DOJ investigate voter intimidation complaint against Reid camp

The Justice Department is reviewing a complaint from failed Republican Nevada senate candidate Sharron Angle, after allegations that Sen. Harry Reid’s campaign engaged in voter intimidation and broke campaign finance law in his re-election campaign.  A spokeswoman for the DOJ, Laura Sweeney said that the department is reviewing the complaint filed by an attorney for Angle that followed a National Review report about internal e-mails among Harrah’s casino executives and a campaign staffer for Reid.  The emails reportedly say the group orchestrated Harrah’s workers to get out and vote for Reid.  

Hans A. von Spakovsky, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation who is also a former Federal Election commissioner said that there is enough evidence in the e-mails to warrant opening an investigation because they suggest that both the Reid campaign and Harrah’s may have violated federal campaign finance law that “prohibits in-kind corporate and union contributions to, and coordination with, political campaigns.”

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Von Spakovsky also argued that Harrah’s may have violated Federal criminal law that prohibits intimidation and coercion of citizens exercising their right to vote — or not to vote. The executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington,
Melanie Sloan says there’s no evidence to back the complaint.  She couldn’t find any evidence of coercion by Harrah’s to any of their employees.  The DOJ she said doesn’t need to open any investigation.

And when it comes to the fincance charge, Sloan said past regulations prohibiting partisan get-out-the-vote activities may have been wiped out by the Supreme Court ruling in January that gave corporations and trade unions broader First Amendment rights in political advertising.  

But Von Spakovsky said if the DOJ doesn’t investigate, it will be telling the country that as long as you are an important political ally of the president, you need have no worry about violating federal law.  

The cause of the complaint deals with exchange among Harrah’s executives revolves around an e-mail received from an unknown Reid campaign staffer who promises to do “ANYTHING” to drive votes, offering to work with unions and provide access to the senator if it would help drive votes.  

The complaint specifies that the story “documents an orchestrated effort” by Harrah’s “to intimidate and coerce” employees for the casino to vote for Reid, “to track whether or not employees had or had not voted and to pressure supervisors to ensure that the employees reporting to those supervisors were voting.”

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Harrah’s has refused to comment and Reid’s campaign dismissed the report.

• Posted in: Crime & Punishment
• Tagged: Department of Justice, Sen Harry Reid, Sharron Angle, voter intimidation complaint