Posted on 11/03/2002 6:07:39 PM PST by sweetliberty
We have just returned to Budge's house to do the FReep report because there is a lot of information to report.
In attendance were Budge, Travelgirl, The Battman, parsifal, Don Frivoinai, sweetliberty, and another FReeper who, for reasons you will come to understand shortly, needs to remain anonymous until after the election.
We arrived at Budge's around noon to get everything set up for the maiden FReep of the Arkansas Hog Wild FReepers and the FReepmobile. We got to the site around quarter after 1 and finished up some signs and headed over to the convention center to await the arrival of XXX42 and his horde of Rats. There we were joined by several folks from the Hutchinson campaign and there were quite a few folks who came down from Mount Ida. There ended up being about 30 of us on the outside.
During the wait, we were informed of quite a few "questionable" things going on. For starters, there was one young man who is active with Tim Hutchinson's campaign who was threatened with arrest if he didn't leave the premises. He had done nothing to provoke this action other than they knew who he was. One of the FReepers who is a poll watcher was also threatened with arrest when she tried to go inside the convention center. Another young man who is a Hutchinson aide had a ticket to the event and because he had been seen talkiing to the "opposition" he was not allowed in, being told that it was a private event and they could exclude whoever they wanted to. There was also a group of black folks who were with us so this young man passed his ticket to one of the black guys, who removed all his campaign stuff and went in incognito, laughing saying that they'd never suspect a black guy. Will give you his report later.
Nobody would tell us what door Clinton would be entering by so we took a chance and hung out on one side of the building where they said the car would drive by. True to form, XXX42 was late by nearly an hour. But here is the great part. We were positioned between 2 entrances. One was a major side entrance. The other was a small, fenced-in service entrance by the garbage dumpsters. Well, guess which one he used. Think....which would be most appropriate. Yep, you guessed it. The snake slithered in through the garbage entrance. And he got a look at our signs. It was a classic moment in FReeperdom.
There was a whopping 500 people or so there for the "event". There were few enough people that there was a Jehovah's Witness convention going on in the building at the same time. When Clinton arrived the Jehovah's Witnesses started leaving. At that time we didn't realize that there was another event going on and Travelgirl and The Battman asked one of the cops on duty why everyone was leaving. He responded, "if Clinton entered a room, what would YOU do?" When the Jehovah's Witnesses left, the parking lot started clearing out.
Anyway, we may have to flesh in this post after we all get home because there is a lot to tell, but there is certain information that it is very important to get out there NOW! Back to our "spy". When he came out, he said they were running it like a church service, and the whole focus was on how the evil Republicans are trying to keep them from voting. They were saying that we have all the poll watchers this election to prevent THEM from voting. Now, here is the clencher. They were told that there would be attorneys posted at every precinct to prevent poll watchers from challenging ANY ballots. Now, mind you, one of our poll watchers has already had massive problems with them at the polls during early voting the past couple of weeks and has been advised to retain an attorney. They have had the sherriff remove her from the polls twice when she had done nothing inappropriate...only challenging ballots for improper or no ID. There is an all out campaign by these people to intimidate the poll watchers and then turn around and accuse us of voter intimidation. This is serious and at least one person has some legitimate fear. I can't really elaborate at this point. The reason we wanted to get this up right away is to get other FReepers on the case to get this publicized and contact appropriate media, political and legal sources to alert them that Republican poll watchers in this county are likely to be facing an organized, all-out Rat attack. Any help that FReepers can offer is needed!! Make phone calls, send letters. Whatever you can do. Post your ideas as well.
They sure are
Great Job on the pictures Libby
LOL!
Thanks for the pics!
Well, Rainy backed out. She said she didn't want to go to jail. :) Talked to our other FReeper poll watcher a couple of times yesterday, but not since. Some interesting tales there!
Thanks nicmarlo, I appreciate your help too!
Man, DO be a poll watcher next time, it's kind of like a giant roller coaster, frightening, fun, and a he11 of a rush! You can bet your bottom dollar I'll be one next time too.
No! He claims they took pictures and kept them for their own perverse amusement. LOL!
Don't be discouraged. I live in a state that was once one of the most corrupt in the country. We are cleaning it up but we have much yet to do. In October our former 4 term governor Edwin Edwards, his son and several of their cronies went to Federal prison as did the Insurance Commissioner. BTW, I probably don't need to say this but ... they were all democrats. :) Edwards had been investigated for years and indicted twice before but they had never been able to convict him. The FBI, local, state and U.S. Attorneys General never gave up and eventually they were able to make a solid case against him and his associates. That is not the end, however, just two months ago, the current Commissioner of Agriculture, another democrat, was indicted on numerous counts. That Louisiana is the poorest state in the union is due in no small measure to decades of corrupt politicians... democrats all.
On December 7th we plan to put an end to the career of another product of that old democrat machine by sending Mary Landrieu into retirement and Suzi Terrell to Washington. So, don't let the whiners get you down and don't give up. Arkansas can turn it around and y'all had the good sense to reelect Huckaby.
YES!
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