March 21, 2006

In Answer to Those of You Not From the Greater St. Louis Area...

Yes, it is necessary to remind Democratic Party operatives that it is illegal to buy votes:

Democratic leaders in one Illinois county have begun making very clear what other politicians might consider obvious: Party money should not be used to buy votes.

The Democratic Party in St. Clair County has sent out reminders to precinct committeemen that party money can't be used to influence votes.

The refresher course on democracy follows the June convictions of five East St. Louis politicians for vote buying. Prosecutors said they had helped distribute more than $70,000 received by city Democratic precinct committeemen just before the 2004 election from the county Democratic organization.

The committeemen were recently sent a one-page letter from St. Clair County Democratic Central Committee Chairman Robert Sprague saying that money from the county committee should be used only to pay to help get the vote out.

Precinct leaders should "keep a record of all expenses" and "under no circumstances" use party money to pay for votes, the letter says.

Strangely enough, this AP story hasn't made it into the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But I do like the headline the Arizona Republic put on this story:

Ill. Democrats promise not to buy votes

Because we all know how much faith we can put into promises by politicians.

Posted by Charles Austin at March 21, 2006 01:38 PM
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