Texas Democrats seek to expedite appeal against local tea party group

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

The Texas Democratic Party on Tuesday filed a motion for expedited appeal in its case against the King Street Patriots, a tea party group based in Houston.

“Despite what they believe, the King Street Patriots are not above the law,” said TDP spokeswoman Rebecca Acuna. “This right wing group should not be allowed to continue to intimidate voters and operate illegally for another election cycle.”

A district court judge ruled in March that the King Street Patriots were a political action committee and had illegally aided the Republican Party with its “True the Vote” poll-watching program. The group insisted that it was a nonprofit corporation and appealed the ruling.

“The King Street Patriots want to operate as a political entity and continue to work for Republicans while ignoring the laws,” Acuna said. “The gig is up. It’s time that they disclose their donors and follow the laws that all other political entities have to follow.”

In 2010, the U.S. Justice Department investigated the King Street Patriots’ anti-voter fraud campaign after receiving a number of complaints about voter intimidation in Hispanic and African-American areas. Poll monitors allegedly were hovering over voters and confronting election workers.

At the time, the group had trained 1,000 people to work at polls in Harris County.

But the King Street Patriots plan to vastly enlarge their campaign by recruiting 1 million poll watchers to monitor the 2012 elections. Catherine Engelbrecht, the group’s president, told Roll Call last year that they had already raised $140,000 and provided election-monitoring training to tea party groups in 30 states.

“Our goal is to bring focus to a national call for election integrity,” said Engelbrecht.

The group says its campaign is non-partisan, yet claims on its website that “vote fraud is nearly an exclusive crime of the left” and that the left wants “to be able to steal elections at will.”

Civil rights groups uneasy about tea party election-monitoring effort

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

An election-monitoring campaign spearheaded by the King Street Patriots, a local tea party group based in Houston, has civil rights groups worried about voter intimidation during the 2012 elections.

“They’re trying to put in place a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist,” Judith Browne-Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, told Roll Call.

The Justice Department in 2010 investigated the King Street Patriots’ anti-voter fraud campaign — called “True The Vote” — after receiving a number of complaints about voter intimidation in Hispanic and African-American areas. Poll monitors allegedly were hovering over voters and getting into election workers’ faces.

Some of the poll monitors also illegally told voters they must vote in English, according to the Campaign Legal Center.

“Those are the types of activities the Voting Rights Act was designed to stop,” said Gerald Hebert, the group’s executive director.

At the time, the group had trained 1,000 people to work at polls in Harris County.

But the King Street Patriots plans to vastly enlarge their campaign by recruiting 1 million poll watchers to monitor the 2012 elections. Catherine Engelbrecht, the group’s president, told Roll Call that they had already raised $140,000 and provided election-monitoring training to tea party groups in 30 states.

“Our goal is to bring focus to a national call for election integrity,” said Engelbrecht.

The group says its campaign is non-partisan, yet claims on its website that “vote fraud is nearly an exclusive crime of the left” and that the left wants “to be able to steal elections at will.”

The Democratic Party of Texas accused the King Street Patriots of being “hell bent on disenfranchising poor” after the group invited columnist Matthew Vadum to speak at a fundraising event. Vadum has said that registering poor people to vote was “antisocial and un-American.”

Texas Democrats: Tea party ‘hell bent on disenfranchising poor’

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

The Democratic Party of Texas blasted the King Street Patriots, a local tea party group based in Houston, for inviting columnist Matthew Vadum to speak at a fundraising event. Vadum has saidthat registering poor people to vote was “antisocial and un-American”

Talking Points Memo reported in October 2010 that the Justice Department was investigating the King Street Patriots’ anti-voter fraud campaign — called “True The Vote” — after receiving a number of complaints about voter intimidation in Hispanic and African-American areas.

“It’s fitting that the group whose sole purpose is to harass and intimidate minority voters  would feature a rightwing extremist who thinks poor people shouldn’t be allowed to vote,” said Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie. “But at least the King Street Patriots are finally being honest. This event serves as a gleeful admission from their group that folks who are likely to vote Democratic should be denied their fundamental right to vote.”

“Sadly, this group that’s hell bent on disenfranchising poor-folks and minorities is not an anomaly in today’s Republican Party,” he added. “Rick Perry, the head of the Republican Party in Texas, has taken the lead in disenfranchising Texans. Perry’s redistricting plan was struck down because it violates the Voting Rights Act and his voter suppression legislation has not been pre-cleared because it is designed to keep certain people from voting. The King Street Patriots and Rick Perry are two peas in a pod.”

Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry in May cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the King Street Patriots’ new headquarters and praised their president, Catherine Engelbrecht.