Posted on 01/30/2016 1:07:24 PM PST by springwater13
Today I was shown a piece of literature from the Cruz for President campaign that misrepresents the role of my office, and worse, misrepresents Iowa election law. Accusing citizens of Iowa of a "voting violation" based on Iowa Caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act. There is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency of voting. Any insinuation or statement to the contrary is wrong and I believe it is not in keeping in the spirit of the Iowa Caucuses.
Additionally, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office never "grades" voters. Nor does the Secretary of State maintain records related to Iowa Caucus participation. Caucuses are organized and directed by the state political parties, not the Secretary of State, nor local elections officials. Also, the Iowa Secretary of State does not "distribute" voter records. They are available for purchase for political purposes only, under Iowa Code." - Paul D. Pate, Iowa Secretary of State
(Excerpt) Read more at oskynews.org ...
“I hope Ted can ride this out. I still plan on voting for him on March 15. But this kerfuffle will not help. This gives Rubio a bit of a boost.”
Charles, thank goodness at least one Cruz supporter is being honest and objective about this issue. Guys like JediJones appear to be completely demented and it’s hard to tell if they really ARE demented or are simply trolls. thanks, dude!
Can't speak for the law in Iowa, but in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the Secretary of State, which maintains voter records does in fact SELL voter records to political organizations for political purposes. That would include 501C-3's as well. That is SOP, and has been for decades.
If they don't 'distribute' the sold records to the buyers of those records, how the hell would the buyers receive them. I do believe this GOPe official is quibbling and playing with words. But I guess that is normal in this political season.
Records are distributed electronically. They're made available on-line in various formats to those who purchase them. Online access via web browser, or download a file with the information in it. Depends on what the political campaign paid for.
I've posted this repeatedly here on FR over the years (I've been here since 1998) as I've worked on political campaigns in this capacity: there is NO SUCH THING as a secret ballot, and there hasn't been for DECADES.
Your votes are all recorded, and directly attributable back to you. That is managed by the individual States via the Secretary of State office (or whatever an individual office calls it, here in Illinois it's the Secretary of State.)
As I posted on another thread, what the Cruz campaign did here has a CHILLING EFFECT in a number of ways, most notably putting voters on notice that someone is watching how they vote AND their votes are available to be published for anyone to see.
Imagine walking into work one day and finding yourself ostracized from your co-workers because they all vote directly opposite of you in almost every election. Everything in this country has become politicized to the point where any opposition to liberal Democrats can result in one being FIRED from their job, shamed on-line on social media, and otherwise having their reputations trashed by those that disagree with them.
It happens all the time. Ask any Conservative college professor what happens when they speak out in favor of Life, Conservative causes, or Conservative principles in any way. They're visciously attacked by the skulls full of mush on their college campus and harangued out of a job.
That's the effect the Cruz campaign had in this stupid, stupid mailer. They should've known better, and they didn't.
He’s having a worse weekend than the crash dummy on Mythbusters.
I like Cruz and would be my second choice, but he never cleared up his Canada issue which should have taken 5 mins and his cozy relationship with G Sachs is an issue.
Something as volatile as this, a spokesman admitting he sent it is a far different thing than being an approved action on the part of Cruz and/or the campaign.
One guy going off or a planned campaign action, too little information to make that call.
Sleazy. Unethical. In violation of the morals of conservative Americans and of Christians. But not a violation, said his LAWYER. LOL
But for the SoS to blow a gasket over it as though it was anything other than metaphorical, also shows a high lameness quotient.
Oh my gosh. No, it does not. Our citizenry doesn’t only consist of smart people. Half the population is under the middle IQ. Some voters are still in high school. Some are seniors and some of those are suffering illnesses.
When my dad was barely started down the Alzheimers trail, suddenly he fell for all kinds of mail and phone scams he never would have before. This is true for seniors without dementia too. Not everyone is a sharp businessman.
I definitely can see why the SofS came out with that statement.
Coming from Cruz, the supposedly most conservative candidate since...well the most conservative ever, according to some here, it is not a good look for conservatives. Obama did it too, but he was actually less creepy about it!
“I don’t know if Cruz put it out or not. “
He apparently did. His campaign manager apparently confirmed it:
Yup. . .he will be asked.
Time for the steaks.
Cheers.
Well if one carries out politics, one shouldn’t complain at seeing them, too.
A good plan would use the thing that the bible, and God, call grace.
Trump isn’t terribly good at this at times, but maybe this is an era where things need to be a bit Old Testament again.
Cruz’s campaign muffed it here. As I pointed out before. There are sweeter and more winning ways to point out that a neighborhood is known to be low voting in primaries and that primaries are important.
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Totally agree.
Failing politician gives citizen a failing grade.
When I saw the mailer, I understood... this was more than just a grade mailer, and those who try to separate the two issues are being disingenuous, like the way Adam and Eve tried to use the fig leaves.
From what I read it can be an effective GOTV tactic, but it can also backfire. The type of person Cruz has been trying to paint himself as- this type of tactic besmirches that, and is not smart at all. Besides which, if you ARE the type of person you are trying to portray yourself as (all good and kind and Christian and honorable)- would you send out this type of mailer??? ?
Apparently despite a lot of FReepers trying to attribute this to a Trump “dirty tricks” squad, it’s apparently really from Cruz.
Dean’s Scream.
Allen’s “macaca” moment.
Gary Hart’s mistress moment.
Muskie’s in tears moment.
Dukakis in a tank.
Politics is a tough business, but it doesn’t take much to bring a potential candidate down. Sometimes it is over something seemingly silly and meaningless.
We get to see Cruz from multiple angles, and behold! Clay feet.
This doesn’t of itself make Cruz unviable, but when evaluating the fitness of all candidates to the situation, it certainly isn’t something to just ignore either.
If your opponent presents something damaging to you, ordinarily you don’t repeat it.
But here, where it’s a shot-to-the-foot, what does Cruz do? Hope to make a respectable showing Monday, then do damage control? Or attempt it now?
I’m leaning towards now, “It’s not that big a deal and I expect the voters of Iowa will see that, etc.”
Keep in mind the mailer was sent to desultory voters they hoped to pick up. It’s a lousy thing to happen to him this late in the game.
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