Corrupt Atty General Van Hollen Repeats 2004 GOP Lies

Wisconsin's Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he "is very concerned about voter fraud as six recall elections near, including one targeting fellow Republican, Gov. Scott Walker." (AP)

The corrupt Van Hollen is doing the same work as his fellow GOP partisans, pushing the same lie about alleged concerns of voter fraud that were expressed by State Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) and former State Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield).

The GOP hacks in 2004 sent letters to former U.S. Atty Stephen Biskupic (2001-08) to "investigate possible wrongdoing in the registration of certain voters in Southeastern Wisconsin" (Stone) and to express Kanavas' concern that "fraud may play a large role in the outcome of the (the-upcoming 2004) election." (Brew City Brawler)

For years before elections Van Hollen and his GOP voter-control partisans have claimed to know fraud is happening and will happen in whatever election is next.

Well then, could Van Hollen point to one case, one case, of voter impersonation in Wisconsin prosecuted, say, in the last 10 years, 20 years? Proclaimed 100-percent certainty that voter impersonation is happening, zero-percent knowledge of where, when and by whom.

Of course not, Van Hollen is repeating the lie of voter impersonation [the voter fraud that so-called voter ID would prevent] in the valid belief that AP will run his statement with no facts or evidence.

Media outlets then pick up the story and run a summary of attorney-general-worried-about-voter-fraud pieces across the state.

Some facts:

Van Hollen previously lied in 2008, claiming the same nonsense about voter fraud as he tried to use a federal law to stop Wisconsin citizens from voting in the presidential election.

Current national GOP chair Reince Priebus "had multiple conversations with Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's top aide before Van Hollen filed the lawsuit against the state election agency to compel expanded voter registration checks," perfect matches among bureaucracies (Pitsch. Wisconsin State Journal, Sep 25, 2008).

The Van Hollen-Priebus suit was subsequently tossed out of court by Dane County (Wisconsin) Judge Maryann Sumi, never to see the inside of a courtroom again.

GOP allegations of organized voter fraud has been shown to be a fiction by the Brennan Center for Justice and by a Wisconsin-federal committee looking into past GOP allegations of voter fraud in the 2004 election.

After the GOP retook the Wisconsin legislature in 2010, one of the GOP's first bills introduced in 2011 is a photo ID bill that would "mean folks without driver's licenses - disproportionately poor, minority, or elderly, would not be able to vote." (Neil Heinen. WISC TV) The GOP's photo ID bill is unconstitutional on its face, and has been so found.

A 2004-05 joint investigation by former GOP U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic and former Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann found there was no widespread fraud, though Biskupic  "indicted 14 individuals [with five convictions] for either being a felon on probation or parole who voted in November 2004 or for voting twice in that contest. All but one of those charged with felonies were African-American, and all were Milwaukee residents." (Bice. MJS, April 12, 2007) Voter ID would address none of these cases, as voter impersonation did not happen even as Karl Rove pushed Biskupic to pursue voter fraud cases, however contrived.

Biskupic is now defending the Scott Walker campaign in the John Doe corruption investigation.

Van Hollen, Biskupic, Priebus, Walker and literally every Wisconsin GOP elected official have defended the voter fraud-voter obstruction-voter ID project.