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SOURCES: OFFICIAL STAFFER FOR KLOBUCHAR AT BRIAN COYLE CENTER DURING VOTING
By Michael B. Brodkorb | November 5, 2008
According to a dedicated reader of Minnesota Democrats Exposed, a staffer for U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar official office was at the Brian Coyle Center in Minneapolis acting as a interpreter for voters during the same time a staffer for U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, using his vacation time, was present assisting voters.
Please check back to Minnesota Democrats Exposed for more information on this developing story.
Topics: Uncategorized | 19 Comments »
19 Responses to “SOURCES: OFFICIAL STAFFER FOR KLOBUCHAR AT BRIAN COYLE CENTER DURING VOTING”
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November 5th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Last time I checked Amy Klobuchar wasn’t on the ballot.
November 5th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Michael, this is one of your oddest postings.
Klobuchar staffer helps with translations
Coleman staffer helps with voters
My question: What’s the BFD?
November 5th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
I think Michael is attempting to imply that the republican was using vacation time to volunteer, while the democrat was spotted punching in at a magical US Senate timeclock, bilking the taxpayers of millions of tax dollars for his time at the polls.
Michael’s ability to see only the good in republicans and only the bad in democrats is what sets him apart from rational human beings.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Leroy,
Thanks for the explanation. With the $800 billion bailout being signed off as though it were chump change, this seems like a very weak issue to even bother posting.
I googled the center to find out what it was and came up with:
“In addition to the programs run by Pillsbury United Communities, a number of other organizations operate out of the Coyle Center, including the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, Emerge Community Development, and Pan African Legal Aid.”
So, we are supposed to be concerned that a government employee is helping with translations on election day?
Michael should have described what the problem was because I still don’t see it.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Who gives a flying fuck what Klobuchar’s staffer was doing, unless she was wearing “vote Franken” signs and translating “I want to vote for Norm Coleman” into “I wish to vote for the Al Franken.”
If you got some evidence that the later points happened, then let’s talk about that. Beyond that, this is far and away the dumbest MDE post ever.
And so I felt compelled to say so.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
If the Amy Klo staffer was taking vacation time while working at the pollint place, then there’s no problem. If, however, the staffer was not, there is a problem. The folks who are on the congressional staff of Amy Klo, Norm, Ellison, etc. are paid by the taxpayers. This means that while they can campaign on vacation time, they can’t campaign on regular work time.
I’ll be interested to see what the situation was on this one.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Mike,
The payroll records for U.S. Senate staff are public records. You could cross-check the name of the employee against yesterday’s date to see if the employee was in pay status or vacation status. Depending on when the current pay period ends you may have to wait a few days before those records are available, however.
BTW, this reminds me of the case of one Mike Erlandson. He wore two hats: Chief of staff to Cong. Sabo and chair of the MN DFL. It was not unusual to see (via the media) Erlandson holding a press conference in the middle of the day while wearing his DFL chair hat. If the fellow took vacation days, he must have had about 52 weeks of vacation each year given how much time he seemingly spent on DFL/campaign activities.
I tried to get Ron Carey’s predecessor interested in taking a look at this. Unfortunately, that fellow made Carey look like a Rhodes Scholar. He had as much interest in pursuing whether a taxpayer-paid staffer was doing non-taxpayer activities on the taxpayers dime as a hog is interested in holy water.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I recall when I worked in civil service there was a “you be the judge” effort to get us to work as election judges. I think that it may have had interpreters in there also. As I recall, we would be reimbursed the pay difference, much like jury duty.
There is the potential for “politicking” but a Klobuchar staffer has too much of a future and that is a super heavy democratic district anyway.
The real danger is of immigrants not yet naturalised trying to vote by voucher. You used to have to know english to get citizenship.
Two years ago a co-worker talked of long lines at the Couth Minneapolis Central voting precinct. A very large number of Somalis were trying to vote without ID’s.
Naturalised immigrants are encouraged to vote but every naturalised immigrant I have ever met wears their naturalisation paperwork as a badge of honor. I’ve heard from a number that were shocked when an ID wasn’t asked for at the polling place. When they went to vote they brought all the paperwork and were disappointed when not asked for it.
It’s difficult to invalidate votes at this stage but comparing voters in that area with naturalisation or natural citizen status might be revealing.
ACORN has been shown to be indiscriminate about who they sign up.
November 6th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Greg still looking for ghost-fraud. “What?!? People need help translating?!?! They must be voting illegal!! Give it a rest Loser.
Mike Erlandson was Chief of Staff.
Congressional Chief of Staffs are the only staff position that can work the political side as well as the governing side.
(For those who don’t know, there are two staffs, one is the taxpayer funded positions in DC and the home district, the other is political side fundraising and during various political activities on behalf of the member. Their pay comes from the campaign donations. The Chief of staff is the only one allowed to go back and forth.)
Erlandson volunteered his entire six years as Chair. He never received a dime from the DFL in his role as Chair.
As far as the A-Klo’s staffer, Mikey needs to bring more info.
If this staffer was the Constituency Services person, then translating is one thing they’re already paid to do. Helping at the polls is not ‘campaigning’ as noted earlier. There is one partisan for each party officially sent in the polls. A person translating is not necessarily working outside of the taxpayers realm.
The other possibility is that the staffer was part of the political staff, which means its on the campaigns dime, not yours.
November 6th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Sorry Michael, but so what?
If you have evidence that he was doing something illegal or at least unethical, ok.
Helping with translation is neither.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:15 am
I don’t get it.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I don’t get it either. That person was probably taking a vacation day. Not that you could verify that by determining their “vacation status” on some document. That’s not how it works.
November 6th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I wonder how many of you idiots are on the payroll for the Dems. You sound like a giant spin machine.
Michael, if you read this, i’ve heard Coleman is asking for help to maintain the “integrity” of the recount. If true, who do we call?
To you Dems, integrity means HONESTY
November 6th, 2008 at 11:51 am
naomi-
calling Stonewall J., Greg Lang, Jbenson and of all people Chestnut, idiots on the payroll for the Dems is bizarre. I wish I could pay them to shut up sometimes. You are witnesses a moment of HONESTY among all of us- except you.
Don’t worry cupcake, I understand you are incapable of comprehending that. Now run and get me some coffee, no Hemlock please.
November 6th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I just found something out that will be coming out in print tomorrow. Norm’s aide who on vacation hours is being accused of campaigning in his translation, which he was doing- before the Klobuchar staffer arrived.
They were called and informed that Somali voters were being told to vote for Norm Coleman. Some of these Somali men, were at the Obama campaign rally for Franken. So naturally they made calls.
I wonder how many were told to vote that way before she got busted?
What ol’ Mikey was doing here is called pre-emption. This wasn’t about the Klobuchar aide but, trying to give cover to the Coleman aide in light of tomorrow’s story.
Also, since he was on vacation, he really wasn’t working for Coleman at the time. Officially.
HAhahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!
November 6th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Why don’t we just wait until the state recounts the votes. It’s down to 336 now, so aren’t we approached 1/200th of a percent difference?
Maybe we should be looking into the Green Party-promoted idea of instant runoff voting for future elections.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
DJZ,
what you trying to say brother?
November 6th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I’m saying that Mikey is not complaining about A-Klo staff. He’s writing a cover-your-ass for Norm Coleman. MBB is one crafty Mo-Fo.
Its Coleman’s staffer that is accused of campaigning inside a polling place- illegal as all hell. She is accused of telling Somali after Somali to vote for Coleman and ‘helping’ them do so. If this is true, then Norm Coleman is in real trouble. Having your staff strong arm voters in polling places is like, criminal.
Mikey’s post without reason informed us that the staffer was on ‘vacation’ so, doing whatever he wanted on his time, not the Senators.
——
Also, you accusing of Chestnut of being on the same side as me is- its just crazy. You got a scorched earth policy with everyone who disagrees with you.
November 8th, 2008 at 5:59 am
The Minnesota Secretary of State’s office says that if Coleman staffer Mahamoud Wardere was at Brian Coyle Center for most of the afternoon on Election Day, that Minnesota election laws were “potentially†broken. According to Beth Fraser, director of governmental affairs at the Secretary of State’s office, a translator can only be inside a polling place if they are assisting a specific voter. They cannot remain onsite, as we reported Wardere did, acting as a go-to interpreter.
Wardere, a paid staffer in Norm Coleman’s office whose title is listed as constituent policy liaison, was called in by two GOP challengers at the site after they told an election judge they wanted to bring in their own translator. Wardere remained onsite for at least four hours.
Minnesota statute 204C.06, regarding conduct in and near polling places, states that “no one except an election official or an individual who is waiting to register or to vote shall stand within 100 feet of the building in which a polling place is located.†Fraser says that if Wardere was there throughout the afternoon and not aiding an individual voter with translation, then it’s possible laws were broken. “That is up for the county attorney to investigate,†Fraser says. “And I do not have all the facts. But if that happened, then potentially laws were broken.â€
What’s more, the GOP conceivably violated election laws by at one point having three challengers as well as Wardere on site. After being asked by an election judge to leave, Wardere told the Minnesota Independent that neither he nor the election judge were certain if his role at Brian Coyle was to act as GOP challenger or translator. Wadere did not leave the building, and instead remained in the foyer or entrance of Brian Coyle Center for most of the afternoon. He later told MnIndy that he was only there to help voters with language issues. One GOP challenger, whose counterpart called in Wardere to act as their translator earlier that morning, refused to speak with MnIndy about allegations of voter intimidation or Wardere’s role at the site.
“Only one challenger from either party can be on site at one time,†Fraser says. And according to Minnesota statute 204C.07 regarding challengers, “[Challengers] shall not converse with a voter except to determine, in the presence of an election judge, whether the voter is eligible to vote in the precinct.†If Wardere spoke with voters while he was acting as a challenger, this is also a potential violation of the law, Fraser says.
As MnIndy reported on Tuesday, voters charged that translators on site were persuading voters to vote for Norm Coleman. According to another Minnesota statute regarding voter assistance, 204c.15, “A voter who claims a need for assistance because of inability to read English or physical inability to mark a ballot may obtain the aid of two election judges who are members of different major political parties.†And it goes on to say, “An election judge or other individual assisting a voter shall not in any manner request, persuade, induce, or attempt to persuade or induce the voter to vote for any particular political party or candidate.â€
The Secretary of State’s office responds to written complaints, Fraser says, which are then forwarded to the county attorney’s office for investigation. So far, the SoS has not received complaints in writing regarding conduct at the Brian Coyle Center.