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Notorious GOP operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, known for their roles in a slew of outrageous political schemes, were each charged with four felonies on Thursday by Michigans attorney general for allegedly orchestrating a large-scale robocall campaign aimed at suppressing the minority vote ahead of the 2020 election.

Jack Burkman, a conservative lobbyist and conspiracy theorist.

According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessels office, Burkman and Wohl created and funded a false robocall discouraging mail-in voting that targeted Detroit and other urban areas.

These calls, made in late August to nearly 12,000 Detroit residents, may have also reached New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, the attorney general said, noting residents of those states in areas with significant minority populations reported receiving similar calls.

Burkman, 54, and Wohl, 22, who are both from out of state, were each charged with four felonies for intimidating voters, conspiracy to commit an election law violation, using a computer to commit an election law crime and using a computer to commit a conspiracy crime.

They each face a maximum sentence of 24 years in prison.

Neither Wohl nor Burkman could be immediately reached by Forbes.

Any effort to interfere with, intimidate or intentionally mislead Michigan voters will be met with swift and severe consequences, said Nessel. This effort specifically targeted minority voters in an attempt to deter them from voting in the November election.

Wohl, a conservative social media personality, recently booted from Facebook and Instagram, has joined conspiracy theorist and conservative lobbyist Jack Burkman in numerous outrageous plots in the past. Most well-known are the duos attempted smear campaigns against rivals of President Trump, including the fabrication of sexual misconduct allegations against Robert Mueller, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Wohl was previously charged with a felony for unlawfully selling securities in California for which he pleaded not guilty in February. The settlement hearing, originally set for April, was rescheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Republican Operatives Jacob Wohl And Jack Burkman Charged With Felonies In Voter Suppression Scheme - Forbes

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is heading to Grand Rapids on Friday, making a play for voters in a traditionally Republican county that has become more blue in recent elections.

President Donald Trump won Kent County in 2016 when he became the first Republican to flip Michigan in nearly three decades. Four years later, its among the top targets for Democrats emboldened by their success in recent elections.

Going to West Michigan, and Kent County in particular, is their attempt to put their foot on Trumps throat, said John Sellek, a veteran GOP strategist. If they really tamp down Trumps ability to hold on there and pick up votes, it becomes very hard ... for Trump to win Michigan.

Trump flipped Michigan by 10,704 votes, the narrowest margin of any state in 2016 and the closest result in Michigans history. He earned the fewest Kent County votes of any Republican presidential candidate since 1996.

The city of Grand Rapids leans Democrat like most urban communities, but the surrounding county is undergoing a political shift that could decide the 2020 election in Michigan.

The population of Kent County rapidly grew in the last decade while becoming more diverse, younger and better educated, all factors that generally correlate with more Democratic votes.

Kent County voters went on to support Democrats in Senate and gubernatorial races two years after Trump took office. Democrats picked up two seats on the county board of commissioners in 2018, and state Sen. Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, flipped a formerly Republican district covering suburban communities.

Kent County is going south for the GOP in a hurry, broadly speaking, said Adrian Hemond, a Democratic consultant and CEO of Grassroots Midwest. There are still some rural and ex-urban parts of the county there that are pretty ruby red, but the places where people live are getting more and more Democratic by the year.

If the results in suburban Kent County look like the 2018 results, then the president has lost Michigan.

David Dulio, professor of political science at Oakland University, said Kent County is undergoing similar demographic changes that transformed Oakland County, another battleground in Southeast Michigan.

Kent County grew by 9% from 2010-19, twice the rate of Oakland over the same period. The county has a smaller percentage of college-educated and non-white residents, but thats changing.

Sellek pointed to East Grand Rapids and Kentwood to show how Republican votes are being squeezed from two sides."

In East Grand Rapids, the population is largely white and affluent, with 79% of residents having a bachelors degree or higher education. Kentwood is significantly more racially diverse than the rest of the county, partly due to a growing immigrant population.

Stark said theres been a surge in political activism and grassroots organizing, which paid off for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2018 and will help candidates up and down the ticket in 2020.

When you look past the obvious things about West Michigan is supposedly conservative and religious, in the last five years that is less true than it has been in the past, said Kent County Democratic Party Chair Gary Stark. We feel that the demographics and the politics here are all moving left in favor of the Democrats.

Stark said the county party has distributed literature to 15,000 homes. Organizers arent personally canvassing voters, but have been active in phone banks and dropping off campaign materials on voters' doorsteps.

Sellek managed Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign in Michigan and now runs Harbor Strategic Public Affairs. He also compared Kent and Oakland counties, but said the change in West Michigan has been slower.

Its still a bastion of Republican voters, Sellek said. The GOP still has a very strong position there, it has a long tradition and history of voting Republican. The local Republican parties, especially in Kent and Ottawa are very well organized and well funded.

Republicans are unified around Michigan 3rd District candidate Peter Meijer, who is vying to replace U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, I-Cascade Township. Amash left the Republican Party in part because of his disapproval of Trump, and isnt seeking reelection.

One of the biggest questions for the area, and Michigan generally, is which candidate can pick up voters who rejected Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Nearly 7% of the vote in Kent County went to third-party candidates in 2016. Only 1.25% of voters in the county supported a third-party candidate four years earlier.

Holy smokes, Dulio said when he looked up the figures during an interview. Thats pretty significant."

Sellek said the 2016 vote was a combination of anti-Trump and anti-Clinton sentiment, but the presidents rough personality probably doesnt endear him to conservative voters who embody the West Michigan nice personality.

Whats appealing about Joe Biden to a lot of people is just his basic decency, that he comes across as a likable guy that actually has the ability to care about or understand what youre going through, Biden said. When he showed that in the debate those were his best moments.

Linda Trout, a 67-year-old retired teacher, considers herself an independent, but would vote for anyone besides Donald Trump. She said Biden signs are all over neighborhoods in East Grand Rapids, where she used to teach.

I mean hes a horrifying human being, Trout said of Trump. I am totally in Joe Bidens camp. Theres just no contest on character.

Dulio said Bidens Grand Rapids visit is likely focused on energizing Democrats in the city and surrounding suburbs.

I think its smart, because Democrats in West Michigan didnt see the candidate until the final weekend last time, and that was a mistake," Dulio said.

Clinton held two campaign visits in West Michigan four years ago. She held an August rally in Grand Rapids and another rally at Grand Valley State University in suburban Grand Rapids the night before the 2016 election.

Trump also held a Grand Rapids rally on the eve of the 2016 election. He returned to the city last year for his first Michigan campaign rally in 2019.

Biden sent his wife Jill Biden to Grand Rapids on Sept. 15, but it wasnt a very prominent campaign stop. She toured a farm on the outskirts of the city and didnt invite the public to attend.

Trumps campaign has held a series of well-attended rallies across the state. Dulio said its only a matter of time before Trump returns to West Michigan.

Meanwhile, Stark said Democrats are eager to hear from Biden with only a few weeks left until the election.

The fact that hes coming here right after the debates is a really good sign," Stark said. Theyre paying attention to Michigan they know how important it is, they know how important this part of the state is. People learned some things in 2016. Democrats are not going to make the same mistake."

READ MORE ON MLIVE:

Trump administration officials swarm Michigan ahead of 2020 election

Joe Biden to visit Grand Rapids Friday

Whitmer, Democratic governors denounce attacks on election integrity

Trump and Biden clash in worst presidential debate in history

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Joe Bidens Grand Rapids visit targets former Republican stronghold - MLive.com

As a disillusioned Republican, I have written Letters to the Editors before that were never published. I have now been told that Letters to the Editors should be limited to 350 words.

With this in mind, let me cover last week alone. Donald Trump announces to the electorate that on Nov. 3, 2020, they need to go down and vote a second time. This is called election fraud and is a felony criminal offense.

Referring to a trip to Bella Wood, Trump said that the American troops that lost their lives in that battle were losers and suckers. In my opinion, Bella Wood is sacred ground. Anybody that avoided their military obligation with a never documented bone spur is dishonorable slime.

Donald Trumps campaign manager met with Russian Intelligence and they were given internal polling. If this does not meet the definition of treason, then I do not know what would.

Donald Trump previously indicated that he was going to nominate Ted Cruz for the recent vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. Months ago, Trump accused Senator Ted Cruzs father of being involved in the Kennedy assassination. The Republican Party makes no comment. I have concluded the Republican Party (in particular the Tennessee Delegation of Lamar Alexander, Marsha Blackburn, Chuck Fleischmann and Scott Desjarlais) has no shame.

So when my old friends come up and ask me what has happened to the Republican Party, the only response I have is that Trump is dismantling the Republican Party, and it is being damaged far more than at Watergate and will take longer to repair.

Graham Swafford

South Pittsburg

* * *

Mr. Swafford, I wont comment about locals you say expressed concern over the Republican Party, but I will give a reason why the party is changing.

Many of the these Republicans now endorsing Joe Biden were governors, members of Congress or at some level of party leadership. These RINOS are registered lobbyists or board members of corporations doing big business with Chinese corporations because they are among the biggest players right now. The latest of these is Marc Racicot who is hardly a household name. He is the former governor of Montana and former chairman of the RNC. He is now a lobbyist.

You ask whats happening to the Republican Party? These people who once identified as Republicans have left apparently to endorse Joe Biden. The question you should ask is why do a group of inside the beltway, high roller lobbyists and former generals choose Joe Biden over Donald Trump?

Before the virus from China, Trump was in a standoff with China over the disparity of trade which gave China a great advantage over American businesses and workers. Its no coincidence these RINOS dont want to see Trump empowered with a win over Joe Biden. After all its Joe Biden who has stated China is no threat to America.

Thats why the Republican Party has changed.

Ralph Miller

* * *

Let me respond in sequence of the original letter.

1. It is not election fraud to request to do a provisional ballot. When you mail (in other states allow other methods of collection) your ballot, improvements starting with this election allows for verification of your request, the mailing (to you) of your ballot and the receipt of the returned ballot. But what you never can know is if the ballot is verified and accepted to be counted. Response was that signature, witness and any other checks they do to verify and accept the ballot is not done until opening of the polls on election day. I have not found anywhere the statistics on rejected ballots locally, but with 20 percent plus rejection rates documented in several locations I may decide not to take the chance of my vote being rejected and go to the polls to ask for a provisional ballot if I want to make sure my vote counts. That is what Trump said, but not that detailed, because he knows to the haters, nothing he says will be accepted.

2. You obviously never served in the Marines. You would have never made it through my boot camp thinking that Ringling Brothers Circus performer (Bella) was a WW1 battle. It is Belleau Wood. You believe a so called journalist, who has previously been shown to falsify sources, when he says an anonymous source said Trump did not want to go and said the losers and suckers crap. But dozens of people who were actually there are on the record says it never happened. But losers and suckers believe anything.

3. The same anonymous source (or the reporter if he made up the source) said Trump did not want to go to the first cemetery (contradicted on the record by the people actually there) because he did not want to get his hair wet. But the very next day, he stool in the rain for over 1 hours at the second scheduled cemetery. But losers and suckers believe anything.

4. The bone spur was documented. That is how the deferral was made. You must not have gone or ever known anyone who went to an induction center for processing. They do not give you a deferral by you just saying I have a bone spur. For anyone around and eligible for the draft back then, there were thousands of people who tried to find ways out of being drafted. There were documented cases of boys dropping weights on their foot to try to develop flat feet for the deferral. I enlisted in the Marines to not be drafted as cannon fodder in the Army in later days of Vietnam. Bill Clinton lied to a U.S. senator to manipulate him into intervening and getting that dishonorable slime his deferral. And of course there were those who went to Canada. I dont know the validity of Trumps medical deferment, and neither do you. But hatred does not need actual information.

5. I agree: You dont know the definition of treason. Lets see if you think this is treason:

a. Conspire and pay to produce a false document as add to an insurance policy to aid in a conspiracy to sabotage the legally elected government of the United States.

b. Conspire to cause a false investigation of Russian Collusion", as in recent documents unclassified.

c. Destroy and or wipe clean government property (phones, etc.) to keep records from being obtained by investigators. Multiple times. Multiple methods. Remember the hammers used?

d. Bugging/tapping (whatever term you want to use) a presidential campaign and beyond that a serving President. Remember that the warrant obtained from the FISA court with known false documentation and statements, such as the dossier (brought by Hillary and the DNC), did not just allow Carter Page to be bugged, but also anyone he communicated with (i.e. Manafort) and any that person communicated with (i.e. Trump).

e. Illegally changing document submitted to FISA court.

These are all things the Democrat party engaged in with Hillary and corrupt Washington (the swamp) government employees, such as Comeys FBI circle of corruption (Strzok, Page, Clinesmith, Wiseman, etc.) and others Brennan, Clapper, etc. And recent evidence unclassified shows both Biden and Obama were involved. Unfortunately, these do not meet the legal definition of treason, but they should. The question is why they will never be held to account for any of the crimes. As for an internal poll being shared with anyone, it is not a government document and can be shared by whoever owns the data.

6. What was said by professional politicians has always been crap. Trump trying to fit in that slimy world and with his New York City upbringing, did not surprise me when he repeated a vague story that had been circulated for years with no one taking it serious. Trump did not accuse if you actually look at what was said, but why bother to be accurate.

Personally, I do not really care if either the Democrat or Republican parties are harmed. The two of them have cooperated to prevent any chance of another political party. While there is nothing in the Constitution for political parties and George Washington said permanent political parties will be the death of the republic, the duopoly or Democrat/Republicans have done everything they can to cause an unethical situation. Why dont Independents, Libertarians, Green Party members, etc. have any representation in Federal Election Commission, Federal Debate Commission, etc. You dont count unless you are either a Democrat or Republican. If you dont like the current environment where it is a us versus them ,each side with hatred and despising each other, you can thank the professional politicians and other swamp creatures. Trump is the result of this, not the cause.

I did not vote for Trump in 2016, but the corruption shown by the Democrats in the conspiracy to take down Trump has convinced me to support him this time, even though I would rather have someone with a different personality. But I dont vote for personality, I vote for actions. Biden has had actions in the last 47 years in the professional politician slime bath, but I just cant find many that are good (or true in his case). And his so-called plans are disaster waiting to happen for the country.

Jim Hill

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Trump Is Dismantling The Republican Party - And Response (2) - The Chattanoogan

During the first presidential debate, Donald Trump wasasked by moderator Chris Wallaceif he would urge his followers to remain calm during a prolonged vote-counting period after the election, if the winner were unclear.

I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully because that is what has to happen, I am urging them to do it, Trump said. I hope its going to be a fair election, and if its a fair election, I am 100 percent on board, but if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I cant go along with that.

Thiswasnt the first time Trumphas said he wants to recruit poll watchers to monitor the vote. Andto some, the image of thousands of Trump supporters crowding into polling places to monitor voters looks like voter intimidation, a practice long used in the U.S. by political parties to suppress one sides vote and affect an elections outcome.

In thehistory of voter suppressionin the U.S. including attempts to stopBlackandLatino peoplefrom voting Republican tactics in the 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial race are worth highlighting. That incident sparked a court order a consent decree forbidding the GOP from using a variety of voter intimidation methods, including armed poll watchers.

The 2020 presidential election will be the first in nearly 40 years conducted without the protections afforded by that decree.

In November 1981, voters in several cities saw posters at polling places printed in bright red letters. WARNING, they read. This area is being patrolled bythe National Ballot Security Task Force.

And voters soon encountered the patrols themselves. About 200 were deployed statewide, many of them uniformed and carrying guns.

In Trenton, patrol members asked a Black voter for her registration card and turned her away when she didnt produce it. Latino voters were similarly prevented from voting in Vineland, while in Newark some voters were physically chased from the polls by patrolmen, one of whom warned a poll worker not to stay at her post after dark. Similar scenes played out in at least two other cities, Camden and Atlantic City.

Weeks later, after a recount, RepublicanThomas Keanwon the election by fewer than 1,800 votes.

Democrats, however, soon won a significant victory. With local civil rights activists, they discovered that the ballot security operation was a joint project of the state and national Republican committees. They filed suit in December 1981,charging Republicans with efforts to intimidate, threaten and coerceduly qualified black and Hispanic voters.

In November 1982, the case was settled when theRepublican committees signed a federal consent decree a court order applicable to activities anywhere in the U.S. agreeing not to use race in selecting targets for ballot security activities and to refrain from deploying armed poll watchers.

That orderexpired in 2018after Democrats failed to convince a judge to renew it.

Asa professorwho teaches andwritesabout New Jersey history, Im alarmed by the expiration because I know that Republicans in 1981 relied not only on armed poll watchers but also on a history of white vigilantism and intimidation in the Garden State. These issuesresonatetoday in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement and continued GOP attempts tosuppress the 2020 votein numerous states.

Considered an early referendum on Ronald Reagans presidency, New Jerseys 1981 gubernatorial race held special meaning for Republicans nationwide. Kean withcampaign manager Roger Stoneat the helm promised corporate tax cuts and relied heavily on Reagans endorsement.

To secure victory, state and national Republican party officials devised a project they claimed would prevent Democratic cheating at the polls.

In the summer of 1981, the Republican National Committee sent an operative named John A. Kelly to New Jersey to run the ballot security effort. Kelly had first been hired by the Republican National Committee in 1980 to work in the Reagan campaign, and he served as one of theRNCs liaisons to the Reagan White House.

Later, after he was revealed as the organizer of the National Ballot Security Task Force and after The New York Times discovered that he hadlied about graduating from Notre Dame and had been arrested for impersonating a police officer Republicans distanced themselves from him.

In August 1981, under the guise of the National Ballot Security Task Force, Kelly sent about 200,000 letters marked return to sender to voters in heavily Black and Latino districts. Those whose letters were returned had their names added to a list of voters to be challenged at the polls on Election Day, a tactic known asvoter caging.

In the Newark area, Kelly produced a list of 20,000 voters whom he deemed potentially fraudulent. He then hired local operatives to organize patrols, ostensibly to keep such fraud at bay. To run the Newark operation, he hired Anthony Imperiale.

Imperiale, in turn, hired off-duty police officers and employees of his private business, the Imperiale Security Police, to patrol voting sites in the city.

The gun-toting, barrel-chested former Marine had first adopted the security role duringNewarks 1967 uprising five days of protests and a deadly occupation of the city by police and the National Guard following the police beating of a Black cab driver. During the uprising, Imperiale organized patrols of his predominantly white neighborhood to keep the riots out.

Soon, Imperiale became a hero of white backlash politics. Hisopposition to police reformearned him widespread support from law enforcement. And hisfight against Black housing developmentin Newarks North Ward delighted many of his neighbors. By the end of the 1970s, Hollywood wasmaking a moviebased on his activities.

After serving as an independent in both houses of the state legislature,Imperiale became a Republican in 1979. Two years later, he campaigned with Kean. Once in office, the new governor named Imperiale director of a new one-man state Office of Community Safety an appointment often interpreted as reward for Imperiales leadership of the ballot efforts in Newark, but stymied whenDemocrats refused to fund the position.

Despite Keans slim margin of victory, Democrats at the time were careful not to claim that Republican voter suppression efforts had decided the election. (In 2016, the formerDemocratic candidate claimed they did indeed make the difference.)

Rather, the state and national Democratic committees brought suit against the Republican National Committee to ensure it couldnt again use such methods anywhere. For nearly 40 years throughamendmentsandchallenges the resulting consent decreehelped curtailvoter suppression tactics.

Since the decrees expiration in 2018, Republicans have ramped up theirrecruitment of poll watchersfor the 2020 presidential election. Last November, Trump campaign lawyer Justin Clark calling the decrees absence a huge, huge, huge, huge deal for the party promised a larger, better-funded and more aggressive program of Election Day operations.

The Trump campaign is claiming, as Republicans did in 1981, that Democrats will be up to their old dirty tricks and has vowed to cover every polling place in the country with workers to ensure an honest election and reelect the president.

This November, Republican tactics in 1981 are worth remembering. They demonstrate that the safeguarding of polling places from supposedly fraudulent voters and of public places from Black bodies share not only a logic. They also share a history.

Mark Krasovic is an associate professor of history and American studies at Rutgers University Newark. This was first published by The Conversation Trumps encouragement of GOP ballot watchers echoes an old tactic of voterintimidation.

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Trump wants poll watchers -- This is what happened after New Jersey Republicans used them to intimidate voters in 1981 - MarketWatch

Republican candidates in Kansas and Missouri are breaking with tradition and refusing to appear at public forums or to talk to editorial boards.

Weve been hosting these candidate forums since 2012 and weve never had a situation where weve had a wave of candidates drop out like this, Jay Senter, publisher of the Shawnee Mission Post, told KCUR.

So far five legislative candidates have backed out of Post forums. The latest happened Wednesday night when Kellie Warren, who is running in state Senate District 11 in Overland Park, bailed in an email to the Post.

"Voters in my District are hearing from me at their doors, on their driveways, in their mailbox, and when they email, text, or call me with questions," Warren wrote.

The other four Republicans who initially agreed to appear at Post forums and then reversed course are: Jane Dirks running in House District 20 in Overland Park and Leawood, Kristine Sapp House District 17 in Shawnee, Laura Williams in House District 30 in Olathe and Lenexa, and Senator. Mike Thompson in Senate District 10 which takes in parts of Overland Park, Shawnee and Bonner Springs.

Newly elected Johnson County Republican Chair, Fabian Shepard, said he understands all of these cancellations.

"Many of the GOP candidates believe their district constituents are better served and informed through face to face meetings and doorstep conversations," he said in a statement to KCUR.

But, it's not just the Post having trouble getting candidates to talk.

"We're encountering some of the same challenges," Kansas City Star editorial page editor, Colleen Nelson, said.

She wouldn't say who is refusing to appear but she remains hopeful.

Nelson added, "We're still sending out interview invitations and having conversations with candidates."

While Nelson is hopeful Washburn University political science professor Bob Beatty said this is a different type of election.

"We're seeing what we call a base election, especially on the Republican side. That means the GOP is really only interested in turning out what he calls its most "fervent voter," he said.

So expect many Republicans to campaign door-to-door, with direct mail, and with radio and TV ads.

Beatty offered an explanation, saying "Their message can get muddied when they sit there taking questions from editorial boards and debate moderators."

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Republicans Are Bailing On Candidate Forums And Other Campaign Appearances - KCUR