Friday, June 27, 2014

Conspiracy or histrionics? We report, you decide.

Updated: Blogger Gateway Pundit now does the same thing. Just one problem. It was linked on Drudge. See more recent post for update.

Nice to see out of state bloggers not exactly telling the truth. A Charles Johnson tweeted that Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann sent out an email ordering circuit clerks to bar Chris McDaniel supporters from reviewing the poll books. Here is the tweet:




Notice something missing?  The actual email.  Yup.  This little "fact" has spread like wildfire across Twitter and the rest of the internet.  However, no one has bothered to actually post the email.  So in true Kingfish fashion, I got a copy of the email.  Here it is:



It says NOTHING about keeping anyone from seeing the poll books. It merely says follow the public records laws.  Wow. What do those laws say?  The Kingfish might know a thing or two about those laws as regular readers are aware of our public records fights.   Section 25-61-5 of the Mississippi Code states (read it aloud in your best Judge Dredd voice):

§ 25-61-5. Public access to records; written explanation required when records cannot be produced within specified time; form and retention of denials

   (1) (a) Except as otherwise provided by Sections 25-61-9 and 25-61-11, all public records are hereby declared to be public property, and any person shall have the right to inspect, copy or mechanically reproduce or obtain a reproduction of any public record of a public body in accordance with reasonable written procedures adopted by the public body concerning the cost, time, place and method of access, and public notice of the procedures shall be given by the public body, or, if a public body has not adopted written procedures, the right to inspect, copy or mechanically reproduce or obtain a reproduction of a public record of the public body shall be provided within one (1) working day after a written request for a public record is made. No public body shall adopt procedures which will authorize the public body to produce or deny production of a public record later than seven (7) working days from the date of the receipt of the request for the production of the record.

   (b) If a public body is unable to produce a public record by the seventh working day after the request is made, the public body must provide a written explanation to the person making the request stating that the record requested will be produced and specifying with particularity why the records cannot be produced within the seven-day period. Unless there is mutual agreement of the parties, in no event shall the date for the public body's production of the requested records be any later than fourteen (14) working days from the receipt by the public body of the original request.

(2) If any public record contains material which is not exempted under this chapter, the public agency shall redact the exempted and make the nonexempted material available for examination. Such public agency shall be entitled to charge a reasonable fee for the redaction of any exempted material, not to exceed the agency's actual cost.

(3) Denial by a public body of a request for access to or copies of public records under this chapter shall be in writing and shall contain a statement of the specific exemption relied upon by the public body for the denial. Each public body shall maintain a file of all denials of requests for public records. Public bodies shall be required to preserve such denials on file for not less than three (3) years from the date such denials are made. This file shall be made available for inspection or copying or both during regular office hours to any person upon written request.
Now a government agency can provide the records in a shorter period of time if it do desires but it does not have to do so.   The Attorney General stated that poll books are public records in a 1994 opinion and can not be withheld from the public. Period.  The Secretary of State did not tell anyone to withhold the poll books from the public.

Kingfish note: Those of you complaining about paying these fees, welcome to my world. Now you see what I deal with when I file these requests.  Just to show I'm a nice guy, here is what I usually write if no form is available:

Dear XXXX:

I am submitting a public records request under Section 25-61-5 of the Mississippi Code for the following records: 



1. Name of document or record
2. Name of document or record


Please feel free to contact me at XXX if you wish to discuss this request or have any questions.  Please notify me if the projected cost is over $50 before proceeding.  I prefer to pick up the records in person or receive via email at xxxx@XXXX.com.

You get the idea. 



23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for posting this. It has been hard to tell what's true or not, as so many rumors are popping up, particularly from the Twitter account you cited, Breitbart News and Gateway Pundit. I've been waiting to get more clarification from local sources and look forward to hearing more about which rumors are true and which are not.

John Pittman Hey said...

Except that now the circuit clerks must redact age/dob/ssn/telephone numbers before they can permit public inspection or copying. So if your county has 20,000 registered voters, that's 20,000+ redactions that will have to be made by hand before you can get your paws on a copy.

That renders it impossible to conduct quick surveys in a timely manner following an election.

Anonymous said...

One rumor that is true is that the tea party got out maneuvered by the election laws regarding primaries. The Republican establishment in Jackson has used the white minority as a 'veto' for a long time in municipal elections. The Republican establishment over the course of its rise to power understands the ins and outs of being out of power. The Democrats have caught on since the fall of Musgrove and the party collapse in the statehouse. If you toss in the wrench at just the right time, the machinery halts. The real problem is in the political brand itself-when you lose your principles and loyalty-you have hurt your organization in its heart and identity. I don't think Republicans can re-incorporate the tea party wing.

Kingfish said...

That is for copying.

There is nothing barring the Circuit Clerk or County from allowing the viewing of the poll books if they so desire. What Delbert stated was a minimum requirement, not a maximum.

Anonymous said...

Goebbels...the big lie repeated often enough becomes the truth

Anonymous said...

The Bush wing started the American tea taliban when they got us mixed up in the Persian Gulf over their oil business and the religious factions that worry the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They got us in debt.

The Tea Party is a nationalist political organization which is why they distrust big bizness Republicans and the national debt.

Internationalists like Bush and Barbour can run circles around the tea folk in electoral politics. They manipulate world politics and business.

The real conspiracy is that Barbour knew about Mayfield having a dying mother in St. Catherines. Barbour has had a file on him for some time.

Anonymous said...

Starting Tuesday the Ethics Commission's per page fee (under model rules) goes into effect and it's enforceable. 10 cents per page.

Anonymous said...

Is Charles Johnson on someone's payroll or is he doing this on his own?

Anonymous said...

Looked at Charles Johnson's twitter. He's making some reckless statement's. Even a hack reporter should know better than what he's doing. I guess that's where the term hack came from though.

Anonymous said...

Where does McDaniel find these wack jobs?

Anonymous said...

In case you have never been in a Mississippi county courthouse, a deputy clerk will tell you just about anything unless the clerk themselves have given the deputies prior written instructions.

We know from the elder statesman himself that most of the tea party voters are racist and bumpkins and don't deserve the proper status of the concerned citizen.

John Pittman Hey said...

Actually, no, the pollbooks are not now entirely public records. they cannot even be inspected without prior redaction.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the deafening silence of local media in the face of direct quotes from credible sources of fraud makes one wonder exactly what is going on and what they are trying to hide.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for explaining the law in a clear way. The McDaniel campaign should hire you as a consultant.

Anonymous said...

12:52 and 7:36 -- When McDaniel on his website indicates his election "party" will be live streamed on the Breitbart website, then you totally undermine any credibility of that website.

Why you McDanielites continue to use Breitbart as a website link (Kind of like using Wikipedia to write your papers in college) - is beyond me.

Give us a credible website. Not a political hack website.

Anonymous said...

7:36 am define "credible source" and list that source so the rest of us can judge credibility.

Anonymous said...

2:35, this is 12:52 again. First, I am not a McDaniel supporter. Second, I did not cite Breitbart as a "credible" source. I noted that it ran an article containing some very strong allegations regarding the polling books in Hinds County. If you read the article, it contains direct quotes from some Mississippi Democratic party folks, as well as some references to emails that could be produced to back up the allegations if true.

My point is why is no Mississippi media following up on this? These are serious allegations, and as a voter I would like to know the truth. It is right in the CL's back yard, and it would not be that difficult to interview the people involved, ask for emails, etc. and see whether there is any truth or not to these allegations. I don't know what happened, but I would like to know more about this than what was initially reported. If it is a bogus story, wouldn't you like to see that reported?

Again, the local media's failure to cover many aspects of this story has created a void of credible information. It is a large part of why this whole thing has gotten so out of control.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the efforts to hide or dismiss every allegation despite mounting evidence that something is definitely amiss makes me wonder if my conspiracy theorist friends are right. If there is no conspiracy, why aren't direct quotes alleging fraud newsworthy to at least mention in our local media? This stuff is making news in the UK, but not here?

Anonymous said...


Charles C. Johnson @ChuckCJohnson · 6h

Some things you can put a price tag on. For the Cochran campaign a black vote is worth $15. #mssen m

Where did this guy come from? The Howard Stern School of Journalism?

Anonymous said...

5:35 and all those questioning Charles C. Johnson -- it appears from his profile, he has a desire to be the next Drudge, and has been lambasted and ridiculed by most media outlets. A cursory review of his twitter profile provides a link to

https://twitter.com/ChuckCJohnson

Appears he is soliciting funds from GOFUNDME.COM/charlescjohnson

He recklessly tweets, so he can gain followers and hopefully get money. Note also he indicates Fresno/L.A. as his location. Guess the guy floats because I questioned where he was tweeting from earlier this week, when he posted the Democratic Polling Book, and his "location" on his profile that day was out of New Jersey.

Carpetbagger, trying to make some money and a name off this! The internet has good and bad -- he's the dredges!

Anonymous said...

The $16 million spent on the primary buys a lot. Political mouths and even political hit teams to tarnish and jail other operatives. The money spent goes to these political activities. Business and politics are very worldly pursuits. Yes, it is ugly and evil. Most people do not like to be involved.

Kingfish said...

I think there are two reasons why the media is not covering some of this. First reason is the Mayfield story. Caught everyone by surprise and they assigned a bunch of reporters to it.

Second reason is tips. I've posted many flyers and robocalls over the years on this site. However, I usually get them from readers, campaigns, and the like.

This time is different. The tips and leaks aren't going to the local guys. They are going straight to national media as there are so many reporters covering this story from outside of Mississippi and even the USA.

I suspect what happened is the McDaniel campaign gathered evidence of the campaign tactics used and then farmed it out to Breitbart and other national publications.

That's the news business and the way it works. No complaints here. I don't think there is a conspiracy among the local media. The tv stations don't really have political reporters anymore. The newspaper does but as stated earlier, they were all covering Mayfield's death and trying to just cover the regular nuts and bolts of this election.

Its easier to post stories such as John Fund's when you are in DC instead of being stuck in a courthouse all day long covering the counting of the votes. Keep that in mind. ;-)

Kingfish said...

The Republican establishment in Jackson has used the white minority as a 'veto' for a long time in municipal elections

Bullshit. Harvey three times, Chokwe Lumumba. Yeah, some veto. They WISH they had that kind of power.


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