Americans For Prosperity’s Troubling Record On Voting Rights And Voter Registration

Americans For Prosperity’s Troubling Record On Voting Rights And Voter Registration

2014: Americans for Prosperity Mailed Incorrect Information to North Carolina Voters

Americans for Prosperity Mailed Incorrect Voter Registration Information to Hundreds of Voters In North Carolina.  According to The News  & Observer:   “Hundreds of North Carolinians – and one cat – have received incorrect voter registration information, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections.  The information – an “official application form” – was sent by Americans for Prosperity, a national conservative group with a state chapter based in Raleigh.”  [News & Observer, 9/25/14] AFP Under Investigation By North Carolina State Board Of Elections For Inaccurate Mailers. According to MSNBC, “A Koch brothers group is being investigated for sending mailers with incorrect information about how to register to vote to hundreds of North Carolina voters—and one cat. Joshua Lawson, a spokesman for the state board of elections, said his office opened the probe Monday after receiving a formal sworn complaint from the state Democratic Party about the mailers, which were sent recently by American for Prosperity (AFP). Lawson said state law requires the board to open an investigation if it receives a sworn complaint.” [MSNBC.com, 9/29/14] This Is Not AFP’s First Time Sending Out Inaccurate Voting Information.  According to MSNBC, “AFP has said the mailers were an honest mistake, not an effort to mislead voters. But this isn’t the first time that the group, which came to prominence as part of the tea party movement, has sent out inaccurate voting information. And it’s also been involved in organized efforts to make voting harder.” [MSNBC.com, 9/29/14] 

Ben Carson’s Greatest Hits

Carson: “Obamacare Is Really I Think The Worst Thing That Has Happened In This Nation Since Slavery. And It Is In A Way, It Is Slavery In A Way, Because It Is Making All Of Us Subservient To The Government.” According to the Washington Post, “Dr. Ben Carson, a rising star in conservative circles, on Friday compared President Obama’s health-care law to slavery. ‘You know Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery,’ Carson, who is African American, said Friday in remarks at the Values Voter Summit in Washington. ‘And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about health care. It was about control.’” [Washington Post, 10/11/13]

• Carson Said Obama Was “The Worst Thing Since Slavery,” Including Jim Crow. According to Biz Pac Review, “‘I realize how horrible it was … I didn’t say this is ‘as bad’ as slavery, I said this is the worst thing since slavery.’ ‘Which includes Jim Crow,’ Martin interrupted. ‘Yes, absolutely,’ Carson answered. ‘This nation was founded on the principle that it would be a new type of nation, that was for, of, and by the people.’” [Biz Pac Review, 10/21/13]

Carson Called Cliven Bundy And Militia Members “Outstanding People.” In a Washington Times interview, Ben Carson said, “These citizens, for America, who really are pretty outstanding people, they become terrorists because you don’t like the fact that they are standing in your way, doing what they have been doing for over a hundred years.” [Washington Times Interview, 4/23/14] Carson: “Kids Who Are Born Into Poverty, And Will Live In Poverty, And In Many Cases Will End Up Without A Father Figure In Their Life, And Don’t Know How To Respond To Authority, And End Up Being Killed, You Know, Like Michael Brown.” In a Washington Times radio interview, Carson said, “You look at teen pregnancy in Washington D.C., Detroit, and Philadelphia, and all of those kids who are born into poverty, and will live in poverty, and in many cases will end up without a father figure in their life, and don’t know how to respond to authority, and end up being killed, you know, like Michael Brown.” [Ben Carson Radio Interview – Washington Times, 8/21/14] Carson: “I Will Be Glad When There Isn’t Any Black History Month.” According to the Washington Times, “‘I will be glad when there isn’t any Black History Month,’ he says. ‘Each of us should be interested in each other’s history.’ Another hot-button issue Dr. Carson addresses is affirmative action, which he says was necessary at one time but has now become divisive. He proposes ‘compassionate action,’ an alternative to affirmative action that’s based on need, not race.” [Washington Times, 2/17/99]

BREAKING VIDEO: Dan Sullivan Returns Home Sweet Home To Ohio

Northeast Ohio native Dan Sullivan skipped a forum in Anchorage yesterday that was attended by Mark Begich and Libertarian Mark Fish. Why would Sullivan skip a candidate forum so late in the election? Turns out, he was just feeling a little homesick. While the other Alaska senate candidates were answering questions about Alaska, Dan Sullivan was prepping for his big homecoming, a secret fundraising trip to Cleveland. Sullivan continues to raise more money from Ohio donors than from any other state, including hefty sums from his wealthy family and friends.

Misery Loves Company

Chris Christie is coming to Wisconsin today to campaign for Scott Walker, and the two have much in common. Both governors were once considered Republican frontrunners for 2016, but have since been tainted by ongoing investigations and a record of fiscal failures. A new business survey released last week showed that Wisconsin and New Jersey rank pathetically as the 46th and 47th best states for businesses. The pair of governors present themselves as business-friendly policymakers, but the facts show otherwise. Moreover, each faces looming budget shortfalls thanks to budget overhauls that gave tax cuts to the wealthy while gutting education. Christie has presided over an astonishing eight credit downgrades in his tenure in the Garden State, while Walker's Wisconsin is last in the Midwest in job growth. Walker is now statistically tied with his challenger in a race he hoped would only be a formality on his path to running for President in 2016, while Christie is struggling to remain relevant on the national stage. Scott Walker and Chris Christie are long on topics for commiseration, and short on good ideas for their constituents.

Corroding the Classroom: Republican Gubernatorial Candidates' Devastating Cuts to Education

In key gubernatorial races across the country, education funding has become a major issue -- and that's bad news for Republicans.

In 2010, a slew of GOP candidates rode a tea party wave to governorships, promising massive budget overhauls that would hand tax cuts to the wealthy and cut other programs to pay for them. Well they delivered on those promises, and one after the next gutted education funding as they reshaped their states in the tea party mold. Now they're reaping what they've sown.

From Rick Scott and Scott Walker to Sam Brownback, Tom Corbett and more, Republican governors are getting slammed for slashing funds for schools, dealing a blow to their respective reelection bids, while prospective governors like Doug Ducey have promised to do the same. Locked in tight races, these Tea Party governors are floundering to explain their draconian cuts to concerned constituents by twisting numbers and distorting their records.

But there is no explaining away the truth: these governors put tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations ahead of children's education, and families in their states are paying the price.

Shady Rick, Part Infinity: Donor Intimidation (VIDEO)

Shady Rick Scott and the Republican Party of Florida continue to show that there is simply no length they won't go to in order to win this election. For the past week, Scott and the Florida GOP have been subject to ridicule and disgust over a pants-on-fire that ran thousands of times across the state, and neither Scott nor the state party would disavow it.

Hello Ernst and Ryan; Goodbye Social Security and Medicare

Joni Ernst is in serious trouble in her Iowa senate race. Paul Ryan really wants to be president. So when Ryan comes to Iowa to campaign for Ernst tomorrow, everybody's a winner! Except Iowans. Paul Ryan pioneered plans to privatize Social Security and slash Medicare, and Joni Ernst was his number one cheerleader. Ernst said "Ryan is a do-er, especially on budget issues," and she gleefully voted to endorse his budget in the Iowa Senate. She's voiced her support for privatizing Social Security on the campaign while refusing to offer any details, and claimed that Medicaid recipients "have no personal responsibility for their health," another program that would be gutted by Ryan's budgets. Joni Ernst is a fringe candidate, and it shows in the company she keeps and the people she admires. She's thanked the Koch brothers for "starting her trajectory." She said she was flattered to be compared to Sarah Palin because Palin is the kind of politician she admires. She appeared with Ted Cruz, who said there was no candidate he was more excited about across the country than Ernst. And now she's campaigning with anti-retirement crusader, Paul Ryan, who she calls a "do-er." Joni Ernst doesn't want Iowans to believe that she's extreme. But facts are facts. Ernst and Ryan want to privatize Social Security and roll back Medicare. That's pretty extreme.

Are Those Palm Trees in Iowa, Joni?

Yesterday, right in the middle of prime campaign season with just 42 days to go until Election Day, Joni Ernst took a break from her usual rough and tumble schedule of pandering to the Koch brothers to pander instead to some wealthy donors in....sunny Florida. American Bridge was there to document Ernst's fun in the Sunshine State, including her arrival and departure in a fancy chauffeured SUV and cracking jokes with her wealthy new Floridian friends. How positively, um, Iowan, of her. Watch Ernst's trip to the Sunshine State here:

NEW VIDEO: Rick Scott's Swindle

It takes a lot for Shady Rick Scott's ethical lapses to make headlines at this point. Why he's set the bar very high for himself with scores of unsavory scandals, attempts to mislead, and even flat out lies. But he's outdone himself this time. Around $2 million has been thrown behind an aggressive attack ad featuring a mysterious man, who Rick Scott and the Republican Party of Florida refused to identify, claiming that Charlie Crist and Scott Rothstein swindled him out of all his money. But the man's identity was finally tracked down by the Miami Herald, and surprise surprise, the ad is incredibly misleading.

Shot/Chaser: Chris Christie Puts Politics Before Governing

Chris Christie may be governor of New Jersey, but governing New Jersey doesn't always seem to be his priority. No,…