The Mighty Texas Strike Force

[AtLiberty]

The Mighty Texas Strike Force

by Nick Mottern - Documentary News Service
February 28, 2005
The Free Press

On the night of November 1, 2004, Jim Branscome said, he overheard a man, a guest in the Holiday Inn where Mr. Branscome worked in Columbus, Ohio, tell someone over the pay phone in the hotel lobby:

"'Look, I know you got out of prison about'...X amount of months ago...I can't remember how many months he gave, but it was earlier this year, the year 2004, and he said, 'It's illegal for you to vote in this state, and if you show up tomorrow at the polls, we're going to have the FBI there waiting for you, and we're going to haul your ass right back into the slammer' he told him or into the 'can' or something like that."

-- From a videotaped interview with Robert Fitrakis and Linda Byrket.

Mr. Branscome said that the man appeared to be making calls from a list of names and phone numbers. Outraged at what he had heard, Mr. Branscome said, he approached the man, but the man got on the elevator and fled to the sixth floor where he had a room. Mr. Branscome followed him to the sixth floor, but the man returned to the lobby immediately, with Mr. Branscome following him down and out of the hotel. Mr. Branscome saw the man turn the corner next to Ohio Republican Party headquarters, in the same block as the hotel, and he said he is sure the man went into the state GOP's building.

The hotel desk clerk called the Columbus police about the incident. The 911 report shows the police responded, but no action was taken, and there was no record of a report having been written, a clerk in the records section said.

If Mr. Branscome's report is accurate, the caller violated the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Voting Rights Act of 1968. If convicted, the caller could be sentenced to one year in jail...

Click to read entire article:

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1177

[AtLiberty]

1. Has anyone else read this?

[Helga Scow Stern]

2. Not yet,

but I heard about it this weekend at the teach-in with Fitrakis.

[Bill Bored]

3. This was publicized on Randi Rhodes' show too right after the election. nt