Stepped In It Cartoon

Warrant issued for husband of Delaware lawmaker over GOP sign swiping

Sen. Bethany Hall-Long

WASHINGTON –  Police in Delaware are looking for the husband of a state senator who was caught on video taking down political signs put up by Republican challengers.
Middletown police reportedly have issued an arrest warrant for Dana Armon Long, the husband of state Sen. Bethany Hall-Long, for allegedly stealing campaign signs.
Police responded Wednesday following complaints about the repeated theft of the political signs. 
In a video that was posted to YouTube on Wednesday, Long is shown carrying an armful of Republican signs. The takedown was filmed early Wednesday morning and was posted online. In the clip, which was taken over several hours, a man with a video camera appears to take Long by surprise.  
The man videotaping Long asks him, “What are you doing this for?” to which Long replies, “Hey, don’t stop me."
Long did not comment on the allegations when contacted by the Delaware News Journal.
Both Republican and Democratic party leaders condemned the thefts on Wednesday.
"When you only have a track record of high taxes, unemployment and lower wages for private sector employees to stand on, the Democrats must resort to breaking the law to win elections because they are scared of being held accountable for their dismal performance," John Fluharty, executive director of the state GOP, said in a written statement to the newspaper.
John Daniello, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said in a statement that, "Each campaign season, we deal with candidates removing their opponent's signs. This behavior is absolutely unacceptable. There are more positive ways in which to support your candidate regardless of party affiliation."
If he’s found guilty of the Class A misdemeanor, Long could spend up to a year in prison and face a $2,300 fine.

Democrat running for lieutenant governor of Arkansas used to be a stripper

Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in Arkansas John Burkhalter said being a male stripper in Little Rock was one of the many “tough jobs” he had in his past.
“I did have that job for a while, a very short time,” Burkhalter told Larry Henry in an interview for 5NEWS, a CBS affiliate in Arkansas. He was asked about being portrayed as a candidate with a “different background, from Chippendales dancer to multi-millionaire.”
“It was when I was in Little Rock,” Burkhalter said. “I’ve always been an athlete, and I was actually buying cows from a farm.”
“I had like 17 acres in a little place called Billy Goat Hill, which is in North Pulaski County, and I was trying to make my way in life,” he said.
On a message board entitled “Old Chippendales,” a user going by the name “verymarried,” recalled Burkhalter’s stripper days.
“John was once a major body builder and moonlighted as a male stripper in so called straight strip joints in a low-end southern Chippendale style circuit,” the message said. “He wore white tuxes with tails and handed out long stem roses to ladies, then took everything off.”

Former Marine banned from daughter’s school after dispute over Islam lesson

A former Marine who served in Iraq says he's been banned from his daughter's Maryland high school after a heated argument over a lesson on Islam.
Kevin Wood told MyFoxDC.com that he went to La Plata High School in La Plata, a town about 30 miles southeast of Washington, and challenged a history assignment requiring students to list the benefits of Islam. He said the meeting with the vice principal got heated; the school said he made a threat and banned the Iraq veteran from school property.
"[Wood] was threatening to cause a disruption or possible disruption at the school," a district spokesperson said.
Wood did not deny getting worked up over the issue, but said he was standing up for the Constitution and is against any religion being taught at the public school.
"I have witnesses that have said I did not threaten anybody," he told the station. "I don't force my religious views on them, so don't force your religious views on me."
The school is allowing his eleventh-grade daughter to spend the class time in the school's library, but defended its assignment and said it is teaching world history, not religion.
Wood's wife, Melissa, wondered how teaching about one religion is considered a history lesson while teaching about Christianity would be viewed diffrerently.
"We cannot discuss our Ten Commandments in school but they can discuss Islam's Five Pillars?"
The three-page assignment asked questions including, "How did Muslim conquerors treat those they conquered?"
A homework assignment obtained by MyFoxDC.com showed the correct answer was, “With tolerance, kindness and respect."

Colorado election law prompts concerns about voter fraud

Colorado's new election system is being panned by critics as a "ridiculous experiment" that could lead to more voter fraud -- in a year of very tight races with nothing less than control of the Senate on the line. 
This election year, every eligible Colorado voter is getting their ballot in the mail. It's a system used by only two other states -- Oregon and Washington. 
"We are only the third state in the United States trying this ridiculous experiment," said Marilyn Marks, an anti-voter fraud advocate with the Rocky Mountain Foundation. What's more, she warns, "We have added to it a toxic mix by adding same-day registration."
One of the most worrisome aspects of the new system, for some, is that once ballots are filled in, they are not required to be mailed back. The ballots can be taken to drop-off locations to avoid paying postage. And the law allows for what is known as "ballot harvesting." One individual can collect the ballots of up to 10 people to drop off.
"I'm as worried about undo influence as I am about straight up fraud," Marks said. "There are ballot harvesting groups going door-to-door, asking people to hand over their ballots. You can imagine some more vulnerable members of the community, particularly the elderly, who may feel under pressure."
"Colorado has no effective way of determining whether an individual has collected more than 10 ballots," cautioned El Paso County Clerk Wayne Williams, who also is a candidate for secretary of state. Williams complained that the state has no requirement that "your vote will count if you give it to a ballot harvester who then never turns that ballot in." 
Adding to the potential confusion, every registered voter will get a ballot. "The new law requires ballots to be sent to people who may not have voted in decades," Williams said. "In El Paso County, we've had voters report to us that they've received ballots from a voter registration drive for a person who has never lived at that address."
Election officials offer reassurances that all ballot signatures will be verified against voter registration records. Yet Colorado's new same-day voter registration law does not require a photo ID.
"You have to provide a driver's license number, specific to Colorado, a state ID number or your last four of your social," Denver Elections Director Amber McReynolds said.
"If the signature that was provided [for registration] was not accurate to begin with," Williams points out, "there is still a very real possibility of a fake registration resulting in a vote that counts and negates the vote of someone who was legitimately entitled to vote."
Those who still want to vote the old-fashioned way can do so, by bringing their unused mail-in ballots to a polling place and handing them in before voting.
While a small amount of voter fraud might not make a difference in the outcome of most races, the Real Clear Politics polling average has the governors' race in Colorado, between incumbent Democrat John Hickenlooper and GOP challenger Bob Beauprez, tied at 45 percent each. 
In the U.S. Senate race, the RCP average has GOP challenger Cory Gardner up by only 3.6 percentage points over Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, who is fighting to win a second term. 
The new election laws were passed by a Democratically controlled state legislature. So far, though, voter turnout numbers provided by the Colorado secretary of state's office show that Republicans are turning in ballots in much larger numbers than either Democrats or those registered as unaffiliated.