NEW COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST KARL ROVE WITH KERR COUNTY

[BigBearJohn]

NEW COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST KARL ROVE WITH KERR COUNTY, TX DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL VOTER REGISTRATION
Texas Officials State That Previous Complaint Filed by CREW Lacked Standing

Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) announced that Frances Lovett, a registered voter in Kerr County, Texas, sent a complaint this week to Kerr County District Attorney, E. Bruce Curry, urging an investigation into whether Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush, violated Texas state law by illegally registering as a voter in Kerr County, despite never residing there.

CREW had filed a complaint regarding this matter with the Elections Division of the Texas Secretary of State’s office on September 6, 2005. On September 8th, however, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reported that the Texas Secretary of State’s office does not have jurisdiction over this matter and that it must be investigated by county officials. They also said that CREW does not have jurisdiction to file a complaint, only a Kerr County registered voter can file such a complaint.

“I have lived in Kerr County for the past 15 years and have never even heard that Mr. Rove or his wife lived in the area,” Frances Lovett said today. “Reading about Mr. Rove’s illegal voter registration in the paper, and knowing that a complaint could not be filed unless a Kerr County resident took action, I resolved to take this next step and send a letter to District Attorney E. Bruce Curry.”

According to a report in The Washington Post on September 7, 2005, Mr. Rove and his wife, Darby, registered to vote in Kerr County in 2003 after they sold their Austin, Texas home. County property records show that Mr. Rove and his wife have owned two tiny rental cottages in Kerr County since 1997, the largest of which is only 814 feet and is valued by the county at $25,000. In contrast, the Roves’ Washington, D.C. home is valued at over $1.1 million. Other local Kerr County residents have stated that they have never seen Mr. Rove in the area.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/
http://citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=85

[texpatriot2004]

1. When it rains it pours eh?n/t

[marmar]

3. And wet dogs don't carry umbrellas...

couldn't happen to a nicer beast!

[babylonsister]

2. The hits just keep on coming!

What a bunch of crooked creeps!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

51. The Floodgates are about to open

Once the ChimpCo people start falling down for real, I think we're going to see civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions coming out of the woodwork.

[LisaM]

4. Can they couple this with Cheney's shenanigans re Wyoming and Texas?

How he conveniently "moved" to Wyoming, yet continued to live in Texas during the 2000 campaign?

[klyon]

19. That one has been bugging me too

I thought it was illegal at the time, and wondered why it wasn't a story. Also the fact that Cheney picked himself while head of the VP search committee. Kinda like the recent Supreme Court nominee???

KL

[LisaM]

32. Well, people tried to make an issue out of it but it went nowhere

There was even a lawsuit, but it got dismissed.

[Rhiannon12866]

43. Good point. And, as a resident of Texas, he shouldn't have been able to

run with Bush*. The president and VP can't be from the same state. So this dastardly duo broke the law from the getgo...:grr:

[kestrel91316]

46. People keep saying that the Pres and VP can't be from the same

state, but where does this idea come from?? Is it somewhere buried in the Constitution?

[stevedeshazer]

53. Read your Constitution

Amendment XII

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves

[kestrel91316]

54. 12th Amendment. See, that was easy. I am not about to read the entire

US Constitution trying to find this. I hate boilerplate.

BTW, I am not even sure that this says they can't be from the same state. It's written in Early American Legalese.

[stevedeshazer]

55. That's definitely what it says.

Take it from an Early American.

[Rhiannon12866]

58. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner.

I'm not that great at reading this formal language, myself. But I've long-known that Bush*-Cheney were subverting the Constitution from the very beginning and this was their initial transgression. The electors cannot vote for two candidates from their own state, so it's a little obtuse, but nonetheless true, that the electors from Texas couldn't have voted for both of them, on the same ticket. But they got away with this and have run with it, ever since...:grr:

[PaulaFarrell]

64. Does that not mean that one of the two

P & VP must be from a diiferent state from the electors? ie Texas electors couldn't have voted for Bush/Cheney if they both lived in Texas, but other states could? That's how I read it- it just depends on your interpretation of 'themselves'. But it looks like it refers to the electors. In either case, Bush/Cheney would be illegal.

[Rhiannon12866]

56. Yes, this is in the Constitution, but we both know how Bush*-Cheney

regard this... But it's a little complicated. What it actually says, in Article II, Section I, is that when the electors of each state vote for the president and VP, at least one of them cannot be from the same state that they're representing. And this is also reiterated in the 12th amendment. What this means is that the electors from Texas couldn't have voted for both Bush* and Cheney. One, but not both. And this means, of course, that Gore actually won! Imagine!
:wow:

[Thor_MN]

49. They can't receive electoral votes from the state if they both

reside there. They can be from the same state, but they would not have been able to count votes from Texas as theirs...

On edit:

Correction. State electors must vote for at least one person from a state other than their own. Net effect, the same...


Article. II.
Section. 1.
Clause 1: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows

Clause 2: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

Clause 3: The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President. (See Note 8)

[Rhiannon12866]

59. Thank you,Thor_MN for clarifying this! I should have thought of posting

the exact words, as you did, rather than just interpreting them. This is a great help.:hi:

So what we're both saying is that, since Bush* and Cheney are both from Texas, the Texas electors' votes for both of them shouldn't have counted. The Constitution prohibits this. So their 2000 election "victory" was null and void. Imagine that...
:wow:

[politick]

5. Geesh

I hope this doesn't turn out to be the best we got on this guy.

[MADem]

14. This is an entirely different issue from the Fitz inquiry

No connection between the two at all.

[AnneD]

15. Hey

all they could get on Al Capone was income tax evasion......

[politick]

42. That's exactly what I was thinking

lol

And I realize this is different than the Plame issue, I was just saying I hope we can get something big -- like that -- to stick to this SOB.

[VegasWolf]

6. Hey FReeper losers, your clown is going down!!! nt

:nopity:

[napi21]

7. A cottage valued at $25,000, what is it, a TENT?

I'm a bit surprised that the land isn't worth more than $25,000.

I don't usually pick on someone when he's down, but in Rove's case...PILE IT ON!

[quaoar]

20. Sounds like KKKarl is a slumlord

[acmejack]

8. Would this be considered a bad day for Turdblossom?

This after having your feet held to the fire by a Federal Prosecutor during your fourth Grand Jury appearance In another matter. snicker.

[cassiepriam]

9. Why now? Rove and Delay crooks for years, why is the law on them now?

Rove and Delay must be wondering what the heck is happening.
The law has been for other people, not them.

[Hekate]

44. Blood in the water attracts sharks

Big predators only look invulnerable -- however, when wounded they are still damn dangerous when cornered.

Hekate

[serryjw]

10. Karl Rove is MARRIED??

OMG who would marry him?

[Angry Girl]

13. She's barefoot and pregnant and living in a cage in his attic n/t

[serryjw]

21. That explains a lot

a horrible thought is a Karl Rove Jr...regardless of what gender

[Angry Girl]

24. Horrors! I knew I was pro-choice for a good reason! n/t

[Stand and Fight]

36. The scary thing is she looks a LOT like him... Imagine that!

Ewwww.... :puke:

[TalkingDog]

38. I have ENOUGH trouble getting to sleep as it is....*gag*.....

Gives me the "jibblies"

[Hobarticus]

11. If he owns property, this will probably get pushed aside...

This came up with Poppy Bush, too, and nothing came of it. What would be more interesting is where he files his state taxes.

[MADem]

16. If I remember, they bagged him for voting in TX AND getting the

Homeowner's exemption in DC. So ya gotta ask, which is it, Karl?

Does TX even have state income taxes??

[Hobarticus]

17. TEXAS: no state income tax!

http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/ind_inc.html

NOW you're talkin' about a rising stench.

[Sydnie]

23. I might be wrong but didn't he take the exemption in more than one

state? Isn't that the issue that they had with him ... using it more than once?

[MADem]

29. Here's where he backtracked

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090202397.html

Rove Not Entitled to D.C. Homestead Deduction
Bush Adviser to Reimburse City for Back Taxes

By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 3, 2005; Page A02

Presidential adviser Karl Rove may live in Washington. But in his heart -- and for voting purposes -- he remains a Texan. Which means he is not legally entitled to the homestead deduction and property tax cap he's been getting on his Palisades home for the past 3 1/2 years.

This week, the D.C. tax collector was alerted to the problem. And Rove agreed to reimburse the District for an estimated $3,400 in back taxes, city officials said. But now some Lone Star officials also are wondering about the place Rove calls home.





In a letter released yesterday by the White House, the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue accepted blame for the error, which also has affected numerous members of Congress. The homestead exemption gives District taxpayers a substantial tax break on their primary residences. But starting in 2002, a change in the law made it available only to District property owners who do not vote elsewhere, city officials said. That made Rove, and many others, ineligible.

"OTR failed to rescind the benefit when the law changed. As a result of OTR's error, the property inadvertently received tax deductions for which you no longer qualified," chief assessor Thomas W. Branham wrote Rove. "We regret any inconvenience that this error on the part of OTR may have caused you."

[MADem]

30. But wait, there's MORE

Rove sold his longtime home in Austin in 2003. He was getting a homestead exemption there, too. So for three years, from 2001 until the sale, Rove was claiming homesteads in Texas and Washington, which is, technically, illegal, according to tax collectors in both cities. "Strictly speaking, you can only have one homestead," said Art Cory, chief tax appraiser in Travis County, Tex.
Cory said he would, nonetheless, probably not bother to investigate.

Anyway, Rove is now registered to vote in Kerr County, about 80 miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. He and his wife, Darby, have owned property there, on the Guadalupe River, since at least 1997....as far as the locals know, the couple have never actually lived in either of two tiny rental cottages Rove claims as his residence on Texas voter registration rolls. The largest is 814 square feet and valued by the county at about $25,000.

"I've been here 10 years and I've never seen him. There are only, like, three grocery stores in town. You'd think you'd at least see him at the HEB" grocery, said Greg Shrader, editor and publisher of the Kerrville Daily Times.

Charles Ratliff, secretary of the Kerr County Democratic Party, said he's never even heard rumors of Rove's presence. "I have no memory of anybody saying to me, 'Hey, Karl Rove is in town, and he's speaking at the courthouse.' Or, 'Karl Rove is in town and I saw him at the grocery store.'

From the link in previous post...funny though, they say they see Kinky Friedman around all the time!

[Sydnie]

34. I thought I had read that somewhere -- thanks for finding that

He should be investigated on that as well. Yo nor I would be allowed to get away with that, why should he?

I say - PILE IT ALL ON!

[MADem]

35. My pleasure--I agree, pile it on, as high and as deep as possible nt

[OzarkDem]

26. Haven't lived there in years

but I don't think they have state income taxes, at least they didn't several years ago when I lived there. Is that the reason?

On edit - Nevermind, didn't see post above.

[TroglodyteScholar]

12. ANYONE can see this is just a partisan smear...

I mean, the county's name is only ONE LETTER from the Democrats' 2004 presidential candidate!

[EC]

18. Sounds like he bought a cheap property, just so he could

register there...It makes me wonder about others doing the same thing...

The only way they trace voter fraud is by checking the addresses, so there could have been thousands of bogus voters with cheap properties being used just for their addresses...

[BR_Parkway]

22. Shrub can't issue pardons for Texas crimes, this might be the only

one KKKKarl does any time for.

[OzarkDem]

25. Just curious

But what benefit does Rove derive from being registered to vote in Texas?

[napi21]

28. Two votes for Shrub and the boys! Maybe they should also check to see

if he and his wife also voted in Washington? Wouldn't THAT be interesting????

[kestrel91316]

47. Good question. Maybe it is his sttate of legal residence for both

voting and income tax filing??? Does TX perhaps have NO INCOME TAX, vs DC having one??

[truthisfreedom]

27. and the penalty is? somebody tell us the penalty if found guilty!

[Lori Price CLG]

31. Delete - don't want it in this thread. Thanks! n/t

[sonias]

33. Thank you Frances Lovett!

You are a true Texan and a true American for standing up for our democracy against Karl Rove and his voter fraud.

Sonia

[eattherich]

37. Best thing about this

Even if nobody goes to jail, keep filing, keep prosecuting. Keep them fighting one charge after another so they spend their whole term doing nothing else.

Majority my butt. WE rule.

[BigBearJohn]

39. I like the way you think.

[Straight Shooter]

40. Welcome to DU, eattherich

Don't forget the condiments :hi:

[struggle4progress]

41. Ahhhhh.

:)

[Delphinus]

45. I didn't know Rove was even married!

I won't say anything more - that old saying about, "if you can't say anything nice ... "

[bettyellen]

52. she looks like his twin. nuff said?

[Tight_rope]

48. Good for Frances Lovett ...She's a hero!

:thumbsup: :yourock:

[jarnocan]

50. petitions from Vote trust

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=24165&mesg_id=24165
Feeney is working against our democracy again-please check this out.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

57. Aww!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ain't that a bitch

:applause:

[postulater]

60. I never understood how Hillary

could run for Senate in a state she relocated to just for that purpose. I know it is legal but if she had come to my state I would have laughed at her for pretending to be interested in anything other than her own agenda.

[Lauri]

61. Well she lives in my state....

and I have no problem with what Hillary did - after all she is living here in NY state. I believe Robert Kennedy did something similar when he was Senator from NY.

On the other hand, Rove obviously doesn't live where he is claiming the rights of a voter. That is illegal.

[Rhiannon12866]

62. Bobby Kennedy was accused of the very same thing, here in NY, years ago.

They both were accused of being "carpetbaggers." And, IMHO, Hillary really has been excellent in advocating for us New Yorkers. I know she's been criticized, and I've been one of her critics, for not standing up more forcefully to the Bush* administration. But she's really come into her own, and I knew she had it in her, speaking out and voting against both Gonzales and John Roberts. She's really a brilliant lady and a quick study, has has taken on our causes as her own. I feel we're lucky to have her.:-)

[AllegroRondo]

63. They got Capone on tax evasion

fitting that they would nail a major criminal like Rove on something like this.