Pate’s admission exposes RPI directive forbidding the checking of ID at the caucuses as baseless.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate issued a statement, given big play in the media as he hoped it would be, chastising the Cruz campaign by name for an isolated but nevertheless regrettable ”vote shaming” campaign flier (more on that later in this post). To Pate’s discredit he did so while never mentioning that the GOP, Democrats and unions make it a practice to do virtually the same thing (see examples below). That omission, and his Republican establishment persona combine to make his full purposes suspect. But what we found most compelling about his statement set forth below is the admission about his office’s roll in the caucuses (set forth in bold by us). We will respond (especially with pictures) to the issue of the pointedness of his comments about vote shaming after the following commentary:
DES MOINES – “Today I was shown a piece of literature from the Cruz for President campaign that misrepresents the role of my office, and worse, misrepresents Iowa election law. Accusing citizens of Iowa of a “voting violation” based on Iowa Caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act. There is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency of voting. Any insinuation or statement to the contrary is wrong and I believe it is not in keeping in the spirit of the Iowa Caucuses.
Additionally, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office never “grades” voters. Nor does the Secretary of State maintain records related to Iowa Caucus participation. Caucuses are organized and directed by the state political parties, not the Secretary of State, nor local elections officials. Also, the Iowa Secretary of State does not “distribute” voter records. They are available for purchase for political purposes only, under Iowa Code.” – Paul D. Pate, Iowa Secretary of State
Now reflect on the Republican Party of Iowa (RPI) directive to caucus organizers exposed in our post of two days ago: The Undocumented Iowa Republican Caucuses – No Voter ID required
The RPI operatives imply that the RPI’s hands are tide as regards requiring or even authorizing, indeed they are compelled to forbid the checking of ID for any purpose because organizers are not “agents of the Secretary of State.” We believe the truth is that some RPI overseers, those not thoroughly bamboozled, do not want to check ID because of a lack of commitment to the RPI State Platform and a most pathetic of political correctness inhibitions.
Clearly, unless Paul Pate is lying in the statement about who directs the caucuses, the reasonable securing of the integrity of a political party’s own meeting is not forbidden by his office.
Vote shaming is icky no matter who does it
And now about the “vote shaming” matter and Pate’s selective barbs. We don’t like “vote shaming” no matter who does it and have castigated it in these pages in 2014 and before.
The Cruz piece is un-directed, it has no persuasive content as part of it, at least that we can see from the visuals circulated. While not having one in our possession, because the format is that of the ubiquitous oversize card stock broadsides filling our mailboxes, it does not appear to posses Cruz related persuasion, only a clumsy, useless, irritating admonition to vote because you are being watched — effectively like the standard GOP get out the vote efforts of late.
Below are depicted the two sides of the “vote shaming” flier Cruz distributed to a very limited extent. Below the pictures of the front and back to the flier you will find examples of what the GOP, Democrats and unions have done. Liberal news outlets, while gleefully reciting Paul Pate’s criticism, do not show the GOP Democrat and union precedents.
The above and below pictures show the two sides of the Cruz campaign piece, note that it does not contain Cruz persuasion material at all. The entirety of the mailing address side with actual postal indicia is inside the blue frame which borders the edges. Note that it is done so as to appear that the report card is coming out of a manila envelope. The backside appears to be the other side of the manila envelope. Everything is photographically suggested. The indicia on the side below is just simulation. There is no envelope it is just another large broadside.
Below are two different get out the vote pieces from the GOP
Below are two “we know who you are ” vote shaming pieces from labor union operations.
