Posted on

‘Nonpartisan’ Group Attempting to Influence NY Congressional Election Has History of Supporting Democrats


Antonio Delgado (L) and John Faso (R) / @nyitwitter/The Times Union

BY:

Voters in New York’s 19th Congressional District have received misleading mailers about the district’s Republican nominee from the Center for Voter Information, a Washington, D.C.-based group that sells itself as “nonpartisan” but has a long history of supporting Democratic candidates.

The group sent out mailers to residents in upstate New York with the names of Rep. John Faso (R., N.Y.) and his Democratic opponent, Antonio Delgado, along with their supposed policy positions on Medicaid, access to firearms, and health care coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions. After listing the policy positions, the group wrote, “We have done our best to represent each candidate in a fair and reasonable way.”

The Faso campaign slammed the mailer in a press release on Monday, saying “the D.C. liberal shadow group” was attempting to influence the congressional election. The campaign then marked up the original mailer in red ink as a fact check on the original mailer. They argued all three policy positions that the group attributed to Faso were “false.”

“John Faso has always voted for and supports guaranteed coverage for individuals with preexisting conditions (H.R. 1121),” one of the fact checks read. “Antonio Delgado supports government-run health care system that would eliminate employer insurance, end Medicare as we know it and double your taxes.”

“This deceitful group and this mailer perfectly encapsulate the underhanded tactics of Nancy Pelosi and Antonio Delgado. By masquerading Democratic attacks in a mailer that looks more like a bill or government correspondence, this group has attempted to trick voters into thinking this information is truthful,” said Joe Gierut, Faso’s communications director. “In reality, this is just another ploy used by Democrats in their desperate attempt to win this race and put Nancy Pelosi in the Speaker’s chair.”

The signatory on the mailer is Lionel Dripps, who has a history of working for Democratic causes. Dripps’ current role is listed on Linkedin as the managing director for program and digital at the Voter Participation Center (VPC), a 501(c)(3) organization associated with the 501(c)(4) Center for Voter Information. Page Gardner, VPC’s president and founder, is also the principle officer at the Center for Voter Information.

Dripps previously served as the vice president of the Pivot Group, a Democratic campaign mailer firm founded by Trish Hoppey, who is considered ”one of the top Democratic direct mail consultants in the country.” He also served as executive director of the Democratic Senate Campaign Fund and was regional director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, according to his Linkedin profile.

The entirely of the Center for Voter Information’s expenditures in the current election cycle have been spent against Republican candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The center labels the non-profit “liberal.”

During the 2018 election cycle, the group has sent out over 270,000 absentee ballot applications across the country and spent over $92,000 against Republicans in Pennsylvania and California. While the “liberal” group does not disclose its donors, the Center for Responsive Politics shows the group is a vendor of NextGen Climate Action, a political action committee associated with liberal billionaire Tom Steyer. The PAC has made seven payments to the Center for Voter Information totaling over $1.7 million since last October.  The most recent payment was made in August. The Center for Voter Information has also donated over $26,000 to Americans for Patriotic Values, a progressive PAC.

Outside of New York’s 19th District, the group has been cited causing confusion and implementing shady tactics in numerous states across the country, including Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Earlier this month, State elections officials in Wisconsin warned voters about absentee ballot applications being sent out by the Center for Voter Information, according to to News 3.

A voter from Oregon contacted News 3 to say that information she received in a mailer sent by The Center for Voter Information included her incorrect name and, while she lives in Oregon, directed her to send her ballot application to the village of Prairie Du Sac.

Nancy Warner said she got the mailing Tuesday and immediately checked out the contents of the letter, which was from a group she hadn’t heard of. The letter was addressed to her but used two incorrect middle names.

Warner said she has lived and voted in Oregon for many years, but the information already filled out on her ballot application and on the prepaid return envelope said she would vote in the Village of Prairie Du Sac.

The Austin Daily Herald also reported last month that the Mower County Auditor’s Office in Minnesota experienced an increase in “confused voters” coming to the government center concerned about applications sent to them by the Center of Voter Information.

“We’re afraid that if they send that application in, we’re required to give them an absentee ballot,” said Steve Reinartz, Mower County treasurer and auditor. “They cannot vote in the polling place again on Election Day. They won’t be able to vote, and may create some confusion if they have never voted absentee before.”

via Washington Free Beacon

Enjoy this article? Read the full version at the authors website: https://freebeacon.com

Posted on

Blackburn, Graham: “Angry liberal mob” ruined moment of silence for Pittsburgh victims


“Angry liberals” appears accurate as a description, as the video of the incident shows, if not quite a “mob.” At a rally yesterday in Tennessee, Senate candidate Rep. Marsha Blackburn called for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue the day before — and a moment was all she got. Just as soon as the crowd buzz receded, someone yelled, “Marsha Blackburn is a white supremacist!”

Police arrested one protester and ordered others out of the arena:

Security officers forcibly dragged a demonstrator out of a rally for Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn Sunday night, according to reports and video posted to social media. …

The heated exchanges escalated when Blackburn paused for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday.

“Marsha Blackburn is a white supremacist!” a protester called out in a video posted to YouTube by a Blackburn supporter, only to be drowned out by boos and chants of “USA! USA!” from the crowd.

Blackburn described the disruption as “despicable” and pointed the finger at her opponent, former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Blackburn might as well send a thank-you note to these protesters, who picked the worst possible timing for their stunt. Bredesen seemed to realize this too, scolding the protesters while pointing out that Blackburn’s supporters have been protesting his own campaign events. Perhaps that’s true, but unless they screamed ad hominem insults during a moment of silence for victims of toxic bigotry, then it’s hardly the same thing. This plays directly into Republicans’ late-cycle claim that voters have to choose “jobs, not mobs” by voting against Democrats in the midterms.

Lindsey Graham, whose own apperance got disrupted by protesters acting out in mob-like fashion, amplified those attacks afterward in an interview with Peter Doocy. “They have every right to their opinion,” Graham says, but these disruptors “have a view of the government that would make us Venezuela”:

Sen. Lindsey Graham got a warm welcome at a rally for the Senate campaign of Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., by hundreds of Republicans excited to greet the lawmaker who helped get Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court.

But just like the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, Sunday’s program repeatedly was disrupted by protesters, including one who shouted during a moment of silence for victims of Saturday’s shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, and others who needed to be physically restrained and removed by police officers.

“Judge me by my friends and the people that want to yell at me,” Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News in an interview. “The only people wanting to yell at me would turn the country into a mob.”

True enough, but it’s certainly a useful mob for Republicans eight days out from the elections. The images of these disruptions — especially during a moment of silence — will stick with voters long enough to see them through Election Day. It might even convince a few more loosely engaged voters to turn out, at least in Tennessee.

Given that opportunity, Graham blamed the mobs on Chuck Schumer and urged voters to reject Democrats to send a message on tactics:

Graham warned the audience Democrats at the national level invested $12 million in the Tennessee U.S. Senate race. He also said they wouldn’t invest that much money unless they knew exactly what they were getting in return.

“As to the Democratic nominee in this state (Bredesen), you can say anything you want, but we know exactly what you are going to do,” Graham said.

“I want Chuck Schumer to know he wasted his money. And I want every Democrat to know that If you go down the road of the mob then this is your fate.” …

“If I spoke for you then I am very pleased and proud. There’s only one way to fix this problem. Beat them (Democrats) at the ballot box.”

They’re certainly giving Graham plenty of evidence to make that case.

via Hot Air

Enjoy this article? Read the full version at the authors website: https://hotair.com

Posted on

Local GOP Chair Responds to Shots Fired Into Florida Republican Party Office: ‘I’ll Call Them Out, They’re Democrats’

At least four shots were fired into a Republican Party satellite office in Florida’s Volusia County over the weekend, according to police. No one was hurt, but the Volusia County Republican Party chairman said the incident was carried out by "some sick person," adding he expected those responsible to be Democrats.

"You’ve got some sick person, and I’ll call them out: they’re Democrats. No Republicans got any reason to come attack our location. Some sick person decided they wanted to express their anger and they took it out with violence," Volusia County Republican Party chairman Tony Ledbetter said on Monday.

A volunteer found the gunshots when she came into the office, located in South Daytona, on Monday morning.

"She walked in through the back door and saw the windows," Ledbetter said.  "I didn’t realize it was gunfire but there’s four bullet holes in our windows and 4 bullet holes inside the building."

Ledbetter said he and his volunteers have been conducting election activities that some on the other side of the aisle might disagree with.

"We’re just manning early voting locations, passing out Republican voter guides, and encouraging people to vote Republican, and some Democrats have a problem with that," he said.

No eyewitnesses have come forward and police are currently conducting an investigation, which includes looking at the surveillance footage from nearby businesses.

The post Local GOP Chair Responds to Shots Fired Into Florida Republican Party Office: ‘I’ll Call Them Out, They’re Democrats’ appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

via Washington Free Beacon

Enjoy this article? Read the full version at the authors website: https://freebeacon.com

Posted on

Pittsburgh Rabbi Refuses to Blame Anyone but Gunman for Synagogue Shooting

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said Monday that only the shooter bears responsibility for the attack that killed 11 at the Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday.

CNN host Alisyn Camerota pressed Myers about whether the shooter chose to attack because of the influence of others.

"Do you blame anyone for what happened there at the Tree of Life, beyond the gunman?" Camerota asked.

"I don’t really foist blame upon any person," Myers said. "Hate does not know religion, race, creed, political party. It’s not a political issue in any way, shape, or form. Hate does not know any of those things."

"It exists in all people," he said.

Camerota said that might be true but asked, "What lights the match of hate?"

Myers quoted the first book of the Bible, Genesis, to say that man’s sinfulness is an ancient problem.

"I think you’re raising one of those great questions that people far smarter than I can answer," Myers said. "But I do recall this: if we look in the Bible after the story of the flood and Noah, God regretfully says to Noah, ‘I have learned that man from his youth is prone to evil,’ which is, you would think, a horrific thing for God to tell us."

"The message I get from that is, yes, there is the possibility of hate in all people. But there is also the possibility of good," he said.

In the wake of the attack, many in the media have blamed President Donald Trump for the attack, even though the suspected killer posted anti-Semitic material online calling Trump a "globalist" with too many Jewish associates.

Myers argued all people are capable of choosing good and he said his email inbox was full of people from "every religion, people just pouring out their hearts, giving their support."

Camerota later asked Myers if he would like Trump to visit the synagogue in the aftermath of the shooting.

"The president of the United States is always welcome. I am a citizen, he is my president," Myers said. "He is always welcome."

Later in the day, CNN interviewed two women from Bend the Arc, a progressive organization that said the shooting was "a direct culmination of [Trump’s] influence." They expressed their dissatisfaction with Myers’ position on Trump.

The post Pittsburgh Rabbi Refuses to Blame Anyone but Gunman for Synagogue Shooting appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

via Washington Free Beacon

Enjoy this article? Read the full version at the authors website: https://freebeacon.com

Posted on

Shots fired into Florida GOP office


Somebody didn’t get the memo about violence in any form being unacceptable against any group. And the word “group” here should include political parties as well as religion, gender or race. In Volusia County, Florida, on the eastern coast of the state north of Orlando, somebody shot up a Republican Party office on Sunday. Thankfully we don’t have to report news of deaths or injuries, but the serious nature of the incident should be clear. (National Review)

At least four shots were fired into a Republican campaign satellite office in Volusia County, Fla. on Sunday, police announced after a campaign volunteer reported the shooting Monday morning.

No one was injured in the shooting, which broke the front windows and displaced drywall inside the office, South Daytona police captain Mark Cheatham told the Orlando Sentinel. There were no eyewitnesses, but police are seeking surveillance footage to try and determine who is responsible.

The incident comes after a gunman murdered eleven congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning. The assailant, who eventually surrendered to police, reportedly yelled “all Jews must die” during the attack.

The usual caveats apply here. Since no suspect has been identified, it’s still possible that this is something other than how it appears. It could, in theory, have been anything from a random gang shooting gone wrong to a campaign staffer with a crazy ex-boyfriend who got drunk and went off the rails. But if it turns out to be precisely what it looks like, then somebody was trying to send a message.

Anyone care to guess how much press coverage this incident will generate? Attacks on Republican targets aren’t as popular in most of the mainstream press as other groups. Of course, the fact that nobody was injured makes it a somewhat lower profile case right off the bat, but the point remains the same. To imagine that all the violence out there is on one side was preposterous to begin with. Just look at Antifa.

Again, assuming that a suspect is identified and it was a deliberate attack based on the fact that it was a Republican office, the press shouldn’t be able to write this off as a “local news story.” The fact that nobody was injured or killed is a blessing, but this close to the election there could have been someone in that office at any hour of the day or night. The police report indicates that the gun used was powerful enough to take out the windows and still shatter the drywall at the back of the office. This wasn’t a pellet gun and the story could have ended much differently… and tragically.

via Hot Air

Enjoy this article? Read the full version at the authors website: https://hotair.com

Posted on

David Hogg Mocks President Trump for Wanting Armed Security in Places of Worship


Gun control activist David Hogg mocked President Trump’s call for armed security in places of worship the day after a man stormed a security-free Pittsburgh synagogue and killed 11 congregants.

Trump reacted to the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue by lamenting the absence of armed security. He said, “If they had protection inside, the result would have been far better. This is a dispute that will always exist, I suspect, but if they had protection inside the synagogue maybe it could have been a very…different situation.”

He noted that the lack of security allowed the attacker “to do things, unfortunately, that he shouldn’t have been able to do.”

Hogg chose not to deal head-on with Trump’s assertion that the ability for someone to shoot back could have completely altered the outcome of the attack. Rather, he mocked the idea of a “good guy with a gun” altogether, suggesting it is just part of a larger effort to sell more guns.

Ironically, Hogg gained national attention as a gun control proponent when his school, gun-free Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was attacked on February 14, 2018. The attacker struck Building 12 on campus and there was no one inside the building who could shoot back.

Moreover, the one armed deputy outside the building–former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson–stood outside the building rather than entering to confront the attacker.

As with the Tree of Life Synagogue attack, the attack on the Parkland high school could have completely different if the attacker had been met by a good guy or good woman with a gun.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

via Breitbart News

Enjoy this article? Read the full version at the authors website: https://www.breitbart.com

Posted on

Shots Fired into South Daytona Republican Party Office: ‘Obviously Politically Motivated’


Volusia County Republican Party officials in South Daytona, Florida, found their headquarters’ windows shot out Monday morning, according to police.

Along with glass scattered in front of its entrance, at least four bullet holes were discovered inside the office.

Law enforcement is investigating the scene, where the office is part of a strip mall close by the Reed Canal Park. South Daytona police Capt. Mark Cheatham says no one was injured during the vandalism.

Cheatham believes the shooting likely occurred between 4 p.m. EST Sunday and early Monday morning. “At this point we can confirm that at least four rounds were fired into the building,” the police captain told reporters. “We are working to see if we can get video from nearby businesses but so far we have no witnesses.”

“We have never had any kind of vandalism before at a Republican Headquarters,”  Volusia County Republican Party chairman Tony Ledbetter told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. “It’s a small strip center and no other business was vandalized, so it was obviously politically motivated.”

Reacting to the incident, Florida State Rep. Tom Leek issued the following statement: “The state of our political discourse in America is an embarrassment to all parties and those involved in the political process. Neither Democrats nor Republicans own the high ground on this issue. Sooner or later, both parties are going to have to stop suffering idiots within their own party, and cast them out on their own.”

Police have yet to identify any eyewitnesses and suspects in relation to the incident.

Earlier this month, Antifa activists targeted the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan in a politically motivated attack. The far-left vandals spray-painted an anarchist symbol on the club’s doors and smashed its windows. “Our attack is merely a beginning. We are not passive, we are not civil, and we will not apologize,” a letter left by Antifa read. “Those of good conscience and clear mind know this state of oppression cannot remain.”

The vandals targeted the building in an attempt to protest a scheduled talk by conservative pundit Gavin McInnes.

via Breitbart News

Enjoy this article? Read the full version at the authors website: https://www.breitbart.com

Posted on

Tree of Life Rabbi to CNN: Trump ‘Always Welcome’ at Our Synagogue, ‘He Is My President’


Rabbi Jeffrey Myers on Monday refused to blame anyone for the shooting that took 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue over the weekend.

CNN “New Day” host Alisyn Camerota asked the Tree of Life rabbi if he blamed anyone “beyond the gunman” for the attack.

Myers instead blamed hate.

“I don’t really foist blame upon any person,” Myers told Camerota. “Hate does not know religion, race, creed, political party. It’s not a political issue in any way, shape, or form. Hate does not know any of those things.”

Camerota then questioned, “What lights the match of hate?”

Myers replied, “I think you’re raising one of those great questions that people far smarter than I can answer.”

Later in the interview, Camerota pressed the rabbi and asked if he wanted President Donald Trump to come.

“The president of the United States is always welcome,” said Myers. “I’m a citizen, he is my president. He is certainly welcome.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

via Breitbart News

Enjoy this article? Read the full version at the authors website: https://www.breitbart.com