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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (749700)	9/20/2006 12:11:36 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

I don't think polls should be taken toooo seriously. newsday.com ____________________________ Polling company employee pleads guilty to fraud September 19, 2006, 3:38 PM EDT NEW HAVEN, (AP) _ An employee of a company that conducted campaign polls for President Bush, Sen. Joe Lieberman and other political candidates pleaded guilty Tuesday to making up poll results, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Darryl Hylton, 42, of Hamden pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The Guilford-based company, DataUSA, is now known as Viewpoint USA. Hylton admitted that he conspired to falsify survey and polling results to meet deadlines or other requirements that DataUSA otherwise could not meet. He also admitted that he directed other DataUSA employees to falsify results in a variety of ways, including changing demographic information, such as gender, to satisfy client requirements. Hylton faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced on Dec. 11. His plea comes two weeks after Tracy Costin, the company's owner, pleaded guilty to the same charge. As part of her plea agreement, Costin agreed to repay $82,732 to unidentified clients for 11 jobs between June 2002 and May 2004. According to a federal indictment, Costin told employees to alter poll data, and managers at the company told employees to "talk to cats and dogs" when instructing them to fabricate the surveys. Prosecutors say in some instances all survey answers were fabricated or surveys were completed after the respondent being interviewed had hung up the phone. An FBI affidavit from 2004 in support of a search warrant quotes a supervisor of the company estimating that 50 percent of the data sent to Bush's campaign was falsified. FBI Special Agent Jeff Rovelli, who wrote the affidavit, said in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month that investigators were not able to verify the claim related to Bush because that data was not located and analyzed.