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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tonto who wrote (64734)	7/28/2005 8:13:32 PM
From: tonto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Operation Elephant Takeover And other tales of election skullduggery in Milwaukee. by Stephen F. Hayes 03/07/2005, Volume 010, Issue 23 Milwaukee IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS of November 2, 2004, a group of five young men dressed in sleek "Mission Impossible" outfits finalized their plans for some Election Day hi-jinks. Despite the burglar-wear, "Operation Elephant Takeover" was originally conceived as little more than a prank. Michael Pratt, Sowande A. Omokunde, and three acquaintances were going to deface the headquarters of the Republican party's get-out-the-vote efforts in Milwaukee by plastering the façade with pro-Democrat signs and bumper stickers. Watergate it was not. But somewhere between its conception and execution, the plot changed. According to the criminal complaint, that point came when the would-be hooligans learned that a security guard would be present. Rather than abort their plan, they escalated. One of the young men distracted the security guard by urinating on a nearby building, while four others slashed the tires of vans meant to shuttle voters and poll-watchers to election sites throughout southeastern Wisconsin. Damage from the vandalism was $5,300. Still, not Watergate. But a few additional facts make the episode more interesting. Wisconsin was one of a handful of the most competitive states in the 2004 presidential election. Milwaukee County is the most populous county in the state. The damaged vehicles were located mainly on the outside ring of the parking lot, effectively boxing in the remaining vans. The vehicles used to transport the vandals were rented by the Democratic party of Wisconsin. At least four of the five vandals were paid staffers of the Democratic party of Wisconsin. Two of them are quite well connected: Michael Pratt is the son of former Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt, John Kerry's campaign chairman in Wisconsin; Sowande Omokunde, who goes these days by the moniker Supreme Solar Allah, is the son of Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat elected to the House of Representatives on the same day her son participated in "Operation Elephant Takeover." These top Wisconsin Democrats have disclaimed any foreknowledge of the plot, and other Democrats were quick to condemn it. But the After a preliminary hearing that lasted two weeks, the five Democratic operatives were each charged with one count of "criminal damage to property," a felony that carries a fine of up to $10,000 and three years in prison. The timing for Democrats couldn't be worse. A steady stream of news reports in the five months since "Operation Elephant Takeover," many of them written by Greg Borowski of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, has confirmed what most Wisconsin residents have long suspected: The open election system in the state is an anachronism that invites incompetence and encourages corruption. It's a disaster. And many Democrats are defending it. On February 24, after weeks of acrimonious debate, the Republican-led Wisconsin State Assembly passed an election reform bill that would require voters to present identification to vote. It will likely pass the majority-Republican Senate in a matter of weeks. With a few exceptions Democrats oppose the reforms, and Jim Doyle, Wisconsin's Democratic governor, has promised a veto. The legislation has nothing substantively to do with the Election Day vandalism. But in the hazy world of political perception, now is not a good time for Democrats to oppose election reform.