There have been various incidents over the past few years of anonymous flyers being sent to voters giving them the wrong date of an upcoming election. These cause great concern (as they should), but as Soren Dayton at RedState points out, usually Republicans are accused of engaging in these types of tactics with no evidence whatsoever that any Republican candidate had anything to do with it.
There is now actual video of a new Virginia Democratic Congressman, Gerry Connolly, recommending that Republicans be given the wrong date of the special county commission election being held on February 3 in Fairfax County, Virginia. Connolly was the Chairman of the Fairfax County Commission and resigned that post to run for the seat of retiring Republican Congressman Tom Davis.
There seems to be a deafening silence in the media and on the political left over this blatant attempt to suppress the turnout of Republican voters. And where is the Civil Rights Division of the new Obama Justice Department? Are they investigating the Congressman? If he was from a different political party, would the DOJ lawyers have already visited him to interview him about his actions?
Some might dismiss this as Congressman Connolly just joking around at this meeting. But if you watch the clip carefully, you will note that he says that this is going to be a low turnout election, and that it is important that the audience of Democratic activists make sure that it is Democrats that turn out to vote and not Republicans—a statement that suggests an intent not only to increase Democratic votes, but to suppress Republican voters. In any event, Justice Department lawyers have exhibited about as much of a sense of humor about these kinds of “jokes” as TSA agents confronted with jokes about bombs in airports.
Connolly should be embarrassed and ashamed that he engaged in this type of behavior. He should be subject to both a criminal investigation by Justice as well as an ethics investigation by the House. One would think that someone who has been a public official for as long as he has would understand the importance of our democratic process and his responsibility to help ensure that all Americans have an equal opportunity to participate in our elections.
