( – promoted by lowkell)
From ProgressVA:
For Immediate Release
October 24, 2012
Contact: Anna Scholl anna@progressva.org
ProgressVA Responds to SBE Vote to Request Attorney General Investigation Voter Registration Fraud by Republican Party Contractor
ProgressVA questions AG Cuccinelli's ability to impartially investigate party while seeking their gubernatorial nomination
Richmond, VA – ProgressVA today reacted to the decision by the State Board of Elections to request Attorney General Cuccinelli open an investigation into alleged voter registration fraud committed by a Republican Party of Virginia contractor. ProgressVA released the following statement from Executive Director Anna Scholl
“We applaud the State Board of Elections for taking the integrity of our elections seriously. Unfortunately, the legal recourses available to the Board are simply inadequate. Attorney General Cuccinelli has a long and sordid history of manipulating the law and his office in pursuit of his personal political agenda. We have zero confidence that the man seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination could simultaneously conduct an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation of that party. That's why the ProgressVA community has called on the federal Justice Department to investigate the extent of this fraud, a call that has been echoed by Congressmen Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly, Bobby Scott, and State Senator Donald McEachin.”
BACKGROUND:
- On September 27th, 2012, the Republican Party of Virginia terminated a voter registration contract with Strategic Allied Consulting, a firm run by Republican operative Nathan Sproul. [WTVR, 9/27/12]
- Spoul has claimed that the Republican National Committee asked him to form SAC, in part to hide his past history of voter suppression work. [Los Angeles Times, 9/28/12]
- According to multiple sources, including McClatchy, Sproul formed Issue Advocacy Partners in April and has continued to work for Republican parties under that firm. Screenshots show the websites for Strategic Allied Consulting and Issue Advocacy Partners to be virtually identical. On October 1st, days after the Republican Party of Virginia fired Strategic Allied Consulting, Issue Advocacy Partners began advertising for canvassers to conduct “conservative voter identification.” [McClatchy, 10/13/12]
- A spokesman for the RNC “said that after the RNC and the Republican Party of Virginia severed their relationships with Strategic Allied Consulting, the state party continued to use some of the firm's same workers, including Small, by paying them through Pinpoint.” [NBC News,10/19/12]
- Rockingham County Sheriff arrested Colin Smart and charged him with destroying voter registration forms. Smart was previously employed by Strategic Allied Consulting. [NBC News, 10/19/12]
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