posted
It strikes me as too clumsy to have been authorized by any official campaign office. I am betting on a zealous (and ignorant) amateur.
Posts: 11187 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
How incredibly sad someone thinks they have to stoop to such a nasty tactic.
Maybe Romney should take it as a compliment - whoever masterminded this obviously considers him a threat.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Off the top of my head, there's a possible civil action for violation of the Lanham act (false designation of goods), depending on whether this counts as "commerce." There's also possibly a state cause of action for unfair trade practices.
There's likely some kind of state ban on false campaign materials, and possibly a federal one.
If I got creative, I could come up with a way to make this meet the mail fraud definition - and mail fraud is a RICO predicate. Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by James Tiberius Kirk: I wonder how they obtained the mailing list?
--j_k
Isn't it pretty easy to get a listing of "all Republicans" or "all Democrats" in a given demographic from their regional election offices? I mean, I figured since I get so many political mailings, it must be given out to the party somewhere....
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
"Who do you suppose is at the bottom of this?"
"Warren Tompkins, a political consultant who ran George Bush's 2000 campaign in South Carolina and now is Romney's top consultant in the state." We are talking about a Rove operative after all.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Wouldn't this fall under free speech? Nobody has mentioned that any libelous statements about Romney were in the letter.
If you have to get creative to try and find a way to prosecute someone for something, I think that might be an indication that they may not deserve legal punishment.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Free speech doesn't protect fraud, or allow you to make statements that purport to be in someone else's name.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Wouldn't this fall under free speech? Nobody has mentioned that any libelous statements about Romney were in the letter.
Free speech does not allow someone to impersonate another, any more than it allows someone to stamp "Rolex" on a cheap digital watch and try to sell it.
The only criminal sanction I mentioned was to mail fraud, and I did not advocate using it. The other sanctions - all civil - are not stretches. This falls squarely under the anticipated uses of such laws.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Can't say I am shocked something like this would happen, especially in the bible belt.
This doesn't mean I think Christians in the bible belt are all malicious Mormon haters, but that there is enough disagreement with Mormonism and enough hate that this development is not a shocking one.
I hope the group responsible is identified and duly punished.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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