Topic: Presidential Campaign 2008
Florida GOP Official Threatens Ron Paul Straw Poll Voter with Violence She was shocked when REC chairman Tony DiMatteo answered: "It�s too bad for you, and if you start any trouble you will be hurt.�by Colette von Hessen
(Conservative Libertarian)
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Florida GOP Official Threatens Ron Paul Straw Poll Voter with Violence
The Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee planned to hold a straw poll on the night of the CNN-sponsored Youtube Republican debate in St. Petersburg. In October the REC Board announced the straw poll and advised its members that only 1,200 tickets would be available and sold for the straw poll. Anyone would be allowed to vote in the straw poll as long as they were over 18 years of age and held a Florida driver's license. They were also told that they should snap up the tickets quickly if they were interested in participating in the poll since the committee anticipated a large voter turnout.
Ron Paul supporter and Pinellas County REC member Sophie (last name withheld for privacy) of Clearwater, Florida was concerned about the limited number of tickets available and was considering purchasing a block of tickets that she could then individually resell to other Paul supporters. She telephoned the local REC office and spoke with a Marilyn. She asked about the possibility of buying tickets in bulk. The woman advised her that she could purchase a block of 50 tickets. Later Marilyn contacted Sophie and informed her that she would be able to purchase as many tickets as she would like. Sophie then purchased several hundred tickets and resold the prepaid tickets to fellow Paul supporters. In the end she managed to resell about 2/3 of the tickets she had bought.
Once at the straw poll, Sophie and others noticed that Mitt Romney supporters were voting for their candidate dozens of times each. The St. Petersburg Times would later document this in an article. Sophie was upset that the rules she had been told were not the rules after all. On Thursday, the day after the debate, she called chairman of the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee, Tonoy DiMatteo to inform him of the misdeeds that had occurred at the straw poll. She was shocked when he answered: "It's too bad for you, and if you start any trouble you will be hurt." (Watch Sophie's account of the incident here.)
Obviously upset by the incident, Sophie called her local Meetup group organizer, Paul Bourgeois, who said that Romney even had 5-year-old kids voting in the straw poll. Paul had, at an earlier time, discussed the rule changes with Tony. Mr. DiMatteo made it very clear to Paul that he and Sophie had not better take this any further or else.
If you would like to call or write Tony DiMatteo (who is, perhaps not surprisingly, a Giuliani supporter) and let him know that you will not stand for this criminal activity, have at it:
The views expressed in this
article are those of Colette von Hessen only and do not represent
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There's also breaking news out of Nevada. Seems Moveon.org has infiltrated the Ron Paul organization out there, and is showing up to regular GOP meetings and causing disruptions. Even the Ron Paul people, who agree with them on Anti-War, are pissed off at them.
One can only wonder if this means perhaps, that George Soros might be secretly funding Paul's campaign?
As many know Lew Rockwell has been romatically linked with Cindy Sheehan. And Justin Raimondo is an icon amongst San Francisco Anti-War Leftists.
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
eric dondero is a racist swine, he wants to kill all brown people and now he is claiming he is ron pauls lone jewish staffer..........even though i found a site where he says he isnt jewish...strange, he was also fired from ron pauls staff...weasel! i hope you land your extremely fat hind end in prison and see what brown people would do with you then. grow up, at 40 plus years old you would think you would get a life of your own instead of riding on ron pauls coat tails to get internet time and spread disinformation LOSER all you ron paul supporters spread the word, eric dondero is a liar and a racist
I feel this type of activity, threatening fellow Republicans or in fact anyone would be totally unnecessary. The Straw Poll was well documented in all types of media as a total sham. DiMatteo caught red handed, could have handled it a bit better. The RP Supporters could have boycotted the straw poll but instead felt it was better to support the 4 local Republican Executive Committees. I would expect better from our local leadership.
A comment to ERIC and thanks to Gene G. for bringing out a little hidden fact. Eric, MoveOn has 3.3 Million American voting and active members, many are Republicans. Educated voters have a tendency to research candidates and actually read proposed bills. I don't believe as a national organization, MoveOn would waste their time on a local GOP meeting. However, with so many American voters upset with (Good - Ole - Boy) politics, they are finally deciding they won't take the BS any longer. Either you're a candidate or supporting a candidate of substance or you better get back to that used car lot or chasing ambulances. As far as disparaging comments about these people, you should be ashamed of yourself. At least they are not disrupting your activities on the goat farm.
I suppose we are lucky in a way that this was detected. Hopefully this is a reminder that we must keep a watchful eye on democracy to make sure people like this can't cheat.
So this is what passes for Mormon ethics? No wonder most Christians have traditionally considered them a cult of heretics. So now we have to wonder why the wack-a-doodle extremist Fundies are crawling into bed with them. Could it be that Christianity no longer has much to do with the actual teachings of Christ? Not even the Baptist Preacher would honestly answer the question about Jesus' position on the death penalty on the YouTube debate. For anyone has has actually read the Bible, the answer to that question should be obvious, as obvious as Huckabee's evasion.
Seriously, Dondero has nothing better to do all day than throw his silly little barbs? Maybe you should spend some time working on your "campaign", Eric ... from what I hear, it needs it.
Posted By: Oscar DeGrouch
Date: 2007-12-02 12:57:51
IT GETS BETTER -
At the Young (chuckle) Republican Straw Poll last month where Paul beat Rudy Giulianna, a woman violently ripped a Ron Paul sticker off my chest in a drunken rage. I kid you not; these folks have a violent streak in them. Wish I video'd it!
Don't you think it's a bit weird that only the Romney people knew about the "rule" changes? Guilanni, McCain, Huckabee, Hunter, Tancredo people could've done it too, including the Ron Paul people. What it would boil down to is the most fiat $ would win it. How is that fair? Fair is one vote to each person. No wonder the GOP is going under. As a person with morals and values, I could not vote more than once due to the fact that my conscience would bother me to do otherwise. How shameful for the Romney supporters. What a bunch of immature, immoral, dishonest, evil people associated with his campaign. If I had found out one of my neighbors, friends or family had participated in this outrage of cheating, I would definitely let them know my thoughts on that subject and shame them. If this is the way most of this country is behaving, then God has given us the leader we deserve -- Bush & Co. and next, Hillary. Lord help us! This only makes me want to campaign harder for Ron Paul and I think I'll just have to donate more of those fiat $$ to his cause! Ooooo, I can't wait for Dec. 16!
I am amazed that this public official is flaunting ten million Ron Paul fans. We should organize some legal action against him in the name of decency. I'd do the same for any underdog, and so should you!
Posted By: Richard Wicks
Date: 2007-12-03 13:14:18
Think it's corrupt now? Wait until the election.
We REALLY should have people doing exit polling and I'm being entirely serious. Exit polling has always been used by the United States to determine if an election is free and fair in OTHER countries, it should be done here, by volunteers if needed.
Since it's been exposed, all that has to be said is that "Romney promotes Chicago-style voting to inflate his numbers", and that his campaign, like his funding, is nothing more than smoke, mirrors, and a greasy hairstyle.
Not only should we have exit polls but also insist on the elimination of those computer voting machines and have the votes counted in the open with witnesses .
The bad thing is they just want us to forget about it, just go away, no big deal. Well, it is a very big deal, the very foundation of our Republic depends on this. These are the people who control and have access to the vote tallies. These are the peole who brought us the worst president in recorded history, 800 concentration camps in America, illegal taxation, unconcienable property taxes and usurious insurance premiums.
If supporters of Ron Paul's Jeffersonian conservatism are crazy, then what should we call Romney's Mormon bloc?
"Hey everyone, when I look in this top-hat I see a movie from the angels! No one else can see it though. The Garden of Eden was in Missouri?!" (actual Mormon history)
In my state they are not checking ID's for voters trying to switch a party. They only ask for you to confirm your street address. So this straw poll incident does not surprise me. It would seem that something such as voting for the most powerful position in the world is actually not a big deal for security, very much like our borders. Voting fraud is going to lose this one for Ron Paul. If anyone is out there and has had the same problem, please speak up and speak out. THIS ISNT POLITICS, ITS YOUR COUNTRY.
B.Bobe: Romney's actions don't reflect true Mormon ethics. I have Mormons in my family and they are some of the most honest and decent people around. You shouldn't look down on a whole group of people like that, its very unChristian.
I agree, boycotting a straw poll if you know it is rigged is a much better tactic. Go Ron Paul!
Posted By: clean up crew
Date: 2007-12-10 21:22:13
I couldn't help noticing the post from Eric Dondero, a former RP staffer who was fired. He's a neocon who writes for Front Page Magazine and is on a personal vendetta against Ron Paul, telling many lies and engaging in a smear campaign. Consider the source of the disinfo that was posted.
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