Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (10296)	6/24/2004 2:02:58 PM
From: Augustus Gloop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Crooks for Kerry: Lefty group hires ex-cons to canvass By David R. Guarino Read Guarino's Road to Boston Blog news.bostonherald.com Thursday, June 24, 2004 A left-wing group with ties to Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign is hiring convicted sex offenders and batterers to go door-to-door to register voters in several battleground states. Officials with America Coming Together, a nonprofit group heavily pushing Kerry's campaign agenda, conceded last night they hire cons in some states but insist the public is in no danger. ``We believe it's important to give people a second chance,'' Mo Elleithee, spokesman for ACT in Washington, D.C., told The Associated Press. ACT operates regionally in New Hampshire and Maine, two key swing states Kerry badly needs to win. In the Granite State, the ACT operation is run by longtime Kerry ally Dennis Newman, a Boston lawyer. The group's New Hampshire spokeswoman said no convicted felons have been hired there but said none have yet applied. ``The policy is to not employ people who have been convicted of violent felonies,'' said spokeswoman Delacey Skinner. ``We would not do anything in any way to put people in danger as we do our canvassing.'' The Kerry campaign said it has no knowledge of the ACT operation since federal law prohibits coordination between campaigns and interest groups. ``The Kerry campaign cannot coordinate (with them), it's against the law,'' spokesman Michael Meehan said. ``We don't know anything about it.'' According to the AP report, felons work as canvassers in major metropolitan areas in Missouri, Florida and Ohio. The wire service's review of criminal records showed the names and hometowns of dozens of ACT employees in those states matched those of people convicted of crimes such as burglary, drug dealing, assault and sex offenses. Among other things, the canvassers request voter telephone numbers and Social Security numbers. ACT is one of several controversial groups, so-called 527s named after the code of federal law that creates them, trying to fight behind the scenes this campaign season. On its Web site, ACT openly campaigns against President Bush [related, bio], saying its canvassers are ``laying the groundwork to defeat Bush and elect Democrats in federal, state and local elections in 2004.'' ACT is unapologetic about its hiring of cons, saying they pose no threat to the public. ``The fact that they are willing to do this work is a fairly serious indication that they want to become productive members of society,'' said Elleithee, the ACT national spokesman. While campaigning chiefly to benefit Kerry, the group has ties to almost every major Democrat - not just the Bay State senator. Newman, the New Hampshire director, worked for Vice President Al Gore in the last election while Skinner, the New Hampshire spokeswoman, formerly worked on former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's campaign in South Carolina. Elleithee is a former aide to retired Gen. Wesley Clark [related, bio] - another of Kerry's former primary opponents.