Mr. Condit's Smear Campaign
Normally I don't write about these issues, but I'm making an exception this time. I found out about an article titled "Ron Paul Defrauded By Iowa Straw Poll" through an acquaintance on a message board. If you are interested in where this story is going I would urge you to read the article that I linked above. I decided to make the emails public after reading Mr. Condit's response to my email. After reading Jim Condit Jr's article click on the "read more" link to read my email to him as well as his response.I'm assuming by this point you have read Mr. Condit's article or at least skimmed through it. You may want to check it against this article just in case rense.com has altered the original piece. Here is my email to Mr. Condit on 8/11/2007 after reading his article:
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Dear Mr. Condit,
I am a resident of the state of Iowa as well as a registered republican. I read your letter titled “Ron Paul Defrauded By Iowa Straw Poll” that was posted on rense.com (http://rense.com/general77/iowa.htm) on Aug 15th, 2007. While you are entitled to your opinion I must point out a number of inaccuracies.
First, the Iowa Straw Poll is not an election. It is not sanctioned or controlled by any government office. It is simply a poll that also serves as a fund raising event for the Iowa GOP. No more, no less.
Second, the Iowa Straw Poll is an event hosted by the Republican Party of Iowa. It is a private event in which only registered republicans who are registered citizens of the state of Iowa may participate. Since it is a private event with no ties to a government election your reference to the Supreme Court rulings of U.S v Mosley (1915) and Reynolds v Sims (1964) have absolutely no relevance. This also explains why the Iowa courts threw out the suit in the days before the straw poll.
Let’s assume for a moment that this was a legitimate general election. Where is your outrage over the facts that 1) Votes were bought by all candidates with free tickets 2) Candidates were campaigning within the restricted area of a designated voting building. Acts like this would normally cause someone to file a complaint or lawsuit. However, no one filed a complaint or lawsuit. Of course, these don’t really matter because it is not an official election.
In closing, I find it disturbing that you are trying to take away the freedom of a private group to hold an event as they see fit. This event does not concern you in any way, shape or form. Please stop wasting the court’s time and the tax payers’ money. However, you may start your own polling process, hold your own event, and share the results in any way your see fit.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Moore
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I received a reply from Mr. Condit on 9/6/2007. Here is his response:
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Dear Nicholas --- I guess you are Republican Insider, because I have no idea why you are worried about the Iowa GOP's "right" to take $35 from a person for the results of a Straw Poll -- which has national impact -- and then "count" the votes in secret so they can skew the results (incidentally, that's the only reason people hide the ballots -- so they can cheat).
Incidentally, the title of my article was "Ron Paul Defrauded by Iowa Straw Poll Process" -- for some reason many dropped the word "process" -- which was critically for accuracy, as, not being allowed to see the ballots, we have no proof of votefraud -- which is the entire reason they hide the ballots. Get it?
If you are not an insider -- then are abysmally brain dead politically, and need to go educate yourself at votefraud.org
Good luck,
Jim Condit Jr.
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I'll take his points one by one here. First, I'm called a "Republican Insider". I'm not sure if it's meant to be an insult or just being cute. I'm not an "insider", I'm a normal person that's interested in politics. I've been to a few caucus meetings, but that's it. In fact, I have never voted a straight ticket in an election. So much for the "insider" theory.
He mention's the "Iowa GOP's "right" to take $35 from a person for the results of a Straw Poll -- which has national impact -- and then "count" the votes in secret so they can skew the results (incidentally, that's the only reason people hide the ballots -- so they can cheat)" The Iowa GOP can charge whatever they want for this event or any other private event. I'm not sure what he doesn't understand here. You can't have a fundraising event without money. Yes, the Iowa Straw Poll has a national impact - so what? This is an event for Iowans. No one forced the national media to cover the event.
Condit alledges that results were skewed, counters cheated, and that vote fraud occurred. I'm still waiting for proof. There's been a lot of talk since the Iowa Straw Poll. No proof what-so-ever of cheating or fraud; just talk.
As for the mistitled article on rense.com, that's not my problem. I do appreciate the clarification, but there's nothing I can do about that.
Mr. Condit seems to run out of any ideas to continue the conversation. He resorts to name-calling and insists that I educate myself at a website that is full of conspiracy theories, but contain no proof. Does anyone else find this strange? I refuted several of his points in his article with facts. Condit failed to counter any of my points with facts. I'll let the readers will decide who really is "brain dead".
