Voter Fraud, Perjury, Identity Theft, And Democrat Involvement

Jason Bauer and Mike McGuinness, two former Democrat Party officials in Oakland County, Michigan, have been convicted on various criminal counts regarding their fraudulent attempts to add fake “Tea Party” candidates to the 2010 ballots, all in an attempt to steal the 2010 elections for Democrats.

Jason Bauer, a former Oakland Country Democratic Party official, was sentenced to one year of probation and $2,600 in fines for his involvement with a 2010 fake Tea Party scheme. Bauer is the second person involved in the plot to be sentenced. Former Oakland County Democratic Party Chair Mike McGuinness pleaded no contest in October to charges of perjury and forgery.

Zach Edwards, an Obama operative, has been arrested on Identity Theft charges. He (allegedly) stole the identities of Iowa’s Republican Secretary of State and/or his brother in an attempt to manufacture a fraudulent email trail to use in an accusation of ethics violations.

It’s difficult to know whether to tell this story in straight or reverse chronology, but either way, it raises eyebrows about the tactics that Iowa Democrats will deploy in 2012. Let’s take this in reverse. The story starts with an arrest yesterday in Des Moines of Zach Edwards, who works at Link Strategies as its Director of New Media, for identity theft targeting the Iowa Secretary of State, Republican Matt Schulz:

Zachary Edwards was arrested Friday and charged with identity theft.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety issued a news release saying Schultz’s office discovered the scheme on June 24, 2011 and notified authorities.

The criminal complaint says Edwards fraudulently used or attempted to use the identity of Schultz or Schultz’s brother with the intent to obtain a benefit. No other details were given.

Link Strategies is a well-connected consulting firm with a long relationship to Senator Tom Harkin. In fact, Link Strategies has a testimonial on its website from Harkin, extolling their work and giving LS credit for his success.

And who exactly is Zach Edwards? Ed Morrissey points out that Link Strategies scrubbed their site, trying to hide Zach Edwards’ ties. But as Ed Morrissey says, nothing ever really disappears from the internet. Glenn Reynolds found Edwards’ Link Strategies bio.

Zach Edwards got started in web-based research while based in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2006 . After a stint as a part-time political blogger and local democratic volunteer, he joined the Obama campaign in early 2007 as an intern organizing North-West Las Vegas. In September 2007, Zach joined the Obama New Media department as co-director of the Nevada New Media team and then moved on to direct New Media operations in five other primary states (New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, and South Dakota).

During the 2008 General Election, Zach was the Iowa Director of New Media. In this capacity, he worked closely with communications, research and field operations to provide cutting-edge organizing tools and new media-based opposition research; which was emulated in battleground states across the country. After the election, Zach began working at Link Strategies as the Director of New Media, where he provides innovative web-based research tools, video analysis and production, and web-based communication tools to assist our clients.

So Zach Edwards was not a “nobody” involved in criminal activities. He was a major Democrat and Obama operative, and had been such for at least four years.

RELATED:
ACORN, Democrats, FM2 And More, published in May 2009, covering multi-year, multi-state, wide-spread fraudulent activities by ACORN to benefit Democrats.

Democrats Fraudulently Making “Tea Party” Candidates, published in August 2010, covering multi-state fraud involving major Democrat officials and operatives in multiple states.

Michigan Crushes “Tea Party” Candidates, published in September 2010, covering Bauer and McGuinness’ attempts to put fake “Tea Party” candidates on the ballot and the Michigan Supreme Court’s nixing the candidates.

Michigan “Tea Party” And Felony Election Fraud, published in March 2011. Oakland County (Michigan) Democrat Chair Mike McGuinness and Operations Director Jason Bauer charged with multiple Election Fraud felonies. (See above, where they were both convicted.)