Perry voter turnout project signs up felons

[LibertyEagle]

Exclusive: Perry voter turnout project signs up felons
Newsroom
1/24/2010

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign has unknowingly paid convicted felons as part-time workers under its incentive program to turn out voters for the Republican primary. The campaign lists about 300 part-time workers on the financial disclosure forms it filed with the state, recruits under the "Perry Home Headquarters" program that pays people to get others to sign up as a Perry supporter and pledge to vote. A handful have criminal histories, a Dallas Morning News review shows.
The Dallas Morning News reports:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/0123dntexperry.415c4c7.html

[devil21]

Can felons vote in Texas? Only a couple state permanently bar felons from voting.

Dunno, doesnt seem like a big deal to me to hire some people with records just for voter registration drives.

[Bern]

ACORN doesn't think there is a big deal with this either.

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

So what if someone hires a felon to do a job. Hasn't a felon repaid their debt to society?

[james1906]

A review of Perry's latest campaign report shows an array of people with criminal convictions.

Gema Gonzalez of El Paso was convicted in 2004 of felony possession of between 5 and 50 pounds of marijuana, public records show. Gonzalez also has a misdemeanor assault charge on her record.

She earned $13,440 to recruit voters over the last six months.

Reached by phone, Gonzalez said: "I can't make a comment about it, but I have a number in Austin for you to call if you'd like."

Britany Wiggins of Abilene, charged with drunken driving in 2004 and sentenced to a year of probation, was paid $3,240 for her grass-roots work. On Facebook, she lists herself as an Obama fan. She could not be reached for comment.

And Joshua Furrh of Fort Worth, convicted of possession of a controlled substance and sentence to three years probation in 2007, was paid $480 by the Perry campaign.

He acknowledged that he was on probation but declined to discuss his case any further or to talk about the Perry program.

"He's going to make a great governor, again," Furrh said.

Another Perry worker, Bryce Hudnall of Saginaw, has been convicted on charges of criminal mischief and attempted credit card abuse. He earned $20 for his work for Perry.

"That's what happens when you hire them out of the blue," said Masset, the GOP consultant.

Not exactly hardened criminals, most of us don't even think persons 1 and 3 should be charged with any crime. Number 2, DWI's are a dime a dozen. Drunk driving is wrong, but pretty much every workplace has someone with one. Number 4 is the only one I'm concerned about because of the potential for identity theft.