Update: 10/22 15:57 EST by B:Additional coverage of the scandal in next week’s Library Journal .
Details are coming to light about Nathan Sproul’s PR firm (Sproul & Associates, an Arizona consulting firm that’s been paid more than $600,000 by the Republican National Committee this year), and his attempt to skew voter registration in libraries towards the Republican Party, particularly in swing states.
Here’s the story (long but fascinating) of one “Kelly Girl” (Lisa Bragg, 37 year old mother of two and loyal Democrat), hired as a temp to register voters in WV Independent Media via Salon (here you can read the article without watching a bunch of idiotic ads from Salon!) This is a follow-up on several articles previously posted here at LISNews where the so-called non-partisan registration drive claimed to be associated with a legitimate organization called “America Votes” but was in fact, not related and was in fact a project of Sproul & Associates (funded by the RNC).
sad, but expected
Let’s see, (democratic) voter registration dumping in Nevada…phone bank jamming in the northeast…continued monkey business with florida’s voter rolls… misrepresentation IN A LIBRARY in Oregon.
Wow. Someone is seeming desperate.
Re:sad, but expected
The only people who are desperate are people who waste time trolling for news stories to prove their side and not bothering to check if it occurs on the other side…
Here are three stories dealing with voter fraud by a national organization called ACORN. If you look at their platform it reads like a liberal’s wet dream.
Everyone is free to say and do as they please but you’re drinking the kool-aid if you think things like voter fraud are only limited to one side. There are thousands of representatives on both sides involved in this election, a certain percentage (probably the same percentage) of each are idiots.
Re:sad, but expected
Yeah, but it’s a lot uglier when it’s perpetrated by the self-appointed forces for Righteousness and Good. You know; the Republican Party? The party that says it stands for a free America and then has
representatives drive away life-long supporters like Carl Worden.
Maybe if the Rethuglican Party cut the bullshit, the hypocrisy, and the insulting peoples’ intelligence, their political chicanery might not be so unpalatable. All they’d have to do is to be honest about it.
Re:sad, but expected
Boys boys…you two need an enforcer. Let’s not have this turn into a dog-eat-dog proposition.
As Greg said, (probably) supporters on both sides have attempted such lowly tactics.
But as Fang said, the Sproul thing is a very big story. It involves canvassing near and in libraries, it was uncovered by a librarian who did her research, and it’s bound to have a greater impact on potential election fraud which I’m sorry to say is rife in this great and free country of ours.
Remind me
Why this wasn’t in a journal category instead of the news. Seems to be an RNC story, perfect and appropriate for a personal journal entry. It took place in a library? Oh. I don’t even bother to post in the “news” category anymore.
Re:sad, but expected
My comment was to madcow and the ‘desperation’ statement.
Election fraud is pretty much a given in this country or any country. The story is a big story to librarians because it involved librarians but beyond that?
Oh and please don’t lump me in with Fang. I *hope* I haven’t gotten that bad.
Re:Remind me
Don’t know what we’re supposed to remind you of but…
If you look up “Sproul” and “Library” on Google News, you come up with 68 results:
Here’s the Google webpage with “Sproul” and “Library” mentioning three different public libraries, spread across the US, where the public relations firm (Sproul and Associates) tried to insinuate themselves: Medford OR, Pittsburgh PA and Huntington WV.
Does that convince you that this story is on-topic nbruce? If you need further convincing click on any one of those links (well, at least 60 of the 68…8 or so are about a library named Sproul).
Even sadder
when someone calls you a troll. It’s ok [hysterical weeping], I’ll be [sniff] fine. Could you pass me that Kool-Aid please?
GregS has many, many links. His linking wu-shu is strong. Thing is, I actually READ the articles GregS linked to. Wow. 19 over-registered in one place? Man. That IS bad. Hey, but one of the articles actually
showed the republicans registering people as republican even though they didn’t intend to: “In Leon County, elections officials are investigating 1,500 applications, including many from Florida A&M University students that were photocopied. All were for registration as Republicans.”
It’s true I’m not doing the most I could to follow all the voter fraud stories out there. But it sure seems the majority are from the Red side of the Kool-aid kingdom. And the republicans seem intent on people NOT voting.
Perhaps you would prefer to call me “sparky”?
confused
And “library” and “democratic” and “voter” and “fraud” gives 74 results.
Is this how we judge the merit of a LISNews “story”? Tallies from Google???
Re:Even sadder
And in the paragraph just below that:
“In St. Petersburg, the state attorney’s office is investigating allegations that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now [ACORN], a group pushing the minimum-wage ballot initiative, fraudulently changed party affiliations on voter-registration applications.”
No numbers given for that one though (damn liberal media).
If you’re going to keep drinking Kool-Aid cow, at least try the sugar-free.
Re:confused
Based on her comment, nbruce did not think that the article was about libraries. I was trying to correct her (mis)impression by pointing out the number of news stories on the subject.
You’re entitled to judge the merit or lack thereof on your own. In my viewpoint, as an author, it’s important news that involves libraries and deserved to be covered. LJ is also running a story on it, link above.
If LJ and Google aren’t believable enough sources, maybe you should start your own news service tomeboy.
Re:confused
If LJ and Google aren’t believable enough sources, maybe you should start your own news service tomeboy.
Ehh?? LJ and Google aren’t news services Birdie, one is a library periodical, the other a search engine.
From one fellow librarian (I assume?) to another, can we agree that a periodical index would be a much better choice? Academic Search Premier which indexes over 7800 periodicals has two hits for “sproul” and “library”. Neither of which have anything to do with Republicans and voter fraud.
You’re not going to like my advise Birdie, but you shouldn’t confuse quantity with quality.
Re:confused
Corrections 1)I am not a librarian, I am a library vendor and patron. 2)I know that LJ is a periodical and that Google is a search engine. 3)I do not confuse quantity with quality, but it’s enough to convince me that 60+ plus references prove that the news story I posted was about libraries. 4)As a librarian, chances are that you are the better judge of where to seek confirmation of news and/or information, I’ll give you that. 5)Nonetheless, thanks but, no thanks for the advice (with a C).
Now let’s all stop being sad and confused and go on to the NEXT BIG THING.
Re:confused
er actually this wasn’t a result of googling, it was a result of keeping up with the news. And, I don’t recall putting up a tally of any sort.
oops, my bad
ah, I see you were responding to birdie, not me. Sorry.