In the developing Republican voter fraud scandal, one thing seemed surprising. After the fraud became apparent, the Republicans were quick to point out that they had been scammed by the company and take corrective action. That struck me as contrary to the Republican history of election theft, and I could not help but wonder just what the Republican Party knew about this company and its owner, Nathan Sproul.
…Nathan Sproul, the infamous voter suppression operative from 2004, accused of running an operation in several states that destroyed voter registration forms signed by Democrats, had been secretly paid by Republicans this year on another multimillion-dollar contract for voter registration in swing states.
Sproul—who managed an $8 million voter outreach program for Republicans in 2004—is accused of having his workers destroy voter registration forms turned in by Democrats in Nevada and Oregon that year. Similar tactics were reported in Pennsylvania, Minnesota and West Virginia. They’re also accused of other hijinx, from gathering signatures to place Ralph Nader on the ballot to deceiving people in voter registration drives at Walmart. CBS News has reported on faxes they received showing Sproul’s firm misrepresenting themselves as the left-leaning America Votes! group.
He’s now in hot water because his firm was caught turning in faked voter registration forms in Palm Beach County and nine other counties in Florida.
Within a day of The Nation’s reporting the story, officials with the national Republican Party cut ties with Sproul, whose firm has already received $3.1 million for work in Virginia, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Colorado. Although the payments were made by state party committees, its now clear that the Romney campaign and the national GOP coordinated the effort.
But here’s confirmation of another wrinkle in the story—the Los Angeles Times reports that Republicans were so concerned with the many scandals surrounding Sproul and his previous work, they indeed asked him to set up a shell corporation to hide the payments. Here’s what Matea Gold and her colleagues reported today: “But his reputation is such that when Sproul was tapped by the RNC to do field work this year, officials requested that he set up a new firm to avoid being publicly linked to the past allegations.” The shell is called “Strategic Allied Consulting,” but Sproul’s real firm carries the name “Sproul and Associates” and “Lincoln Strategy Group.”… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <The Nation>
Photo credit: Brad Blog
Given that Republicans knew Sproul well enough to attempt in advance to hide who he is, belies their innocent stance. Cenk Uygur provided excellent coverage of the this Republican fraud.
There can be no doubt that the Republican Party hired Nathan Sproul, knowing in advance, exactly who he is and what he does. They hired Sproul to do what he did and more, except that he was not supposed to get caught!
13 Responses to “What the GOP Knew about Nathan Sproul”
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Thumbs up ^ to Florida for catching and exposing this crime…
Really!
Just for the sake of accuracy, I'm going to pick a nit:
Sproul's current underhandiness is a form or voter REGISTRATION fraud – but NOT voter fraud per se.
I agree, but it id no different from what they falsely accused ACORN of doing.
Who would have thought that the Republican/Teabaggers would stoop so low as to commit both voter fraud and election fraud? ME!!!!!
Now that it is yet again exposed, boy is the shit flying! There is more CYA going on in GOP circles — no wonder they are moody, angry, and having trouble getting focused on the campaign.
Sproul & Associates → Lincoln Strategies → Strategic Allied Consulting
"[Sproul] An Arizona political consultant who is working for Romney's campaign." Paul Davenport, Associated Press Feb 2012
They have collected $3.1 million in 2012 (almost $81K directly from Romney's campaign); $212K from McCain's 2008 campaign, and $7.4 in 2004 all to do the same thing — tinker with voter registration.
"Sproul said he created Strategic Allied Consulting at the RNC's request because the Party wanted to avoid being publicaly linked to past allegations." — LA Times
Sarah Pompei, Romney Campaign said "We used this vendor for signature gathering services during the primary but have not used them since 2011."
Now that things are blowing up in Republican faces better than a trick cigar, Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director had this to say:
"We at this point have an allegation. That mere allegation has caused us to act … act swiftly and boldly and sever our ties with this firm because we have a zero tolerance when it comes to this. The other side clearly engaged for a long time in inappropriate behaviour. We don't believe that's appropriate and we wanted to take swift and bold action to illustrate that."
So, with knowledge and forethought, the Republican/Teabaggers engaged a known to be dishonest company to "assist the RNC with voter registration". They actively disenfranchised voters. Notice the projection — "The other side clearly engaged for a long time in inappropriate behaviour."
And what happens to the victims of this company if they go to the polls only to find that they can't vote? Is there any redress?
Sadly there is not. They can cast a provisional ballot, but it's not likely to ever be approved to be counted.
They don't even do CYA , honestly!!
So, with knowledge and forethought, the Republican/Teabaggers engaged a known to be dishonest company to "assist the RNC with voter registration". They actively disenfranchised voters. Notice the projection — "The other side clearly engaged for a long time in inappropriate behaviour." per LS
Right!
Sproul was hired by the RNC to do a certain job and he did it. Of course, they will disavow all prior knowledge of his misdeeds. That's the way they operate.
They might try telling the truth, in the hope that the shock will render us unconscious until after election day.
In psychology accusing someone else of the thing you are doing is known as "projection", and the GOP has proven itself to be major projectors. This goes beyond hypocrisy. Knowingly falsifying, changing, destroying or fabricating voter registration is a federal crime. I hope they hang Sproul by his gonads.
Welcome Mark! 🙂
I agree, but if he's like many Republican operatives, finding them could prove problematic.