Comments on: Somali voter influence claims raise more questions than answers

By: Seifert Rages Against Pirate Lover, Coleman Supporter | DUSTYTRICE.COM

Seifert Rages Against Pirate Lover, Coleman Supporter | DUSTYTRICE.COM — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:14:18 +0000

[...] all remember Omar Jamal’s fuzzy math from this wonderful piece of reporting from The Minnesota Independent: He claimed that Franken and Coleman workers were, according to KSTP, trying to illegally influence [...]

By: Tom Robinson

Tom Robinson — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:46:48 +0000

Joel Rosenberg…Do you have proof that the Secretary of State of Minnesota would have done nothing? If not, why not make constructive comments, rather than partisan slander. In Florida in 2000, when there were questions about results in multiple counties, the Florida Secretary of State was STATE HEAD OF THE BUSH CAMPAIGN. In 2004, when Ohio turned into a complete mess, the Ohio Secretary of State was STATE HEAD OF THE BUSH CAMPAIGN. This year, in Wisconsin, the Secretary was STATE HEAD OF THE BUSH CAMPAIGN. So is you Secretary of State involved in Franken’s campaign or Obama’s campaign. If not, maybe you should think about what you’re saying. It looks to me like somebody is making stuff up…not…the…Secretary…of…State

By: Joel Rosenberg

Joel Rosenberg — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:22:37 +0000

Why was Norm Coleman’s campaign contacted if there were alleged problems with voter persuasion? Who contacted them, instead of an election judge or the Secretary of State’s office, to investigate?

I dunno. Maybe somebody might have thought that the partisan SecState wouldn’t be interested in rushing out and stopping misbehavior that might help out Democrats, but that the Coleman campaign would have some interest in it?

By: Kassie

Kassie — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:32:43 +0000

First, you don’t have to speak English to be a US citizen. Waivers are available. Many Somali immigrants cannot read in any language, so I suspect the translators were also used to help read, as well as translate.

But 500 votes were influenced? That’s crazy. People should look into where Omar Jamal gives his money.

By: Dave Porter

Dave Porter — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:37:59 +0000

Another piece of the puzzle is the way these translators are paid – with taxpayer dollars.
At the clinics and hospitals, Medical Assistance picks up most of it. I have not checked,
but expect that the County or State has some budget entries for providing translator
services at polling places. They certainly do at the courthouses.

Given the Republican mantra of Socializing expenses while privatizing profits, one
could easily see the cash-strapped Coleman campaign shifting the payroll expense
of Mr. Wardere over to the government for Election Day.

As to “Icecycle’s” response – reliable sources are better than partisan snowflakes.

Regarding the chronic use of nom de plumes on websites – our experiment with
fascism under young Mr. Bush hasn’t worked out so well, and neither has the
chronic irresponsibility given to anonymous posts. For myself, I’ve decided to
start signing my name to whatever I write, thus indicating some sense of
responsibility for accuracy and fairness.

Dave Porter

By: Icecycle

Icecycle — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:08:21 +0000

So we have two unabashed Franken supporters that work for left wing propaganda websites claiming that they received complaints from unnamed sources about a Colman’s staffer, questioning the credibility of a guy who is routinely quoted as a leader of the Somali community.

Oh yeah. I’ll buy that in bulk.

By: Naplesgal

Naplesgal — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:46:15 +0000

Why were these people voting in the first place if they did
not know who they would vote for. If they needed a translator
they obviously didn’t know who or what they would be voting for
before they got there. I can see where there could be alot of
problems. Makes one wonder about any and all future elections.

By: Eric Ferguson

Eric Ferguson — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:03:46 +0000

Is it reasonable to throw out all votes because some might have been influenced? There’s no way to know which votes were influenced. Besides, if people were voting, then they must be citizens, and the citizenship test is in English. So just how persuadable were they? Even if the translator was helping just Coleman, those votes will have to be counted.

By: Dave Porter

Dave Porter — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:33:07 +0000

Immigrants from torn-up and failing countries are generally fearful of any sort of publicity.
It looks to me like Mr. Jamal’s agenda has more to do with avoiding further scrutiny than anything else.

fwiw, the Somali “translators” are making quite a lot of money in a variety of ingenious ways.

Taking people to private medical clinics, five at a time, they get about $85 for each patient for
the first hour. They then promptly take the same bunch off to another clinic for another hour
of care of treatment for other conditions. Pretty amazing way to make a thousand bucks or
so in less than a full afternoon. Plus, they have their hands out for kickbacks, wherever they
take “their people.”

Wonder if the same sort of thing was happening at the Brian Coyle Center? If so, this might
be the reason for the sudden change in stories from all manner of sources on this situation.