Gerlach Needs to Get His Facts Correct

Congressman Jim Gerlach's campaign staff issued a stupid press release yesterday. Really moronic. If they'd checked their sources and gotten the facts they wouldn't have such egg on their faces today. Here is their press release:

VOTER FRAUD AND AMNESTY TOP THE LEFTIST A.C.O.R.N. AGENDA - 6/8/2006

For Immediate Release

June 7, 2006

Contact: Mark Campbell

484-886-1578

VOTER FRAUD AND AMNESTY TOP THE LEFTIST A.C.O.R.N. AGENDA

Lois Murphy's Endless 691 Day "Listening Tour" Takes Detour South of Rio Grande

(Glenmoore, PA) - It is becoming clearer by the day which leftist groups are now pulling the strings of two-time and full-time candidate Lois Murphy. With her recent endorsement by ACORN, a group that came under fire two years ago for "flagrant attempts at voter registration fraud" in Berks County,[1] Lois Murphy said in a recent press release she was "honored" to be endorsed by ACORN and "they have fought for many of the same critical issues that I will fight for as a member of Congress (www.loismurphy.org)."

Oh, really? According to the ACORN website, ACORN organized national illegal immigrant rallies this past April and May, is actively engaged in a campaign to improve the sending of US dollars made by illegal immigrants out of the U.S. economy back to Mexico, and opposes the criminalization of immigrants - otherwise known as amnesty.

Lois Murphy also called Congressman Jim Gerlach in yesterday's New York Times a "hard-liner" on immigration. In that same article, Gerlach said he opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants. Additionally, Lois Murphy said she would have voted against H.R. 4437, the strict House immigration bill that will erect physical barriers along the Mexican border, increase border patrols and incorporate state of the art surveillance technology to stop illegal immigrants and potential terrorists from crossing the US border.

"Nothing has changed in the three years Lois Murphy has been a full-time candidate - she's still backed by far left-wing radically liberal activist organizations who know she is just as liberal and far-left as they are," said Mark Campbell, Political Director of Congressman Jim Gerlach's campaign. "Lois Murphy's listening tour has obviously taken a turn south of the Rio Grande, where she signed up for the pro-ACORN, pro-amnesty illegal immigrant campaign she is now running, at the expense of Pennsylvania's taxpayers, families and seniors."

ACORN has a long history of being investigated for alleged criminal and unethical activity. In 2004, Berks County Director of Elections V. Kurt Bellman said that ACORN workers had "deliberately put inaccurate information" on voter registration forms, and that there had "been flagrant attempts at voter registration fraud." Another Berks County official called their work "election sabotage." Additionally in Minnesota and New Mexico, ACORN workers were arrested in illegal-drug busts that found completed voter registration forms that were never returned to election officials.[2] [3]

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[1] The Pottstown Mercury, October 8, 2004. "Voter fraud suspected in registration deluge."

[2] St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 8, 2004. "Stash of voter cards probed; Former canvasser may be charged."

[3] AP State & Local Wire, October 16, 2004. "Albuquerque police find voter registration forms at Albuquerque apartment."

Paid for by the Jim Gerlach for Congress Committee. Mike DeHaven, Treasurer.

I attended the Berks County Commissioners and Elections Board meetings where this issue was discussed and resolved. The Pottstown Mercury reporter frequently twisted the facts and plain got everything wrong. I even wrote a letter to the editor of that rag because she butchered what I said and they refused to do a correction. If you want to know what happened read the Reading Eagle, not the Mercury.

Here's what happened. County Commissioner Mark Scott and Elections Commissioner V. Kurt Bellman, both Republicans, engaged in a campaign of voter intimidation in the two months preceding the November 2004 election. Several groups, ACORN was one, were conducting large voter registration drives in Reading. Scott and Bellman were insisting that some of these groups (I don't recall ACORN being singled out) were submitting fraudulent registration forms to Elections Services. They insisted there were over 7,000 of them.

I attended a meeting that October and insisted they cease their voter intimidation efforts. Reading is about half hispanic and these organizations were concentrating especially in that community. The cries of fraud were designed to instill fear into the local latino population and it did. Several local latino leaders approached me at an event for their community shortly before election day and mentioned that their neighbors were afraid to vote for fear of being arrested.

Scott and Bellman continued their headline grabbing remarks and after the election we discovered how many voter registration forms were forwarded to the Republican District Attorney for investigation. 25. Let's see that number again. 25. Yup, nowhere near the 7,000 Mark Scott and Kurt Bellman were screaming about and the Pottstown Mercury reported in the article cited by Gerlach.

Kurt Bellman was fired as Elections Commissioner for his role in this fraud. Fraud committed by the Republicans and now perpetuated by Congressman Gerlach. If Congressman Gerlach wants to keep this issue in the public eye with these press releases I welcome it because he doesn't have the slightest idea what he's talking about. I still have the Reading Eagle press clippings around the house because our DFA group organized an effort to file official complaints of voter intimidation against the GOP with the Justice Department.

Jim Gerlach could walk over to the Civil Rights Division and get copies. Then he can issue an apology to ACORN and Lois Murphy.