moral conscience here, repented of their errant ways, and saw fit to clean up their act?
Of course, getting CAUGHT didn't have a thing to do with it, now did it?
"There is nothing left of the Democrat party but thugs, morons and enviro kooks."
This also explained the Nazis in the 30's and the Communists pre 1917.
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