Gingrich campaign, but not Newt, target of election fraud probe
By Rick Sincere | Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 | PoliticsAlthough he failed to place his name on the Virginia presidential primary ballot in the election scheduled for March 6, Newt Gingrich’s campaign is under investigation by the Office of the Attorney General for possible fraud in the gathering of petition signatures.
Gingrich himself admitted that one of the signature gatherers hired by the campaign submitted fraudulent signatures. As noted by Brad Friedman, an election-law blogger:
In late December, after Gingrich had failed to turn in enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, he was caught on video tape telling a supporter in Iowa that the reason for the failure was due to a campaign worker who created 1,500 fraudulent signatures.
“We turned in 11,100 — we needed 10,000 — 1,500 of them were by one guy who, frankly, committed fraud,” Gingrich is seen and heard saying in video originally aired by CNN.
A spokesman for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has confirmed to Bearing Drift, however, that “Gingrich himself is not a target. It would be the campaign.”
This makes sense because, if someone contracted by the campaign to collect signatures did so fraudulently, Gingrich would himself be the victim of fraud.
It is not clear from Gingrich’s earlier admission whether the fraudulent signatures were, in fact, submitted in the package to the State Board of Elections for verification by the Republican Party of Virginia. This is probably one of the questions that the Attorney General’s office is seeking to clarify.
Julian Walker has more details here.
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About the author
Rick Sincere, twice a candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates, blogs about politics and culture from Charlottesville. He is the author of two books on U.S. policy toward Africa and has contributed articles to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Examiner, among other publications. Follow him on Twitter at @rick_sincere.
Comments
4 Responses to "Gingrich campaign, but not Newt, target of election fraud probe"
None of that will matter if Trump endorses him… developing
Well I guess when it’s Newt at the top of the organization it was a “mistake” by one person they hired. Had this been a left leaning organization Newt would have been the first to call for the organization’s leader’s head.
Does anyone know who the Contractor was who turned in the 1,500 signatures? Why are they not already arrested?
Was it a “dirty trick” by somebody?
Please enlighten me.
Another person is posting on Bearing drift at four thirty in the morning !!!!!
Anyone want to bet me an Al Gore carbon credit that both people are actually ManBearPig ???
Bad ManBearPig, Bad, Bad.
I think that Bad ManBearPig should hit that PayPal button and make a contribution to Bearing Drift.
Go to the PayPal link. Click on it. Fill in the required credit card information, including the dollar amount.
Wait until Al gets home and I tell about how bad ManBearPig has been.
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