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| Soros-Backed Group Helped Elect 11 Secretaries Of State To Oversee Elections Battleground States | |
| 2011-06-24 | |
A small tax-exempt political group with ties to wealthy liberals like billionaire financier George Soros has quietly helped elect 11 reform-minded progressive Democrats as secretaries of state to oversee the election process in battleground states and keep Republican "political operatives from deciding who can vote and how those votes are counted."
The group's website said it wants to stop Republicans from "manipulating" election results. "Any serious commitment to wresting control of the country from the Republican Party must include removing their political operatives from deciding who can vote and whose votes will count," the group said on its website, accusing some Republican secretaries of state of making "partisan decisions." SOSP has sought donations by describing the contributions as a "modest political investment" to elect "clean candidates" to the secretary of state posts. Named after Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, so-called 527 political groups -- such as SOSP -- have no upper limit on contributions and no restrictions on who may contribute in seeking to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office. They generally are not regulated by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), creating a soft-money loophole. While FEC regulations limit individual donations to a maximum of $2,500 per candidate and $5,000 to a PAC, a number of 527 groups have poured tens of millions of unregulated dollars into various political efforts. SOSP has backed 11 winning candidates in 18 races, including such key states as Ohio, Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico and Minnesota. "Supporting secretary of state candidates with integrity is one of the most cost-efficient ways progressives can ensure they have a fair chance of winning elections," SOSP said on its website, adding that "a relatively small influx of money -- often as little as $30,000 to $50,000 -- can change the outcome of a race." SOSP was formed in the wake of the ballot-counting confusion in Florida during the 2000 presidential election and a repeat of that chaos in Ohio in the 2004 presidential election. Democrats accused Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, both Republicans, of manipulating the elections in favor of GOP candidates -- charges Mrs. Harris and Mr. Blackwell denied. "Does anyone doubt that these two secretaries of state ... made damaging partisan decisions about purging voter rolls, registration of new voters, voting machine security, the location of precincts, the allocation of voting machines, and dozens of other critical matters?" SOSP asked on its website. SOSP said it raised more than $500,000 in 2006 to help elect five Democratic secretaries of states in seven races. | |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #3 You'll get no argument from me on how evil Soros is. The sooner he is dead, the better for the world. Drop dean now and go straight to hell Soros. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-06-24 21:03 |
| #2 They failed in NM to keep the old hack. The new Secretary of State won by the largest margin in the November election of any candidate. Probably had something to do with several counties failing to get the ballots out to the troops on time. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-06-24 17:23 |
| #1 If you can not beat them honestly, then cheat by voter fraud and corrupting the process' George Soros apparently has no regard for the law nor democracy. George Soros is The Great Corrupter. |
| Posted by: The Other Beldar 2011-06-24 15:09 |