Indiana sec. of state convicted of voter fraud
www.in.gov
Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White -- the man charged with upholding election integrity in Indiana -- was convicted of six felonies on Saturday, including three counts of voter fraud, two counts of perjury and one count of theft.
White, a Republican, could face up to three years in prison for each of the counts, the Indianapolis Star reports, and will be sentenced on February 23. The charges were based on accusations that White lied about where he lived while campaigning for secretary of state. The jury ruled he lied in order to keep receiving his salary from the Fishers Town Council even though he had moved out of his district.
Voter identification laws have become a popular cause among Republicans, and Indiana is one of nine states currently subject to these laws. Their supporters say they help prevent fraud, but opponents say requiring identification to vote places an unfair burden on young, low-income, and minority voters. Recently, the Justice Department stepped in to block South Carolina's new voter ID law.
The liberal blog ThinkProgress notes that a now-removed 2010 campaign website for White listed "election integrity" as one of the "major issues" of his campaign. "Charlie will protect and defend Indiana's Voter ID law to ensure our elections are fair and protect the most basic and precious right and responsibility of our democracy-voting," the website said.
White has asked for his charges to be reduced to misdemeanors, the Star reports, in which case he could possibly be reinstated to his job as Indiana secretary of state. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed an interim secretary of state but said in a statement, "I have chosen not to make a permanent appointment today out of respect for the judge's authority to lessen the verdict to a misdemeanor and reinstate the elected office holder."
However, White could lose his job due to a pending civil court challenge from the Indiana Democratic Party. The party argues that White is ineligible to serve because he was fraudulently registered to vote at the wrong address.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, White said the verdict "was a total miscarriage of justice and a perversion. The law allows me to do everything I did and the jury did not get all the law."
Popular in Politics
- Obama prom pictures surface 130 Comments
- Obama forgets to salute while boarding Marine One Play Video
- IRS' Lerner was asked to resign, refused: GOP Sen. 144 Comments
- Is President Obama ending the war on terror? 272 Comments
- Now, some unions upset over Obamacare
- IRS official Lois Lerner placed on leave 130 Comments
- GOP Rep.: Obama elected because of Reagan's immigration reforms
- Rand Paul uses 2016 bully pulpit to push Obama on drones
Donald Lukens, Former Ohio Republican Congressman, was found guilty of having sex with a minor - a girl he was accused of sleeping with since she was 13. Also convicted of taking $15,000 in bribes from the operators of a trade school while he was a congressman. A U.S. District Court jury in Washington deliberated for just one hour before reaching the verdict.
Ed Schrock, two-term Republican Congressman from Virginia, with a 92% approval rating from the Christian Coalition. Cosponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, consistently opposed gay rights. Married, with wife and kids. Withdrew his candidacy for a third term after tapes of him soliciting for gay sex were circulated.
John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal, a prominent anti-abortion columnist and GOP fund raiser. He lost his position after it was revealed that he impregnated the daughter of an old girlfriend and then encouraged her to abort his child.
John Allen Burt, Republican anti-abortion activist from Pensacola, Florida, convicted of sexually molesting a 15 year old girl at the home for troubled girls that he ran.
You Anal-Retentive Republicans who scream about the Government intruding into American lives sure don't seem to have a problem with telling a woman what to do with her body. Republicans, you are not, and never have been the moral arbiter of America. You Republicans are so repressed that 9 times out of 10, when you say you don't, you do; when you say you won't, you will and there are police & court documents to prove it! They are all Hypocrites!