Sen. Brown joins others in alleging voter suppression
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown crossed a line Wednesday that many other Democrats had been blasted for breaching.
In an email to supporters, the Clevelander rolled out the Democrats’ favorite talking point about Georgia’s new voting law, saying, “It even makes it a crime to give food or water to voters standing in lines at polling places.”
Not true, say Republicans defending the controversial legislation that resulted in Major League Baseball moving its annual all-star game from Atlanta to Denver.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Mcdaniel retweeted former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer criticism of a Washington Post story about President Joe Biden’s opposition to the measure.
The former spokesman for President George W. Bush tweeted March 27: “This sentence, ‘It includes the ban on providing food and drink to those in line’ is flat out wrong. Beyond 150 feet from a polling place, anyone can hand out anything. Within 150 feet, no campaigning, including handing out snacks/water is allowed.”
Biden himself used a variation of the Democrats’ claim in a March 26 statement: “It makes it a crime to provide water to voters while they wait in line — lines Republican officials themselves have created by reducing the number of polling sites across the state, disproportionately in Black neighborhoods. This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century.”
So do the Dems need to backtrack? There’s more to it than the 150-foot restriction cited by Fleischer and affirmed by Mcdaniel and many other Republicans.
Here’s the bottom line on that section of the revamped law (Page 73 of 98):
It’s a misdemeanor — punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine — for “any person” to hand out “any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink” to anyone standing in line to vote. The prohibition not only extends 150 feet from the edge of the building containing the polling place, but also 25 feet from any person standing in line.
Polling places would be able to, but not required to, set up self-serve water dispensers for voters.
So any assertion of an outright ban on giving food and water to voters waiting to cast a ballot goes a step too far; elections workers are allowed to provide “available self-service water from an unattended receptacle to an elector waiting in line to vote.”
However, the ban on anyone else coming within 25 feet of a voter means the 150-foot rule emphasized by some Republicans is irrelevant. Non-elections workers indeed cannot approach voters to give them food or drink.
Donald Trump doesn’t like it either
Donald Trump isn’t a fan of the Georgia voting law either, but for different reasons.
In a statement, the former president said, “Georgia’s election reform law is far too weak and soft to ensure real ballot integrity! Election Day is supposed to be Election Day, not Election Week or Election Month. Far too many days are given to vote.”
Consultant with ties to HB6 mess raising money for Frank Larose
The Strategy Group, which was responsible for many ads in the multimillion-dollar effort touting the controversial House Bill 6 bailout of two Ohio nuclear power plants and opposing a referendum to overturn it, is hosting a fundraiser for Republican Secretary of State Frank Larose.
At least some of those HB6 spots were funded by dark money, the use of which has been strongly condemned by Larose.
Public documents show connections between the consulting firm or its affiliates and the questioned endeavors of Rep. Larry Householder, R-glenford, the former Ohio House Speaker who has pleaded innocent to federal charges in what authorities say was a $60 million bribery scheme related to passage
of HB6. Strategy Group has not been accused or charged in that matter.
Larose has referred dozen of allegations of wrongdoing related to Householder’s political activities to the Ohio Elections Commission — including failure to disclose spending for such things as TV ads like those provided by the Strategy Group.
The consultant also is fighting a subpoena in a separate Elections Commission case on a complaint that the Strategy Group was among the spenders of hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegally undisclosed Householder-connected campaign cash for a southwestern Ohio House seat.
All this is background to a question: Why is Larose holding a reelection fundraiser Tuesday co-hosted by the Strategy Group? Could it be a conflict of interest for the Republican?
“No, not at all,” said an e-mailed response from Larose adviser Merle Madrid.
“What I do find troubling is that the Ohio Elections Commission hasn’t taken any action on Secretary Larose’s referral of over 175 apparent campaign finance violations by former Speaker and still, amazingly, Representative Householder and the four other individuals charged in the federal indictment.”
Two of the individuals have pleaded guilty, while a third, lobbyist Neil Clark, has since died from an apparent suicide.
The fundraiser invitation seeks campaign contributions of $250 to $2,500. Other hosts include state Sen. Andy Brenner, R-delaware, Delaware County GOP Chairman Steve Cuckler, and Delaware County Commissioner Jeff Benton, and his wife, Barbara.
The Strategy Group, founded by longtime GOP consultant Rex Elsass, proclaims itself as “the most successful political advertising agency in America.” drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland