One thing I agree with the MSGOP on...

Evan Alvarez is absolutely one of tomorrow's leaders.  Unfortunately for them, he's a Democrat now.  From the front page of the Mississippi Republican Party's website:

(Click to enlarge, then look at the bottom left.)

Cochran camp threatens litigation over vote-buying allegations; my earlier hunch was right

The Cochran campaign is apparently deciding whether or not to sue Charles C. Johnson, the weird guy from California who the Tea Party Express brought into Mississippi to help with the McDaniel campaign, as well as Stevie Fielding, the minister who says the Cochran campaign engaged him to buy votes.  We'll see what happens with that going forward.  Paul Hampton has that story over at the Sun-Herald's Crawdaddy blog.

Also in that story is this quote from Jordan Russell:

He said the reason the text messages in Johnson's story mention names and addresses is those are needed for FEC forms that are filled out to show where money went.

That gels with my thinking in this previous post from earlier today:  The one big problem with the proof in the alleged Cochran vote-buying scheme.  In short, I don't think this Fielding guy is telling the truth.

*Edited to add the complete quote from Russell, this from the Clarion-Ledger:

Russell said the campaign hired Fielder for get-out-the-vote work. 

"We hire a lot of people, black, white, young, old, to help with get out the vote efforts," Russell said. "… Whether you're a high school kid in Northeast Jackson or a retired nurse in Greenwood, if you're out working doors for us, you get paid in cash, in an envelope. Saleem asked the guy for names and addresses for (Federal Election Commission) filing purposes. Why would you ask a guy for names and addresses if you're buying votes?"

Exactly. 

Mississippi Democratic Trust Challenges Hosemann to Take Election "Integrity" Seriously...

Today, The Mississippi Democratic Trust released a statement regarding the selective involvement of Delbert Hosemann's commitment to election "integrity." He makes a really good point, so I wanted to make sure every got to see it. Is Delbert fair to everyone or only those he finds fair?

_____________________________

Election laws must apply to Republicans too

 

Mississippi Democratic Trust Press

 

Brandon Jones 

July 1, 2014

 

On Tuesday, Brandon Jones, Director of the Mississippi Democratic Trust, issued the following statement regarding the Mississippi Republican U.S. Senate Primary:

 

“This election has already provided more than its share of tragic and bizarre stories.  Now, the specter of election fraud has been raised.  The citizens of this state were sold a package of voting laws by leaders who told us that their main concern was election integrity.  These leaders, like Secretary of State Hosemann, now have an opportunity to show that all the talk about protecting the vote wasn't politics as usual.  Because election integrity laws should never be enforced selectively based on party, we call on Secretary Hosemann and local law enforcement officials to treat these allegations with the seriousness they deserve."    

 

####

Brandon Jones, Executive Director
Mississippi Democratic Trust

  

The one big problem with the proof in the alleged Cochran vote-buying scheme

If you look closely at the alleged texts from Saleem Baird, Baird asks for something that looks a bit off in a vote-buying scheme: the names and home addresses of the payees. 

Why would a campaign ask for names and addresses of the payees in a vote-buying scheme? My thought is that they wouldn't. Looking at the pictures of the texts provided so far, I am of the opinion that Baird was looking to Fielding to provide workers on Election Day, and needed that info fill out campaign finance reports. 

***COCHRAN CAMPAIGN RESPONDS TO VOTE-BUYING ALLEGATIONS***

Sen. Thad Cochran's camp issued the following response to the allegations of vote-buying made by Meridian's Rev. Stevie Fielder:

"There is absolutely no truth to these baseless and false allegations," said Cochran campaign spokesman Jordan Russell. "It comes from a blogger who in the last 24 hours has accused a Mississippi public official of being responsible for an individual's death and had to retract other outlandish accusations regarding another Mississippi elected official. The author of this article admits he paid his source for this story."

Truth be told, Chuck Johnson (they guy who reported the story) and Rev. Fielder don't make for the most believable of characters. That being said, Speaker pro tem Rep. Greg Snowden (R - Meridian) trusted Rev. Fielder enough to pay him over $2,500 in his last campaign for "organizational assistance."

At least parts of Fielder's story should be easy to verify. He has text messages, and he claims to have been called by Cochran folks. Phone records would easily verify whether or not those calls and texts actually came from the people he claims made them. And considering that Fielder just laid out his part as a co-conspirator in an illegal election fraud scheme, there's no reason subpoenas can't issue for his records.

And we thought we'd seen it all. 

*My apologies for the font issues in this post. I'll fix them shortly

MS House Speaker pro tempore paid alleged Cochran vote buyer immediately following 2011 election

As if there weren't enough tentacles to this deal, the minister making the accusations of vote-buying against Sen. Thad Cochran's campaign staff was recently paid by Rep. Greg Snowden (R - Meridian) for "campaign organizational assistance" immediately following the 2011 election.

It's at the bottom of the very last page of this report filed by Snowden in January of 2012.

As a result of that election, Rep. Snowden would become the Speaker pro tempore of the Mississippi House of Representatives.

***DETAILS OF ALLEGED VOTE-BUYING SCHEME BY COCHRAN STAFF UNVEILED***

It's the race that won't end, folks.  The full story is here, along with pictures of emails and a recorded phone interview.  It's all there.  Super-shady news source, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker staffer (who has a prior arrest history) arranging vote-buying through a black minister in Meridian, $15 per vote, emails, etc.

More to come on this.