Texas GOP Candidate caught voting in two different states

[Gothmog]

Juanita Jean has a good story about the GOP candidate for a county commissioner seat in Fort Bend County having voted both in Texas and Pennsylvania in the 2006, 2008 and 2010 general elections http://juanitajean.com/2012/10/10/true-the-vote-can-kiss-my-big-blue-butt/

Bruce Fleming is the Republican nominee for County Commissioner, Precinct 1, in Fort Bend County. He won in a runoff election. Bruce was also named Precinct Chairman of the Year last year by then GOP County Chairman and thug-about-town Rick Miller. Miller then recruited Fleming to run for county commissioner which seemed like a good idea at the time since Fleming is unemployed. Here’s Bruce’s website....

In 2006, 2008, and 2010, Bruce voted in person in Fort Bend County and by mail in Pennsylvania in the same general elections. According to his financial disclosure forms, Bruce Fleming also owns a house in Pennsylvania. (He homesteaded a house in Texas and a house in Pennsylvania, but that illegality is a whole ‘nother story.) Bruce felt that owning houses in both states gave him the right to vote in the same elections in both states. That’s a third degree felony in Texas.....

So here sits True The Vote and the King Street Patriots out chasing imaginary voter fraud when real voter fraud is happening right here in their own front yard.

Ain’t that just the damnest thing you’ve ever seen?

There’s more to this story and all kinds of ugly Republican twists and splatters but I thought you’d want to chew on the glorious irony of Cathy Engelbrecht’s own Republican county commissioner candidate being a felony chronic serial voter frauder.

Richard Morrison is the Democrat who is the current County Commissioner. Richard is a good guy who ran against Tom DeLay in 2004 and showed that DeLay could be beat. Bruce Fleming is evidently unemployed and was handpicked by the former Fort Bend GOP party chair who running for a state house seat against another good Democrat Vy Nguyen.

The head of the True the Vote group lives in this district. I wonder if she is still going to vote for a crook like Fleming. It seems that the only real cases of voter fraud involve republicans

[tanyev]

1. That's why Republicans are so certain that there is widespread voter fraud.

Lots of them are doing it.

[rhett o rick]

4. Can we spell projection? nm

[Gothmog]

2. Fort Bend Democratic Party is holding press release on this story

According to the comments on Juanita Jean's article, the Fort Bend Democratic Party are holding a press conference about this story today at noon at the Fort Bend courthouse. This will be fun to watch

[LisaL]

3. They should contact the police.

Voting in two states in the same election is a felony in TX.

[Gothmog]

9. The current Fort Bend DA is a political hack

I doubt that he would take any action against a fellow repug

[yellowcanine]

5. "Second houses are people too, my friend. They should be able to vote."

[jsr]

6. Don't give them ideas

LOL

[Gothmog]

7. Romney would be entitled to 4 or so votes under this theory

Remember that Romney voted for Scott Brown by claiming that he was living in the unfinished basement of one of his son's houses

[HopeHoops]

8. Yeah, the Coulterbeast did the same basic thing.

[Gothmog]

10. Here is a press release from Fort Bend County Democratic Party

I just received this e-mail from Steve Brown who is the Chairman of the Fort Bend Democratic Party

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10 October 2012 CONTACT: Steve Brown
832.330.4242 cell
Statement from Fort Bend County Democratic Chairman Steve Brown on Fort Bend Voter Fraud

MISSOURI CITY, TX. This morning, the Fort Bend Southwest Star reported that Republican candidate, Bruce Fleming, voted in the 2006, 2008 & 2010 general elections in both Texas and Pennsylvania. It’s illegal to vote in multiple states in the same election. Fleming, named the Champion Precinct Chair in 2010 by then-Republican Party Chair Rick Miller, was recruited by Miller to run for County Commissioners Court Precinct 1. Right-wing organizations, like True the Vote, have vowed to root out voter fraud nationally. Fleming is running in the district where True the Vote founder Cathy Engelbrecht resides.

“While local and national Republican leaders were tilting at the windmills of imaginary voter fraud, real voter fraud was taking place under their noses,” stated Fort Bend County Democratic Chairman Steve Brown. “It demonstrates that the Republican's crusade against voter fraud is either disingenuous or ill conceived – maybe both – to be totally unaware of a serial fraudulent voter like Fleming while aggressively harassing little old ladies attempting to vote in Briargate.”

“I call on Fleming to immediately withdraw from this race, and allow for a thorough investigation to take place. I also ask that Miller and Engelbrecht publicly denounce their support for Fleming and acknowledge that their judgment and focus was wrong and misplaced.”

“The local Republican Party has been overtaken by Don Quixote’s, and has lost its focus on the issues that matter to everyday Texans like properly funding public education, improving access to quality care and growing small businesses,” he concluded.

###

[Gothmog]

11. Here is the Press Release from the Texas Democratic Party

Here is the press release on this issue from the Texas Democratic Party http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/12819/new-proof-king-street-patriotstrue-the-vote-are-voter-suppression-groups

True the Vote and the King Street Patriots Get Caught With Their Pants Down - Confirm They Are Only Concerned With One Kind of "Voter Fraud"

Fort Bend - Attached, you can see proof that the Republican candidate for County Commissioner in Fort Bend County voted in the general elections in both Texas and Pennsylvania in 2006, 2008, and 2010. In all three cases, he voted by mail in Pennsylvania and then fraudulently voted in person in Texas.

Bruce J. Fleming of Sugar Land, age 60, is the Republican nominee for County Commissioner in Precinct 1 in Fort Bend County. His financial disclosure records show that he owns a homesteaded property in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, along with his homesteaded property in Sugar Land, Texas. Records from Bucks County show that a Bruce J Fleming with the same birth date and property address as the Bruce Fleming in Fort Bend County voted in Bucks County in the last three general elections with a mail ballot. He also voted in person in Fort Bend County in those same three elections.

Bruce Fleming is running against Fort Bend County Democratic incumbent county commissioner Richard Morrison. Fleming remains on the voter rolls in Pennsylvania although he registered in Texas in July of 2006. It also appears that Fleming's wife, Nancy, voted in both elections in 2010.

Ironically, Catherine Renee Engelbrecht, President of the radical rightwing True The Vote and King Street Patriots lives and votes in the commissioner precinct in which Fleming is running. Fort Bend County records show that Engelbrecht voted in the Republican primary and in the runoff election that gave Fleming the Republican nomination. Obviously, Engelbrecht and True the Vote are unconcerned about the most common form of voter fraud - ballot by mail.

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said, "Here is Ms. Engelbrecht gallivanting around the country drawing attention to herself about imaginary voter fraud while her own Republican county commissioner candidate is a serial fraudulent voter. This is not voter fraud in her backyard. This is voter fraud in her living room."

"Why should we take True the Vote seriously when they are not at all concerned about real voter fraud? They simply want to deny voting rights to Democrats. Ms. Engelbrecht needs to true the vote in her own house before she attempts to deny votes to honest voters across America," Hinojosa continued. "We do, however, take True the Vote seriously. We believe they are seriously dangerous to democracy."

"Additionally, I call on Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to quit wasting taxpayer money on wild eyed conspiracy theories about voter identification and pay attention to real voter fraud in Texas by Republicans. This is a third degree felony, and would be a second degree felony under current Texas law. Let's see if Greg Abbott has any money left after his losing battle in Texas courts to restrict honest voters. I challenge Abbott to prosecute this crime against the decency of the State of Texas," Hinojosa concluded.

Unfortunately we know by now that Abbott is not interested in voter fraud. Abbott is only interested in suppressing the voter of students, the elderly and minorities.

The Texas Democratic Party sued King Street Patriots after the 2008 election for their illegal tactics and won. The case is on appeal now before the Austin Court of Appeals. It is a shame that only one political party, the Texas Democratic Party, will stand up for all voters in Texas no matter how they want to vote. Nevertheless, TDP will continue to pursue vote suppressers in public and at the courthouse until we leadership in state government that believes in democracy.