Category Archives: chicanery

Wisconsin: “Attorney General Brad Schimel concludes for the second time Project Veritas videos show no voter fraud by Dem activist”

May 15, 2018, 6:53 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: For the second time, GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel’s office has concluded there is no evidence a Democratic activist broke voting laws in the run-up to the 2016 election. Schimel’s office first made that determination in January 2017,… Continue reading

2016 Russian Facebook Election Ads Overwhelmingly About Race

May 13, 2018, 9:21 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

USA Today: The Russian company charged with orchestrating a wide-ranging effort to meddle in the 2016 presidential election overwhelmingly focused its barrage of social media advertising on what is arguably America’s rawest political division: race. The roughly 3,500 Facebook ads… Continue reading

“Russia Tried to Undermine Confidence in Voting Systems, Senators Say”

May 9, 2018, 7:17 amchicanery, election administration, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

NYT: Russia was preparing to undermine confidence in the United States’ voting process when its hackers surveilled around 20 state election systems in the run-up to the 2016 elections, the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded in a brief report released on … Continue reading

“Firm Tied to Russian Oligarch Made Payments to Michael Cohen”

May 9, 2018, 7:13 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: A shell company that Michael D. Cohen used to pay hush money to a pornographic film actress received payments totaling more than $1 million from an American company linked to a Russian oligarch and several corporations with business before… Continue reading

Florida: “Police use saliva to arrest Casselberry man on voter-fraud charges”

May 4, 2018, 8:33 amchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

Orlando Sentinel: State and local investigators said they used fingerprints and DNA from saliva found on five mail-in ballots to track down a Casselberry man and charge him with voter fraud. Bret Warren, 36, was arrested Wednesday and booked into… Continue reading

“The Legal Issues Raised by the Stormy Daniels Payment, Explained”

May 3, 2018, 5:06 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

Charlie Savage and Ken Vogel for the NYT.

“Tennessee Officials Are Trying To Get To The Bottom Of An Election Night Cyberattack”

May 3, 2018, 4:44 pmchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

Sam Levine for HuffPo: Officials in Knox County, Tennessee, are trying to gather more information about a cyberattack that crashed a government website that displayed election results to the public during its primary election for local offices on Tuesday. Dick… Continue reading

#HimToo: Second Secretary of State Quits Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations

May 1, 2018, 1:39 pmchicanery, election administrationRick Hasen

First it was Wyoming, now Louisiana: With calls for his resignation increasing, Louisiana’s secretary of state announced Tuesday that he is leaving his position as state elections chief amid allegations he sexually harassed one of his employees. Secretary of… Continue reading

“Fake Green Party Candidate Exposed as Having Ties to Republican Congressman”

April 30, 2018, 10:18 amballot access, chicaneryRick Hasen

Daily Beast: The former Green Party candidate in a congressional race has been exposed as a Republican plant with ties to the GOP congressman he supposedly sought to challenge Michael Zak petitioned to run under the Green Party ticket in… Continue reading

“Oppo researcher leaves the White House; Michael Roman, a former Koch operative, served as the right-hand man to the White House’s top attorney.”

April 28, 2018, 9:31 amchicaneryRick Hasen

Politico reports.

Indiana: “Rokita, Messer deny wrongdoing in possible straw donor scheme”

April 27, 2018, 8:12 pmcampaign finance, chicaneryRick Hasen

IndyStar: Three Indiana members of Congress gave and received money from Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci in what experts said may have been an improper straw donor scheme — including two Indiana congressmen running for the U.S. Senate. The Senate candidates,… Continue reading

“House Intelligence Committee Releases Findings on Russian Election Interference”

April 27, 2018, 7:35 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: The House Intelligence Committee released on Friday a roughly 250-page report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, laying out Republicans’ conclusion after a yearlong investigation that they had found no evidence that the Trump campaign aided Moscow’s… Continue reading

“Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez is ‘severely admonished’ by Ethics Committee, ordered to repay gifts”

April 26, 2018, 1:47 pmchicanery, conflict of interest laws, ethics investigationsRick Hasen

WaPo: The Senate Ethics Committee said Thursday that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who avoided conviction in a federal corruption trial last year, violated federal law and Senate rules in accepting unreported gifts from a friend and political ally whom Menendez… Continue reading

North Carolina: “GOP’s Woodhouse deposed, releases opposition research wish list”

April 24, 2018, 7:59 amchicaneryRick Hasen

WRAL: A legal team for the state Democratic Party deposed the North Carolina Republican Party’s executive director for at least 90 minutes Monday morning. Dallas Woodhouse said he answered some questions “out of respect to the courts,” declined to answer… Continue reading