Minnesota Independent » James Carabelli

AP: Michigan GOP to sue Michigan Messenger over foreclosed voter story

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:04:24 +0000

The Associated Press is reporting that James Carabelli, the chair of the Macomb County Republican party, is suing the Michigan Messenger and its parent organization, the non-profit Center for Independent Media, over the Messenger’s report last month in which Carabelli was quoted as saying the party planned to use lists of foreclosed homeowners as the basis for Election Day challenges.

“As soon as we see the complaint, we will issue a response on Michigan Messenger,” said CIM editorial director Jefferson Morley. CIM sponsors the Minnesota Independent, the Michigan Messenger and online news sites in three other states and Washington, D.C.

MN GOP denies plans to challenge voters using foreclosure lists

Paul Demko — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:14:07 +0000

The Minnesota Republican Party has no plans to use lists of recent home foreclosures to challenge voters on election day, according to party officials. Earlier this month, our sister site, the Michigan Messenger, reported that local Republican party officials intended to utilize such lists in order to strike voters from the rolls. “We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” James Carabelli, chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Michigan, told reporter Eartha Jane Melzer.

But according to Nina Countryman, communications director for the Minnesota GOP, there are no plans to engage in similar tactics here. “We’re not doing that here,” Countryman says. “It’s just not true.”

Local party officials echo that sentiment. “I would be shocked if it happened,” says Rory Koch, GOP chairman in the Fourth Congressional District. Koch further argues that such tactics wouldn’t succeed in Minnesota because the state has same-day voter registration. “It’s ludicrous first of all, but in Minnesota it wouldn’t work anyway,” he says.

GOP officials in Michigan have questioned the veracity of the Michigan Messenger article and Carabelli has threatened so sue for libel, but the web site has stood by its reporting. The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to prohibit GOP officials from challenging voters based on foreclosure lists.

Obama campaign files suit over GOP plan to strike foreclosure victims from voter rolls

Paul Demko — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:52:29 +0000

The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee have filed a lawsuit in federal court over the Michigan Republican Party’s plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls, as first reported by our sister site the Michigan Messenger.

Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign, and Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, announced the lawsuit in a conference call with reporters this afternoon. It was filed on behalf of the campaign, the party and three Michigan residents who have had their houses foreclosed upon in recent months.

Last week, James Carabelli, chairman of the Macomb County GOP, told the Messenger’s Eartha Melzer in a phone interview: “We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses.” The Michigan Republican Party has denied that Carabelli made the statements that the Messenger reported.

But Bauer told reporters that the complaint includes quotes from Republican operatives in Ohio and other states making similar comments and defending the legitimacy of using foreclosure lists to strike voters from the rolls. He labeled the tactic “false and illegal,” noting that receiving a foreclosure notice is not evidence that the person’s address has changed.

Brewer noted that in July alone 11,000 Michigan residents received foreclosure notices. The McCain campaign, he argued, “wants to add insult to injury” by denying those residents their right to vote. “The right to vote is one of our most fundamental rights as Americans,” said Brewer. “To try to strip our fellow citizens of their right to vote is un-American and unconscionable.”