"Written by
Keith Uhlig
Wausau DailyHerald
FILED UNDER
Elections: Recall
Related Links
Gov. Scott Walker survives recall election
The state's Government Accountability Board said a questionable mailer received by many voters across the state legally uses public information about who has voted and who hasn't.
The direct-mail flier, received by voters across the Wausau area, was sent under the name of the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund and lists the names and addresses of the recipient's neighbors and information about whether those neighbors voted in the 2008 and 2010 general elections.
According to the message on the flier, it was intended to bolster voter turnout in today's election. "We're sending this mailing to you and your neighbors to publicize who does and does not vote," the text said.
Whether it had its intended effect is up for debate.
Molly Blackwell-James, 38, of Wausau said she thought it came too late and was simply too annoying to make any sort of impact on peoples' choices about whether to vote.
The mailing "ticked me off," Blackwell-James said. She received a mailer that listed her name and her neighbors' names and voting records. "I know it is a matter of public record, and campaigns get great demographic information from it, but I don't necessarily want my neighbors to know whether I voted."
Blackwell-James also tried to call the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund to lodge a complaint, but wasn't even able to leave a message.
The mailer also includes a small United SteelWorkers Local 318 logo. That union chapter is in Flushing, N.Y., and a union representative said Tuesday that it had nothing to do with the mailing. Union leaders tried to contact the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund, she said, but were unable to reach anybody.
The mailing is not affiliated with the United SteelWorkers, the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund said on its website. But a small logo appeared on the mailing because a United SteelWorkers affiliate produced and printed the flier for Greater Wisconsin, the political fund said.
"This is not a mailing Greater Wisconsin Political Fund produced in coordination with the United SteelWorkers," the website said.
Reid Magney, public information officer for the GAB, refused to comment on the flier's use of the union logo because he did not have facts about it. Voting records are public and can be purchased from the GAB or other commercially available mailing lists, according to a GAB statement regarding the flier. The lists routinely are used by political committees and interest groups, but "this is the first time to our knowledge that a group has used information in voter lists this way. There is no state law that prohibits such practices," the statement said.
Voicemail and email messages left by the Wausau Daily Herald at the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund were not returned. According to its website -- www.greaterwisfund.com -- the fund is affiliated with the Greater Wisconsin Committee and is a political organization that "sponsors hard-hitting issue advocacy advertisements involving Wisconsin state and local public officials." The Greater Wisconsin Committee has fought against Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget and helped with the effort to recall him."
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20120606/WDH010405/306060175/GAB-Political-fliers-identifying-voters-legal?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs
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1. Ten to one, my ass. What about the support for the Democrat cause by unions and 527s like Greater Wisconsin Political Fund? If "more than $63 million" was dumped into the race and "Walker spent $30 million" where does the 10:1 come from?
2. Greater Wisconsin Political Fund paid for these flyers to creep out and annoy thousands of people. How do you count that money, as money spent for Barrett or for Walker?
The core joke of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is that of course no civilization would develop personal computers with instant remote database recovery, and then waste this technology to find good drinks.
Steve Jobs has ruined this joke.
