April 24, 2009

by Bill Levinson

“It’s my duty to enforce the law,” Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed sanctimoniously when he announced his intention to investigate Bush administration lawyers whose advice might have led to coercive interrogations of terror suspects. He is quite correct that a country’s laws must apply to all: high and low, Republican or Democrat, nobody can be exempt or the law will lose all respect.

We are therefore confident that Mr. Holder’s proposal to investigate the Bush officials is not a partisan witch hunt or a Stalinist purge of a previous regime, and that Mr. Holder will be equally diligent in investigating and prosecuting alleged vote fraud, voter intimidation, and similar conduct that could easily violate Federal laws whose purpose is to protect the right to vote. It is a matter of record that these allegations, which were signed by attorneys for the Obama and Clinton campaigns, were brought to the attention of the U.S. Attorney’s office in October 2008. There is also the matter of the lotteries–and they contained the elements of payment of consideration, chance, and a prize–that the Obama campaign conducted over the Internet to fund its operations.

The following letter was sent to the Department of Justice by certified mail on October 19, 2008. The indicated links were given as footnotes instead of parenthetical entries, and we highlighted the key entry. Note that both certified letters were delivered.

To: The Honorable Michael B. Mukasey
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-001
cert. mail 7004-1160-0002-4763-1510

[Label/Receipt Number: 7004 1160 0002 4763 1510
Status: Delivered. Your item was delivered at 4:57 am on October 27, 2008 in WASHINGTON, DC 20530. ]

To: Special Prosecutor Nora R. Dannehy
Acting United States Attorney
District of Connecticut Office of the US Attorney
450 Main Street, Room 328
Hartford, CT 06103
cert. mail 7004-1160-0002-4763-1503

[Label/Receipt Number: 7004 1160 0002 4763 1503
Status: Delivered. Your item was delivered at 10:20 am on October 23, 2008 in HARTFORD, CT 06103.

cc: John McCain 2008
P.O. Box 16118
Arlington, VA 22215

19 October 2008

Subject: Clinton Campaign's Allegations of Voter Intimidation by the Obama Campaign

Dear Attorney General Mukasey and Special Prosecutor Dannehy,

I read that Barack Obama's campaign counsel is asking you to investigate (per an excerpt from his letter of October 17, http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/Obama%20DoJ%20letter.pdf), "Bogus Claims of Vote Fraud and the McCain-Palin Campaign's Attempts to Involve U.S. Attorneys and the Department of Justice." The letter adds in part,

I request that Special Prosecutor Dannehy’s inquiry include a review of any involvement by Justice Department and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee (”RNC”)’s systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud.

I am not an attorney, I am not qualified to give legal advice, and I have no personal knowledge of the allegations in the enclosed letter from Hillary Clinton's campaign counsel (http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/23/nv.state.letter.1.23.08.pdf, available as of 10/19/08). The point is, however, that allegations of election-related irregularities have come not only from Republicans, but also Obama's Democratic primary opponent. The Clinton campaign accused not ACORN, but Barack Obama's own campaign, of the following conduct (per its conclusion):

There is no place in the American electoral process for the types of voter suppression, intimidation, and harassment systematically engaged in by the Obama campaign, its allies and supporters.

A complete story must mention that Obama's campaign also made accusations against the Clinton campaign (http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/23/nv001.pdf, available as of 10/19/08). The issue at hand is, however, that Republicans are not (contrary to the implications of the Obama campaign's letter of October 17) the only people who have concerns about this year's election process.Regards,

clinton_complaint12308
Here is but one excerpt from the complaint that was filed by the attorney for the Clinton campaign, and we invite any attorneys to weigh in on whether any of these actions, if proven, constitutes a Federal crime that is Eric Holder's duty to investigate.

Voter Suppression and Intimidation
The Committee received a substantial number of disturbing reports from voters that they had been subject to harassment, intimidation or efforts to prevent them from voting. Some of the most egregious of these complaints are described below:

þ Voters at at-large caucus sites were informed that those sites were for Obama supporters only.

þ Clinton supporters at at-large caucus sites were told that their managers would be watching them while they caucused.

þ Workers were informed that their supervisors kept lists of Clinton and Obama supporters, and were told that they could not caucus unless their name was on the list of Obama supporters.

þ Many Clinton supporters were threatened with employment termination or other discipline if they caucused for Senator Clinton.

þ Workers were required to sign a pledge card to support Obama if they wanted time off to participate in the caucus.
þ Workers at one casino were offered a lavish lunch and permitted to attend and register to vote only if they agree to support Obama.

Here is the complaint that was filed against the Clinton campaign by the Obama campaign. Again, we invite any attorneys to weigh in on whether the allegations would, if proven, be violations of Federal law.
Obama_complaint
Remember, it is a matter of record that this information was sent to Mr. Holder's predecessor, so we don't think Mr. Holder can claim that his office "doesn't know about it." Mr. Holder says it is his duty to prosecute violations of Federal law. Common sense suggests that there is something wrong with interference with the right to vote, as was frequently practiced against Black people seventy or eighty years ago, and with many of the other alleged actions in these letters from the Clinton and Obama campaigns. Eric Holder, do your duty.

Are these lotteries legal?
Next we come to the matter of the lotteries that the Obama campaign conducted to raise money. Our understanding is that a lottery consists of three elements:
(1) Payment of consideration, e.g. an entry fee. If the promotion allows entry without payment of consideration, it is not a lottery. The cited examples, however, did not offer a way to enter without a donation to the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign, in response to complaints from at least one law enforcement agency, ran a subsequent promotion in which it was possible to enter without making a donation.
(2) Element of chance, i.e. a winner is drawn at random. The fact that the Obama campaign selected "winners" before the entry deadline suggests things even worse than a potentially illegal online lottery, and we will leave it to attorneys to comment on what they might be.
(3) A prize, in this case an expenses-paid trip to meet Barack Obama or attend the Democratic National Convention.

Here is an E-mail that we received from the campaign. A subsequent one signed by Michele Obama says you can enter without making a donation, but this one does not. Also note that Barack Obama's own signature appears on it.

X-UIDL: 7148-1156627068
X-Mozilla-Status: 0011
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
Received: from mta7.bluestatedigital.com ([69.25.202.120])
by vms041.mailsrvcs.net
(Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006))
with ESMTP id for
[our E-mail address]; Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:31:13 -0500 (CDT)
Received: by mta7.bluestatedigital.com (Postfix, from userid 500)
id 8DC31619613; Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:31:11 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:31:11 -0400
From: Barack Obama
Subject: RE: Dinner with Barack?
X-Originating-IP: [69.25.202.120]
To: Bill Levinson [our E-mail deleted from public posting]
Reply-to: info@barackobama.com
Message-id:
MIME-version: 1.0
X-Mailer: PHPMailer [version 1.72-blue_mailer]
Content-type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=b1_fd323b1ae42e85082052c2a45257a5a9
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–b1_fd323b1ae42e85082052c2a45257a5a9
Content-Type: text/plain; charset = “iso-8859-1″
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Make a donation in the next week and you could have dinner with Barack:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive

Dear Bill,

When we launched this campaign, we decided not to take the easy money offered by Washington lobbyists and special interest political
action committees.

Instead, we put our faith in you, and we couldn’t have made a better choice.

I’ll be meeting four of you for dinner sometime soon, but what’s happening across this country is bigger than me, or my candidacy.

Together we’re re-shaping the political process based on the idea that a movement of people who care about the common future of all
Americans can be more powerful than any special interest.

Below is the dinner invitation David sent out yesterday. I hope you’ll take a minute to make a donation, and perhaps we’ll be seeing each other soon.

http://my.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive

Thank you,

Barack

—– Original Message —–
From: David Plouffe, BarackObama.com
Date: June 6, 2007 2:46 PM
To: Supporters
Subject: Dinner with Barack?

Dear Friend,

Most political fundraisers are hosted by lobbyists and filled with representatives of special interests.

But our campaign is different.

Our funding comes from a movement of Americans giving whatever they can afford, even $5, and Barack wants to sit down with supporters
like you.

If you’ve ever thought about making a donation to join our campaign, now is the time. In the next week, four supporters will be selected for a new kind of fundraising dinner. We’re reserving two of those seats for new donors like you.

If you make a donation in any amount between now and 11:59 pm EDT on Wednesday, June 13, you could join Barack and three other supporters for an intimate dinner for five.

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive

Our movement is changing the way campaigns are funded. We’re not taking any contributions from Washington lobbyists or political action committees.

More than 100,000 individual donors have demonstrated that this choice is about more than an election. It’s about each of us having a personal stake in the future of American politics.

The dinner for five is an opportunity for you to sit down with Barack and your fellow supporters and talk about what matters to you.

Get the kind of treatment other politicians reserve for special interests. Make a donation in the next week, and you could share your story and your ideas with Barack in person:

https://donate.barackobama.com/dinnerforfive

With every single donation, we’re building a movement to change American politics. And this is just the beginning.

Thanks for your support,
David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

—-

Paid for by Obama for America
This email was sent to: [our E-mail deleted from public posting]
To unsubscribe, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/unsubscribe

=20

We cannot give legal advice, but this sure looks like a lottery:
(1) Payment of consideration: “If you make a donation in any amount between now and 11:59 pm EDT on Wednesday, June 13,”
(2) Element of chance: “you could”
(3) Prize: “join Barack and three other supporters for an intimate dinner for five.”
Here is a screenshot of a Web site in which the Obama campaign solicits donations in exchange for a chance to have dinner with Barack Obama (comments added). Nowhere does it offer an opportunity to enter without making a donation (which would make the proposition not a lottery).

Eric Holder, you said “It’s my duty to enforce the law” when you announced your intention to investigate officials of the Bush administration. We have just shown allegations of voter intimidation and other improprieties as leveled by the primary campaigns of Barack Obama and his Secretary of State against one another, and examples of fundraising conduct by the Obama campaign that might constitute a lottery conducted on the Internet and across state lines. Eric Holder, do your duty.