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| Lawmaker's Son Charged in Tire-Slashing |
| 2005-01-24 |
| MILWAUKEE - The sons of a first-term congresswoman and Milwaukee's former acting mayor were among five Democratic activists charged Monday with slashing the tires of vans rented by Republicans to drive voters and monitors to the polls on Election Day. Sowande Omokunde, son of Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and Michael Pratt, the son of former Milwaukee acting mayor Marvin Pratt, were among those charged with criminal damage to property, a felony that carries a maximum punishment of 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The activists are accused of flattening the tires on 25 vehicles rented by the state Republican Party to get out the vote and deliver poll watchers Nov. 2. Also charged were Lewis Caldwell and Lavelle Mohammad, both from Milwaukee, and Justin Howell of Racine. The GOP rented more than 100 vehicles that were parked in a lot adjacent to a Bush campaign office. The party planned to drive poll watchers to polling places by 7 a.m. and deliver any voters who didn't have a ride. A criminal complaint said the defendants originally planned to put up Democratic yard signs, placards and bumper stickers at the Republican office in a scheme they called "Operation Elephant Takeover." But the plan was dropped when they learned a security guard was posted at the GOP office, the complaint said. One witness told investigators the five defendants, dressed in "Mission Impossible" type gear, black outfits and knit caps, left the Democratic Party headquarters at about 3 a.m. on Nov. 2, and returned about 20 minutes later, extremely excited and talking about how they had slashed the tires. Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Seth Boffeli said the five were paid employees of John Kerry (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign, but were not acting on behalf of the campaign or party. |
| Posted by:lex |
| #6 This is also voter intimidation. The Republicans should sue their pants off too, for however much it cost to rent the vans. Civil rights violations. Whenever a Democrat is caught trying to rig an election -- or the evidence that he DID rig it bobs to the surface -- the Democrats trot out a hoary old line about Republicans being involved in "voter intimidation". This year, though, we saw groups that operate in a lip-lock with the Democrats assault Republican campaign headquarters. We saw Democrats pull all the stops out to manufacture votes in Washington state and create TENS OF THOUSANDS of imaginary voters in Wisconsin. All this gets ignored, though, so the Democrats can whine and moan about Ohio. Despite there being NO evidence of fraud, intimidation, or vote supression in Ohio, the press plays along so they can be sure to damage the political career of Ken Blackwell. Anyone want to bet that a close look at Philadelphia would turn up some suspicious numbers? Or that the 2006 campaigns will be even more dirty -- and violent? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-01-24 10:09:17 PM |
| #5 his.... er.....baptism name? LOL |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-01-24 6:59:54 PM |
| #4 Left out the best part - 'Sowande Omokunde', also known as 'Supreme Solar Allah'. |
| Posted by: AJackson 2005-01-24 6:36:45 PM |
| #3 This is also voter intimidation. The Republicans should sue their pants off too, for however much it cost to rent the vans. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2005-01-24 6:22:26 PM |
#2 The activists are accusedThey misspelled "vandals." |
| Posted by: Sheter Spaiper3884 2005-01-24 5:25:23 PM |
| #1 If this whole thing was reversed and it was Republicans doing the "activism", the Democratic howling would, in all likelihood, be deafening. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-01-24 4:26:00 PM |