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Police: McCain volunteer made up robbery story

By JOE MANDAK – 1 hour ago

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A McCain campaign volunteer made up a story of being robbed, pinned to the ground and having the letter "B" scratched on her face in a politically inspired attack, police said Friday.

Ashley Todd, 20-year-old college student from College Station, Texas, admitted Friday that the story was false and was being charged with making a false report to police, said Maurita Bryant, the assistant chief of the police department's investigations division. Police doubted her story from the start, Bryant said.

Todd, who is white, told police she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night. She now can't explain why she invented the story, Bryant said.

Todd also told police she believes she cut the backward "B" onto her own cheek, but she didn't explain how or why, Bryant said.

Todd initially told investigators she was attempting to use a bank branch ATM when the man approached her from behind, put a knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade to her throat and demanded money. She told police she handed the assailant $60 and walked away.

Todd told investigators that she suspected the man then noticed a John McCain sticker on her car, became angry and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground and telling her "you are going to be a Barack supporter," police said.

She said he continued to punch and kick her while threatening "to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter," police said. She said he then sat on her chest, pinned her hands down with his knees and scratched a backward letter "B" into her face with a dull knife.

Todd told police she didn't seek medical attention, but instead went to a friend's apartment nearby and called police about 45 minutes later.

The Associated Press could not immediately locate Todd's family.

Bryant said somebody charged with making a false report would typically be cited and sent a summons. But because police have concerns about Todd's mental health, they are consulting with the Allegheny County District Attorney.

Todd remained in custody, and police were preparing to charge her with making a false report to police.

"We had some serious cases going on, and this wasted so much time," Bryant said. "Our detectives have been working through the night just to verify the information we suspected was false from the beginning."

Todd worked in New York for the College Republican National Committee before moving two weeks ago to Pennsylvania, where her duties included recruiting college students, the committee's executive director, Ethan Eilon, has said.

Eilon declined to comment on the investigation Friday or to help The Associated Press contact Todd.

Earlier Friday, police said they had found inconsistencies in Todd's story. They gave her a lie-detector test, but wouldn't release the polygraph results. Investigators also said bank surveillance photos did not back up the woman's initial story of being attacked at an ATM.

Police interviewed Todd after she contacted police Wednesday night and again on Thursday, Bryant said. They asked her to come back Friday, ostensibly to help police put together a sketch of the man. Instead, detectives began interviewing her.

"They just started talking to her and she just opened up and said she wanted to tell the truth," Bryant said.

Bryant said it doesn't appear that anyone else put the woman up to the false report.

Police suspected all along that Todd might not be telling the truth, starting with the fact that the "B" was backward, Bryant said.

"We have robbers here in Pittsburgh, but they don't generally mutilate someone's face like that," Bryant said. "They just take the money and run."

Thursday 10-23-08

681, 316, 580, 481, 752, 394, 467

473, 946, 336, 477, 716, 197, 603

000, 555, 777, 888, 0000, 7777

Ex-GOP operative tells cautionary tale about 'how to rig an election'

• Story Highlights
• Allen Raymond went to prison for jamming phones of N.H's Democratic Party
• Operation also prevented local firefighters from helping senior citizens get to polls
• Raymond called scheme ingenious in an "evil genius sort of way"
• Democrats insist phone jamming operation had national implications

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN)  -- Allen Raymond is living proof that political dirty tricksters do exist.

The former Republican political operative went to federal prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of phone harassment. He jammed the phone lines of New Hampshire's Democratic Party on Election Day six years ago.

"The concept was to disrupt lines of communication. That's a fancy way of saying, 'make it so the phones didn't work,' " Raymond said recently. "No calls going out. No calls going in."

We're not going to give away exactly how Raymond did it. According to federal prosecutors, two top Republican Party officials tapped Raymond's Virginia-based telemarketing firm for the operation. Raymond then contracted out the job to a private phone bank in Idaho.

Former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan remembers the ensuing flood of hang-up calls that created havoc in her office.

"At first, people had various impressions about what was going on," Sullivan recalled. "For example, at the Manchester field office, the young man who opened the office thought, 'The phones are all ringing off the hook. Nobody's here. I've broken the phone system. What did I do wrong?' And he was on the verge of tears."

The operation also jammed the lines inside a firefighter's union hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, where Jeff Duval and other local firefighters were lining up car rides to help senior citizens get to the polls.

"It almost felt to me like an  election  might have been stolen," Duval said. "I know for a fact that we received calls a few days later from people saying 'we tried to call you.' And I say 'did you get out and vote?' And they said 'no.' "  iReport.com: Are you voting early? Share your story

Looking back, Raymond said, he thinks the scheme was ingenious in an "evil genius sort of way."

In his book, "How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative," Raymond details how he got caught. An hour and a half into the jamming operation he received an e-mail from a Republican official, frantically telling him to shut down the calls. The e-mail read: "Chairman wishes not to proceed with this project ... insists it violates federal law."

Federal agents eventually paid a visit to Raymond's office.

Raymond decided to come clean about his role in the operation and cooperate with investigators.

"I felt like I had an obligation, and not obligation to my country or obligation to the people in New Hampshire, nothing like that," Raymond said. "I had a responsibility to my family."

One of Raymond's alleged co-conspirators, James Tobin, was a top official with the National Republican Senatorial Committee that year. He went on to serve as George W. Bush's Northeastern regional re-election chairman in 2004. Tobin was initially convicted. But he succeeded in having that decision overturned by an appellate court. Just last week, Tobin was again indicted in the case on two counts of making false statements to a federal agent. His lawyer had no comment.

Another co-conspirator and former chairman of New Hampshire's Republican Party, Charles McGee, pleaded guilty to phone harassment in the case and served seven months in prison.

Democrats insist that the phone jamming operation in New Hampshire had national implications. The balance of power in the U.S. Senate was on the line that year and the Senate race between Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican John Sununu was decided by just 19,000. Sununu won.

Some state Democrats remain convinced that the phone jamming operation resulted in some votes lost.

"I think they were willing to do whatever it took to win, even if that meant breaking the law," Sullivan said.

"Even if that meant suppressing the votes. So if that means they were trying to steal the election, yes, then they were trying to steal the election."

Conservative author and Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund points out that there are dirty tricksters in both parties.

"No party has a monopoly on virtue," Fund said.

Fund has also written a book about the problem, "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens our Democracy." His book focuses on the allegations facing more liberal groups like ACORN.

Officials at the polls are unprepared for what could be a record turnout on Election Day, according to Fund.

"We need a lot more poll workers this time to handle the enormous crush of new voters," Fund said. "We need more poll watchers and monitors, on both sides, to make sure each side is watching the other."

Allen Raymond learned that winning elections at all costs can come at a heavy price.

"I'm a felon," Raymond said. "I think about it everyday. Every day, everything that I do every day, I try to do in such a way that makes up for that mistake."

Raymond doesn't plan to stop talking about his trip to the political dark side. He said a major Hollywood studio plans to begin production on a film version of his cautionary tale.

Wednesday 10-22-08

181, 249, 208, 184, 544, 524, 188

963, 107, 402, 000, 853, 850, 6955

$150G From GOP For Fashions For Palins?

Good all draws until 10-23-08

018 045 048 058 145 147 148 149 157 158 159 178

179 189 457 458 459 478 479 489 578 579 589 789

011 114 115 117 118 119 044 144 445 447 448 449

055 155 455 557 558 559 088 188 488 588 788 889

Tuesday 10-21-08

607, 609, 152, 154, 148, 149, 158, 159, 189, 458

459, 489, 589, 114, 115, 118, 119, 144, 445, 448

000, 555, 777, 0000, 0500, 0080, 7777, 7877

Monday 10-20-08

429, 421, 975, 320, 520, 410, 430, 193

346, 256, 792, 398, 075, 000, 777, 0000

Joe The Plumber: Social Security Is A 'Joke' And Liberal Conspiracy Theories

By Bonnie Erbe

Oct 16, 2008

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(US News)  Joe Wurzelbacher, the plumber so often referred to by  Sen. John McCain  in the third and final debate had better learn to shut his mouth. The more he speaks publicly, the more he looks like the GOP plant liberal blogs are starting to claim that he is. Watch him calling Social Security a "joke" on  YouTube:

I'm no fan of tax hikes, but even I recognize Social Security is no "joke." It has single-handedly lifted millions of elderly and disabled Americans out of poverty and turned America's elderly from the most impoverished age demographic to one with an income more in line with that of working families.

Joe the Plumber so loves media attention, he's drawing pro-Obama bloggers to  question his authenticity  as an undecided voter:

Joe has been on so many right wing talk shows it appears pretty obvious that this is a coordinated attempt to pull a last second 'tax and spend' haymaker. Family Security Matters, a wingnut security policy thinktank, has the first interview with Joe after this Obama encounter. Hmmm. What's the chance that a group like this gets the first interview with this alleged 'undecided voter'?

Other blogs say Wurzelbacher may be related to Charles Keating of the Keating Five and that his father is a  major Republican donor:

Joe the Plumber, the star of tonight's debate, may have a very interesting connection to John McCain. In fact, Joe the Plumber (Joe Wurzelbacher) of Cincinnati, Ohio may be related to one Robert Wurzelbacher of Cincinnati, Ohio, who happens to be Charles Keating's son-in-law. Robert Wurzelbacher was implicated in the Keating 5 scandal, and sentenced to 40 months in prison in 1993. Wurzelbacher is also a huge Republican donor.

Keep watching this story because if it proves true that "Joe the Plumber" is the wealthy, Republican regular the liberal blogs are claiming he is, the McCain  campaign  could go down as the most corrupt and inept in history.

"TGIF" 10-17-08

715, 490, 618, 816, 358, 322, 714, 499, 716, 124

046, 682, 141, 785, 636, 506, 306, 695, 000, 777

0000, 7777

Come on Rafa Nadal, I am counting on you to win the "MutuaMadriLena"

October 13 -19

Wednesday 10-15-08

215, 532, 195, 551, 695, 262, 838, 365, 482

345, 630, 158, 808, 323, 712, 948, 029, 153

724, 000, 777, 3801, 7777, 2927, 0782, 7029

0436, 0500

Tuesday 10-14-08

237, 795, 132, 858, 142, 136, 592, 236, 238

794, 796, 131, 133, 857, 859, 141, 143, 135

317, 158, 000, 3801, 2790, 4912, 8356, 7777