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StumbleCourt hearing set over voter registration allegations
Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun
Prosecutors and representing attorneys in the case against former ACORN employees Amy Busefink and Christopher Edwards appear Wednesday before District Court Judge William D. Jansen. From left, Chief Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen; attorney David Rickert of the attorney general’s office; Kevin Stolworthy of Jones Vargas, representing Amy Busefink; and deputy public defender Dan Silverstein, representing Christopher Edwards.
Published Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 9:48 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 4:54 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Criminal charges filed against ACORN, two employees (5-4-2008)
- State: No false or stifled votes here (10-29-2008)
- Voter fraud isn’t what – by some – it’s cracked out to be (10-12-2008)
- You can trust that your vote counts in Nevada, election officials say (10-12-2008)
- Gibbons, Gansert care deeply about voter verification (10-9-2008)
- Corrections department unaware of potential voter fraud (10-9-2008)
An organization that registered voters for the presidential election and two of its former employees will have a preliminary hearing Sept. 29 to determine if there is enough evidence to move forward with allegations that it illegally compensated canvassers.
Attorneys for the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now, Inc., also known as ACORN, appeared in Clark County District Court today.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen said he intends to call about four witnesses at the hearing to show that ACORN illegally compensated canvassers using a quota system. ACORN officials this afternoon disputed the claims.
The complaint includes 39 counts tied to paying bonuses to employees if they surpassed registering 20 people during a shift. The complaint alleges ACORN also fired those who didn't meet the requirement.
ACORN employed canvassers to register people to vote in Nevada in 2008 and paid them between $8 and $9 per hour.
Employees could receive a $5 bonus under a program, called "Blackjack" or "21+," if they registered 21 or more people, according to the complaint.
Clare Crawford, deputy political director for the national organization, said this afternoon in a phone interview that the only office in the country that used the Blackjack system was the one in Las Vegas.
Christopher Edwards, field director for the Las Vegas office, created the Blackjack program, which the national office did not condone and explicitly prohibited, Crawford said.
“It was implemented by a single manager in a single state,” she said.
The 20 registrations per shift was the guideline but did not determine employment status, she said.
Employees were fired for various reasons but not because they failed to meet the guideline, Crawford said. Employees collected 13 cards per shift on average, she said.
“We feel that the complaint is not factually accurate in describing the way the program was run,” Crawford said.
Bonuses were paid only to employees who had to use their own vehicle and to team leaders for training new employees, Crawford said.
ACORN timesheets indicate that corporate officers of ACORN were aware of the Blackjack bonus program and failed to take immediate action to stop it, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that Amy Busefink, ACORN's deputy regional director, was aware of the Blackjack program and aided and abetted the scheme by approving Edwards' bonus program.
Edwards and Busefink are the only two ACORN employees charged. Neither currently works for the organization, Crawford said. Edwards left when the registration program ended and Busefink sought employment elsewhere.
The investigation began following a complaint filed with the Secretary of State's office by Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax. Lomax's office received a significant number of voter registration application forms that appeared to be fraudulent, he has said, although none of the irregular forms ended up in the November election.
State investigators confiscated records at ACORN's Las Vegas office on Oct. 7.
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Jeff, what does this have to do with "voter fraud?"
Jail them all. Clean out the crook's nest.
It is BS that the field director is being hung out to dry on this. ACORN hires a lawyer from Jones Vargas (a very powerful law firm) for their deputy regional director and the field director is stuck with a public defender. Poor kid was probably one of the first to answer an ad in the paper and worked his way up to the "field director" position. ACORN really needs to step up and hire another Jones Vargas lawyer for him as well. It's the right thing to do.
"The attorney general's office has charged ACORN and Edwards with 13 counts of compensation for registering voters."
Calling this "voter fraud" makes for a great headline, but isn't there an editor or a fact checker at the Sun?
Mia, the allegations are that voter fraud took place, as has been widely reported by the Sun and media outlets across Nevada and the country. Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto has described the allegations this way: "By structuring employment and compensation around a quota system, ACORN facilitated voter registration fraud."
I think some people incorrectly assume that the attorneys in the public defender's office are of a lower quality. There are a lot of reasons why attorneys would choose a job in the public sector instead of the private sector, and there are some great attorneys over there (who are as good or better than most private firms). I hear this from people on both sides.
mia,
4th paragraph from the top. "The complaint includes 26 counts of voter fraud and 13 counts for compensating those registered voters, both felonies."
that's the whole point. many of these paid canvassers were doing phony registrations, many on "absentee ballots" which were actually cast during the election.
This is either journalistic oversimplification or lazy reporting. ACORN is not accused of committing voter fraud, but voter registration fraud. More specifically, "compensation for the registration of voters," in violation of NRS 293.805. It is a crime "for a person to provide compensation for registering voters that is based upon: (a) The total number of voters a person registers; or (b) The total number of voters a person registers in a particular political party." That is what ACORN is accused of. To use the term "voter fraud" implies misconduct or tampering with actual votes. Perhaps this is a fine distinction, but it matters.
This is (allegedly) Voter REGISTRATION fraud. Big difference and a totally misleading headline. Tim, read your own explanation from Masto and then google the difference between voter fraud and registration fraud - two entirely different animals.
Please read very carefully...
"...none of the irregular forms ended up in the November election."
Thus, it's already stipulated by Lomax that no voter fraud occurred. So much for the rigged election theories...
Plus, the actual criminal complaint that was filed by Deputy Attorney General Hafen has a link on this very page which is not 5 inches away from Jeff's byline. The actual criminal complaint does NOT charge anybody with "voter fraud."
None of this matters, ACORN is corrupt and always has been and always will be. In court like the comments for corrupt ACORN here arguing over what "IS IS" nonsense.
Since charges similar to these have been filed in 14 states corrupt ACORN has changed it's name to Community Organization International (COI) look it up. Guess the heat was a little much. Not to worry though it's the same corruption gone global.
Sorry, but there's a big difference between alleged voter fraud and allege registration fraud. No "voter fraud" is charged here, despite what Jeff wrote in his headline and article. Read the complaint for yourself. It's right there at the top of the page (clue to Jeff & Tim).
But by putting out a misleading headline like "Hearing set for ACORN employees over voter fraud allegations" it causes confusion among the lazy and the ignorant.
By law, ACORN has to turn in every registration form it collects, but they've always flagged questionable registration forms they collected before submitting them.
justanaveragejoe writes: "mia, 4th paragraph from the top: "The complaint includes 26 counts of voter fraud... "
Thanks joe but my browser says: "The complaint includes 26 counts of voter registration fraud..."
Either your browser is broken or Jeff fixed his article and didn't bother thanking me.
Now if he would only clean up his headline...
Mia, you are complaining pretty loudly. Are you upset your vote was only counted five times?
ACORN is corrupt. I can't imagine how many "extra" people will get counted for the cencus with these clowns in charge.
I did not know we had more people than China!!??!!
For crying out loud, ACORN isn't going to be "in charge" of the 2010 census! ACORN isn't even going to be involved in taking census data.
Do yourself a favor and don't listen to the lunatics and liars on talk radio.
Meir Culpaw is dead wrong. ACORN executives committed voter regulations fraud and has to take a bite of the proverbial fecal sandwich on this one. It's only fair because of all the damage they've done in Nevada and elsewhere.
acorn screwing nevadans with taxpayers money...
they are corrupt...
"ACORN executives committed voter regulations fraud"
First: Voter "regulations" fraud? Ok?
Second: Please, more details. Two low-level staffers are ACCUSED of PAYING people for their registrations, a violation of voter registration laws. Please, name the ACORN exec found guilty of voter "regulation"/registration fraud.
The ACORN boogeyman never fails to bring out the right-wing kooks and their lies.
It is interesting that ACORN claims Busefink is a "former employee" who "sought employment elsewhere" after the program was over.
Is anyone curious where she sought employment? This link will point you in the right direction.
http://www.projectvote.org/our-staff.htm...
She is a staff member of Project Vote! It is an ACORN affiliate who refers to ACORN as its "field partner" according to its website. They share the same office in Washington DC nonetheless. Project Vote runs all aspects of ACORN's voter registration program except for the field work.
Mr. November--This would explain why she gets the fancy lawyer while the other guy has the public defender.
This organization is at its very core deceitful.
lovelyrita sez: "It is interesting that ACORN claims Busefink is a "former employee" who "sought employment elsewhere" after the program was over.
Is anyone curious where she sought employment? This link will point you in the right direction.
http://www.projectvote.org/our-staff.htm...
--
Er, only problem is that your link says that Amy Busefink joined Project Vote in 2006, so I guess you're going to claim that Amy Busefink traveled back in time to the year 2006 after leaving ACORN in 2009?
lovelyrita sez: "This organization is at its very core deceitful."
Yeah, and your core is just fine.
ACORN and Project Vote staff are interchangeable and are often one in the same. The website is updated frequently, and she is definitely still a staff member at Project Vote. I have it on good, first hand knowledge.
My core is just fine now that I am no longer employed by ACORN.
lol
So, just to take the pulse of the thread here,
some people are in fact totally ok with voter registration fraud and the fact that corporate officers along with the regional director knew about the bonus program and the potential incentive for workers to generate fraudulent registrations.
Wow, si se puede huh?
That's not a very accurate pulse, henderson. I don't know of anybody who is "in fact totally ok" with the situation.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Conrad Hafen (a Democrat by the way) is alleging that the office paid the workers a $5 bonus if the worker turned in more than 20 registration forms that day (ie 21 = "blackjack").
Lawmakers determined that with regard to voter registration drives, it's a bad idea to peg pay to volume and performance because it can increase the amount of bogus registration forms turned in, so they outlawed it.
The wheels of justice are in motion, henderson. If they broke the law they should be punished.
I commented on this thread because when it was first published, the headline and the article stated that the allegation was "voter fraud" instead of alleged "registration fraud." If you read the complaint filed by Chief Deputy Attorney General Hafen you can see that there's no allegation of voter fraud whatsoever.
Unfortunate course of events. I wish it were as easy to track when individuals were discouraged/disinformed from voting. No fraud is good fraud! Do we seek out certain types because they are easier or because the don't meet a specific political agenda or are we doing it out of a true concern for justice?
jsayler@twitter.com