David Landrum and Voter ID

Because this blog followed that campaign so much in 2008:

Ipse Blogit - David Landrum Lectures Us On The Importance of Voting

Sid Salter has an interesting blog post about an email he received from David Landrum, businessman and former candidate for the Republican nomination for Mississippi's Third Congressional District seat. Seems that Mr. Landrum is raising money for a ballot initiative to amend the State Constitution to require voter identification.

Is this the same David Landrum who lost all credibility when the voting records showed that HE HADN'T VOTED AT ALL in past elections?

And then claimed that the voting records had been tampered with?

And then didn't dispute that the records his own campaign used to "prove" he had voted were false?

Yep, I think it's the same person.

Maybe Mr. Landrum isn't the best guy to take the lead in the fight for the integrity of the election rolls in Mississippi?

Landrum Concedes

WTOK - Landrum Concedes District Three Race - One of the initial front runners in the district three congressional race, David Landrum, will not continue on in that race. Around 11 p.m. Tuesday, Landrum conceded the race, ending his first try at politics. The Madison County businessman spent several thousand dollars of his own money in the race. Many people point to negative campaign tactics by some of his opponents as Landrum's downfall. "In a sense, you almost feel -- in this world -- that you're back in elementary school where kids can be real rude and real mean. I understand why a lot of people wouldn't get into politics and not try this, but I have no regrets. Because I have thick skin, I can kind of let that stuff bounce off of me," said Landrum. Landrum hasn't ruled out a future campaign, but says for now he will be returning to his business.

Mississippi Perspective - David Landrum: Stupid Politician Tricks - As a general rule, I do not enjoy the misery of others. That said, there was some satisfaction in watching David Landrum’s political meltdown over the past few weeks. In watching him completely unravel, I wished for a new segment on David Letterman — Stupid Politician Tricks. Of course, Landrum denies being a politician. That’s crap. Up until two weeks ago, it appeared Landrum was poised to make a runoff with former Sen. Charlie Ross. Then came the voting “scandal”. Ironically, Ross and Gregg Harper — the duo now in the runoff — stayed quiet as former Pickering boy John Rounsaville led the attack on Landrum. No matter what he said, under no circumstance should he have fabricated evidence and lied about those signatures being his own, much less that of his wife. Landrum had run a textbook campaign. He used his considerable wealth and went to television early to build name recognition. He hit hot-button issues that played to his conservative base. He presented himself as a strong businessman with Christian convictions and a loving family. He was a political outsider wanting to reform D.C. for other Mississippians. Then he imploded. And, I watched on with a smile.

Jackson Jambalaya - Interesting discussion on Primerica - Over on Tigerdroppings.com we are having a discusson on Primerica, as it came up during the campaign due to David Landrum's involvement in the company. Interesting comments are made: http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/messagetopic.asp?p=7450161&pg=1#lp

Madison Purge Update

Madison County Journal - Change to voter rolls called into question - A county election commissioner accused of inappropriately moving over 10,000 voters from active to inactive status since the beginning of the year said she was simply doing her job. District 1 Election Commissioner Sue Sautermeister came under fire late last week when it was revealed she had been changing voters' status since the start of this year. Election Commission Chairman Kakey Chaney said this was done improperly.

Statistics indicate that there are several thousand more voters registered on the books than actual eligible voters. According to estimates from the 2006 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 87,419, but only 63,000 of those residents are over 18 and eligible to vote. As of March 7, there were 70,871 registered voters on the books, according to numbers provided by Circuit Clerk Lee Westbrook.

Sautermeister has said she will not resign from her position despite calls for her to do so, and has remained steadfast in her belief that the Election Commission has delayed cleaning up the voter rolls for far too long.

Westbrook said she had received a surprisingly low volume of calls from voters concerned about the issue over the past week. "Either people are not alarmed, or it's one of those things they'll think about on Election Day," she said last Friday. "Every one of us thought we would be bombarded."

Sautermeister admitted in an interview last week that "the timing may be off" because of Tuesday's federal election, but maintained that keeping the voter rolls clean should be a priority for Election Commission members. "This is part of our job, to keep the voter rolls clean," she said. "This is something we're supposed to be doing. The others knew I was doing it." She added that she believed there was a legal difference between making voters inactive and purging them from the books and had requested clarification from Hosemann's office before Wednesday.

Voters may be made inactive if these notification cards are not filled out and returned in 30 days. Inactive voters who do not vote in the two subsequent federal elections are purged from the voter rolls.

"It appears Sue Sautermeister inactivated voters but before sending the required notice to voters," Chaney told the supervisors on Monday. But Sautermeister countered that since the county had never undertaken such an effort before, it was unclear what the correct procedure should be for the county.

"We still don't know how the process works," she said, adding that some commissioners from other counties had told her that voters could be made inactive prior to notification cards being sent.

Westbrook said the commissioners had been collecting returned mail since they took office at the start of 2005 as the first step towards cleaning up the voter rolls.

The words "purged" and "inactive" had been used interchangeably but incorrectly over the past week, according to Westbrook, since purged voters are those who are deceased or those who have felony convictions that forbid them to vote.

Sautermeister said she hoped the situation would raise awareness of the county's ongoing problem with inflated voter rolls. Too many people, she said, are not voting in the correct precincts and should update their voter registration information whenever it is necessary.

Westbrook and Sautermeister differed about the status of Mississippi Third District congressional candidate David Landrum, a Madison County resident, whom Sautermeister made inactive. While Westbrook said she would not have inactivated Landrum and recently personally confirmed that Landrum was a county resident who had recently moved, Sautermeister said her decision was correctly based on pieces of returned mail.

Ledger Online Letters

Rounsaville Best to Represent Third District - Jo McCormick, Newton

David Landrum Is The Right Choice - Chip Estes, Flora

Eads The Man for the Job - E. Patterson, Ellisville

Charlie Ross is the Most Qualified - Barbara Vanlandingham, Caledonia

Rounsaville Right Choice for Congress - Mike Hurst, Madison

David Landrum distorted truth - B.J. Cougle, Starkville

I'm For David Landrum - Kevin Macdonald, Jackson

Landrum Should Come Clean - Mike Hurst, Madison

My Analysis of David Landrum's Vote*

My Analysis of David Landrum's Vote*

1) John Rounsaville produced evidence indicating David Landrum had not voted after the 2000 general election or before the 2007 general election. Now the burden of proof is on David Landrum.

2) David Landrum produced records he said showed he attempted to cast a ballot in the 2003 primary and general by affidavit. After a Clarion Ledger investigation, it was found those were not his signatures, something David Landrum eventually admitted. So he has no proof he attempted to vote.

3) John Rounsaville's campaign further demonstrated that David Landrum was not registered to vote in Hinds County in 2003. So even if he had tried to cast a ballot (which he could not prove even that) it would not have been accepted. He could not, thus he did not, vote.

4) David Landrum next claimed someone stole his ballot and pointed to Pete Perry, John Rounsaville's treasurer, as someone who was in the record room. However, Pete Perry went to the records room in response to the Landrum Campaign's release of their now admitted false proof. Perry went to verify the documents Landrum released. That means the Landrum Campaign was in the record room first. The Landrum Campaign removed records and copied them. If absentee ballots are missing (ballots which would prove the signatures on the sign-in were not David Landrum's signatures), then perhaps as the first ones in the room, the Landrum Campaign "misplaced" them.

5) But the key here is, how do we know ballots are missing? We know because there are fewer ballots in the box than names on the sign-in sheet. But the Landrum Campaign has acknowledged none of the signatures on the sign-in sheet belong to David Landrum. Therefore, if no ballots were missing, if all the ballots were there, if there was a ballot for every signature...there would still be no ballot belonging to David Landrum, because he has no signature on the roll for such a ballot to correspond to.

Conclusion: In the final analysis, there is evidence David Landrum did not vote. There is no evidence he did vote. There is no evidence stolen or missing that could show he voted, because that evidence (the voter roll) is still in the record room and it still says, David Landrum did not vote.

(*Thanks for the emails pro and con that helped to make this case.)

Nash on Landrum

ClarionLedger.com - Jere Nash - David Landrum & Politicians - Well, there he was again today. David Landrum. On the front page of the Clarion-Ledger. Declaring to all the world that he was “not a politician.” This has been a theme of Landrum’s throughout the campaign – denigrating the very profession he’s trying to join. If David Landrum were in medical school, he’d be saying, “I’m here, but I’m not a doctor.” By definition, those who seek public office are politicians. Can you imagine Landrum walking up to Haley Barbour, sticking out his hand, and saying, “Hi. I’m David Landrum. I’m a candidate for Congress. But I’m not a politician.” Say what you want to about Haley Barbour’s choice of party or his positions on the public policy issues of the day, you have to admire his ability to practice the profession of politics. The irony, of course, is that the way in which Landrum has handled his contribution to Ronnie Musgrove or his prior voting record is just the way a David Landrum caricature of a “politician” would act. A real politician knows that the only currency that matters is honesty.

Ledger: Barbour attacks Landrum

Clarion Ledger - Neutral no more: GOP attacks one of its own - Landrum trying to divert attention, RNC rep says of voting flap - On Friday, Mississippi's representative to the Republican National Committee, Henry Barbour — who had been neutral in the race - opened fire on fundraising frontrunner David Landrum after Landrum suggested a long-time GOP worker may have stolen Landrum's affidavit ballot in the 2003 Republican primary in Hinds County.

In an e-mail to Republicans, Barbour accused Landrum of "attacking the 'foot soldiers' of the party in an effort to move the focus off of him. ... If he makes the runoff, I would not be surprised to see him effectively try to purchase our nomination. I hope y'all will join me in working to make sure that does not happen."

Landrum - who has raised nearly $1 million, much of it his own money - responded Friday: "I grew up in Jones County, where I learned to stand up for myself. And that is what I'm going to do. I am not a politician, but I understand that Republicans are going to support different candidates in this race, but I believe this has gone to a new low."

The brouhaha began a few weeks back when fellow candidate John Rounsaville said Landrum hadn't voted in seven years. Landrum responded he and his wife, Jill, had voted for Gov. Haley Barbour in every election they could since 2003 and pointed to signatures in the Hinds County voters register as proof. But The Clarion-Ledger discovered two signatures he said were his wife's actually belonged to other people.

Two days later, Landrum's campaign said none of the signatures belonged to the couple and that the news release was sent out "without David's knowledge and approval. It never occurred to either David or Jill to verify the signatures. David accepts responsibility for an honest mistake."

Landrum and his wife have said they voted by affidavit ballot in 2003 in Hinds County in both the Republican primary and general election. Some of the affidavit ballots are missing from the August 2003 primary for Precinct 78, and Landrum insists the couple's votes are among those missing. But Hinds County election officials say anyone who votes must sign the voter register. And no signatures appear to match Landrum's or his wife's.

Landrum's campaign raised questions about the possibility of tampering by releasing an affidavit from Pat Wilson, a machine specialist working with the Hinds County Election Commission. Wilson said Pete Perry, treasurer for the congressional campaign for John Rounsaville, was in the room by himself for more than an hour with 2003 Republican primary election records. After Perry left, Wilson said he noticed three boxes containing the records "were not located where they had been neatly stacked, and they could not be easily located because they were mixed in with many other boxes in the room containing other election records." Perry said Friday he was alone with the records for maybe 10 minutes and was joined by David Ross, son of candidate Charlie Ross, in examining 2003 election records. They found no evidence the couple had voted, Perry said. He acknowledged he didn't restack the boxes as they were before because "they didn't seem to be in any particular order" but denied taking any documents. The handful of affidavit ballots missing now were missing then, he said.

What happened in Madison County to Landrum and his wife could soon be part of the Justice Department investigation. An election commissioner moved more than 10,000 names from the voting rolls from active to inactive, including those of Landrum and his wife.

Jim Herring, chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party, said his role is to not get involved in the primary: "I always take serious Reagan's 11th commandment: Thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican." As for the purging, Herring said, "We're not going to know all the answers before the March 11 primary, but sooner or later the facts will come out as to who did what." He called the race so far "a black eye for the party." Instead of focusing on real issues, the campaign has deteriorated, he said. "I think it's a legitimate issue whether a person voted in the past. The whole thing has become an unfortunate episode that damages the party. Our goal is to elect somebody who will win the war, restore the economy for the benefit of our people and preserve the values that Republicans stand for."

Landrum Attacks Ross, Rounsaville in TV spot

So much for running a positivie campaign. David Landrum proves he is a politician. Now we know where his latest $60,000 self-contribution went.

Last week Jill Landrum said in a campaign email: "I am amazed at how many people have offered me 'dirt' and I mean REAL DIRT on our opponents. I can tell you this… I would rather lose with character than win through mud slinging and playing dirty political tricks."

Landrum's Last Straw for Henry Barbour

(You can also read this email at Sid Salter's Blog where Salter says, "I received this e-mail from Henry Barbour a few minutes ago...it says far more than I can say about Mr. Landrum's voting record and his campaign's activities"

From: Henry Barbour
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008
Subject: the last straw with David Landrum

I have three friends running for the GOP nomination in the 3rd Cong. District race in MS on March 11. I told each of them last year that I was going to stay out of this race and remain neutral. I have done that. I wish all of them well on Tuesday. However, I am writing because I am furious at David Landrum.

We’ve all read about whether or not he voted over the last 8 years and that he gave Ronnie Musgrove $1,000 days before the election with Haley. He then claimed to have proof that he voted in 2003 by presenting the sign-in sheet for affidavit voters with his signature. For over a week, he stated publicly it was his signature. He told Paul Gallo it was his signature. He told the Clarion Ledger it was his signature. However, after the Clarion Ledger later proved it was not his signature, he admitted it was not. So, he changed his story and then attempted to blame his campaign staff – a cowardly act in my book.

Next, in another effort to salvage an obviously hemorrhaging campaign, he went on the Paul Gallo radio program yesterday morning. On that program, he and his lawyer (can you imagine a political candidate who brings his lawyer to a talk radio show?) accused long-time GOP “foot soldier” Pete Perry of possibly stealing Landrum’s affidavit ballot. They have zero evidence, other than Pete, like several others, was at the Election Commissioner’s office trying to confirm Mr. Landrum’s assertion that he had signed the sign-in sheet, which we now know is not true. Yet, they recklessly attacked Pete Perry’s integrity. And it makes me sick to hear Mr. Landrum say he’s running a “positive campaign”. Give me a break.

Like Pete – I am a “foot soldier” of the GOP and feel compelled to defend my friend and fellow GOP activist. I don’t always agree with Pete, but I know Republicans can always count on him to work with great passion for his Party and our candidates, and I greatly respect that. Therefore, I feel duty-bound to question Mr. Landrum’s hypocritical and arrogant accusations. If he had just come clean and not tried to spin why he had not voted or given money to Musgrove, this would have been a one-day story. I have heard a famous Mississippi political operative say more than a few times when you’ve got bad news – get it out fast. Mr. Landrum has taken a different approach and now has gotten to the point of desperation that he is attacking the “foot soldiers” of the Party in an effort to move the focus off of him. I hate to tell him, but he’s just making us activists angry with his actions. Therefore, I am still neutral in this race, but I urge you to share this with Republican voters in the 3rd CD and ask them to support one of the good candidates.

I am hopeful that Mr. Landrum will not make the run-off; however, I understand he has spent over $400,000 of his own money in this race. If he makes the run-off, I would not be surprised to see him effectively try to purchase our nomination. I hope y’all will join me in working to make sure that does not happen, but hopefully he will finish with only a handful of votes on Tuesday and not make the run-off.

Some of you may not know me, so here’s a little political background on me…I have been involved in Republican politics essentially all of my life. I grew up doing grassroots work in Yazoo City because my father always needed more volunteers in local races. I learned a lot about elections and people. I worked as a field rep in George Bush’s race in 1988 and then moved to DC to work in his administration and then finished my time in Washington working under Haley at the RNC. I came home to Yazoo City and ran Chip Pickering’s first race for Congress in 1995-96 – then ran his “big race” against Ronnie Shows in 2002. I also ran Haley’s race for Governor in 2003. After Mike Retzer stepped down as Republican National Committeeman from Mississippi, I ran for that post, won it and still hold it.

If you find this email helpful, I would encourage you to share it with others. If you don’t, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Thanks,
Henry Barbour

Southern Political Report: Did Landrum Vote?

Southern Political Report - Mississippi: Did Congressional Candidate Landrum Vote in 2003? - David Landrum, a wealthy businessman who has poured some $500,000 of his own money into the campaign for the GOP nomination to succeed US Rep. Chip Pickering (R), but his momentum has been slowed by allegations that he did not vote in 2003 or in the elections since then. Landrum, who is dominating the TV air waves in this eight-candidate contest, made the matter worse when his campaign released documents from the voter roll for 2003 that included the signatures of Landrum and his wife. Then the Jackson Clarion-Ledger revealed they were not genuine signatures. Now the betting is that on March 11, former favorite Landrum will be forced into an April 1 runoff with either ex-Pickering staffer John Rounsaville; state Sen. Charlie Ross, a 2007 contender for lieutenant governor; or Gregg Harper, Rankin County GOP chairman.

Voter Purge Investigation

WLBT - Landrum To Ask For Federal Investigation - Candidate Calls for Federal Investigation into Purging - The names that were wrongly purged from Madison County's voter rolls between December and March have now been restored. Even the names of David Landrum, 3rd District Congressional candidate, and his wife and daughter. Landrum and his attorney, Dale Danks, plan to ask the U.S. Justice Department to investigate why it happened. "This past Sunday, when a rather detrimental news article appeared, (Landrum ) went from an active status to inactive status," Danks says. It's believed Election Commissioner Susan Sautermeister purged the rolls by herself without the approval of the entire commission, which violates federal law. Danks says some, if not all, of the changes were made from Sautermeister's home computer. If several pieces of official mail are returned as undeliverable to a voter's address, election commissioners can use that as one step in the process of removing someone from the rolls.

Incidentally, voter profile reports show two separate Madison County addressess for Landrum: 314 Lake Castle Road, and 105 Longleaf Place. Turns out it's the same house. Landrum says the street address for the house is in the process of being changed from Lake Castle to Longleaf. At least one jury summons addressed to Landrum was returned as undeliverable, but that alone is insufficient reason to purge anyone from the rolls. And records do show that Landrum voted in Madison County last November.

If the mass purging had not been caught, more than 10,000 people may have been forced to vote by affidavit ballot. "It would have been embarrassing to be running for Congress of the United States and be told in front of the cameras that I'm inactive," Landrum says.

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Clarion Ledger - Voter rolls: Punishment merited in Madison - Both Hosemann and Madison County Circuit Clerk Lee Westbrook said Wednesday all names should be on the poll books before Tuesday's primaries.

But that doesn't answer the question of how District 1 Election Commissioner Sue Sautermeister could remove the names without prior knowledge or approval of the other four election commissioners. Neither does it answer the question of "why?"

Speculation has abounded that the names were purged in connection with the controversy surrounding 3rd District Republican congressional candidate David Landrum's voting record. The majority of voters removed live in the 3rd District, and Landrum and his wife, Jill, were two of the voters removed. Westbrook said she personally restored both of them to the official books. She said she called Landrum, and "he assured me he still lived in Madison County."

Sautermeister would not say why she undertook the actions now or why she acted on her own, saying, "It doesn't matter because they've all been put back."

The purged rolls would not have solved the issue of whether Landrum voted in 2003 for Gov. Haley Barbour, as he has claimed, providing documents purportedly with his signature, since the item in dispute is a Hinds County voter roll which doesn't seem to conform to his and his wife's signatures.

But it could be used to cloud the issue.

Salter: Butler & Danks - Snowjob for Landrum

ClarionLedger.com - Sid Salter Blog - Maybe that March snow the weather man is promising has started early... - I have no idea what possessed Madison County Election Commissioner Sue Sautermeister to purge the 2008 Madison County voter rolls in the manner she did. Clearly, David Landrum and his family were not treated fairly in that situation.

But to attempt to link that action in 2008 in Madison County to Landrum's admitted manufacture of false evidence that he voted in Hinds County in 2003 as Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler and former Jackson mayor Dale Danks are doing is simply laughable. It's comparing apples and lugnuts. Landrum and his campaign manager Neil Forbes have already admitted that the campaign made false claims about 2003 signatures that they had earlier promised were legitimate.

What Butler and Danks are doing is providing political cover for Landrum and hoping that the voters become so confused by the 2008 Madison County problem that they will conveniently forget the outrages that Landrum's campaign has already engaged in over in Hinds County's 2003 vote.

The better question is why.

More on Madison Purge

Madison County Herald - Butler calls for Sautermeister's resignation - Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler is calling for the resignation of Madison County Election Commissioner Sue Sautermeister who was responsible for moving almost 11,000 names from voter rolls. In addition, attorney Dale Danks Jr. is calling for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the removal of names from Madison County and possible impropriety surrounding the voting record of Republican David Landrum of Madison, a candidate for the 3rd Congressional District seat.

Butler said she is reviewing the names of city residents included in the list of 10,942 removed from the voter registration rolls. “There are over 2,700 of our city voters included,” she said. “The more names I find, the madder I get.”

Board of Supervisors President Tim Johnson said he met with Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann today and was assured that all the names have been restored. Those voters will be able to vote without any problems on Tuesday, he said.

Butler said city employees and other longtime residents, who have voted in recent elections and have not changed their residence, were removed from the rolls. Landrum, his wife and daughter were removed.

“Why did she delete him? She knew he was a candidate,” Butler said. “It makes no sense she would arbitrarily delete a candidate, his wife and daughter.”

Sautermeister said she based the removals on jury notices and voter notification cards that had been returned as undeliverable by the U.S. Postal Service. However, Election Commission Chairman Kakey Chaney said Sautermeister did not follow the procedures the commission has followed the past three years in making voters inactive.

Butler said she believes removing the thousands of names, most of whom live in the 3rd Congressional District, was an attempt to harm Landrum’s campaign. “I think it’s an attempt to derail the heart ... of his congressional base in Madison County,” she said.

Danks said he has written a letter formally requesting an FBI investigation into the series of activities surrounding the election. Besides the removal of the names, which affects the Landrum campaign, Danks said he is submitting an affidavit that raises the question of possible impropriety in Hinds County voter records. “You put all that together and it doesn’t pass the smell test,” Danks said. “This all raises enough questions for the FBI to step in and investigate.” The attempt to remove so many voters from Landrum’s home base could affect Tuesday’s results, Danks said.

Johnson said county officials will wait until after Tuesday’s election to look into Sautermeister’s actions. “We will proceed at whatever rate we need to to make sure there is confidence in our voting procedures,” he said.

Madison County has more voters on the rolls than are included in the 2000 census, Johnson said, so names obviously need to be purged. “But there needs to be a right way to do it,” he said. The Secretary of State’s Office will send representatives to Madison County to discuss appropriate ways to purge the books, Johnson said.

Salter Blog: Landrum and his lawyer

ClarionLedger.com - Sid Salter Blog - The 110th Congress: The chair recognizes Congressman Landrum's attorney, Dale Danks, who will speak for him on this next important bill... - As the multiple stories that have become David Landrum's truly pitiful excuses for explaining the fact that making sure he voted or was even registered to vote over the last seven years continue to evolve, now it's come down to the suggestion that Landrum's somehow the target of a more than five-year conspiracy by election officials in two counties.

Caught in the web of their own failed efforts to misdirect the public and the press in this matter, now it's come to claiming bizarre conspiracy theories that ignore the basic facts of how one casts an affidavit ballot.

And that's after Landrum and his campaign manager have admitted that they offered fraudulent information to the media in an attempt to stifle criticism of his voting records from campaign opponents.

Somewhere, Sonny Montgomery must be coughing up a hairball.

Where to begin? I suppose the saddest part of the David Landrum appearance on the Paul Gallo Show today was the fact that his lawyer, Dale Danks, did most of the talking for him. Is that what we really want in a congressman? A guy who has to have a mouthpiece when the pressure's on?

If Landrum's elected, is Danks going to go hold his hand on Capitol Hill as well? Why not just cut out the middle man and send Danks?

But the bottom line here is that the 2008 Sue Sautermeister shenanigans in Madison County has absolutely nothing to do with the absence of Landrum's signature on a very present 2003 Hinds County District 78 Affidavit Ballot Register. The allegations that Rounsaville consultant and Hinds County GOP Chairman Pete Perry stole documents from that Hinds County box — if they were true — still doesn't trump the fact that there's no evidence that Landrum was ever handed an absentee ballot in the first place because he wasn't registered to vote in Hinds County and didn't sign the Hinds County Precinct 78 affidavit ballot register that is still in the box. No affidavit register book signature, no affidavit ballot.

How exactly could Perry steal something that the existing public records proves would not and should not be there in the first place? No affidavit register book signature, no affidavit ballot. This isn't brain surgery here, folks.

Perry is set to appear on Gallo's show tomorrow morning to answer the allegations made by the Landrum camp.

Landrum's political wounds here are singularly self-inflicted.

Y'all's Take

Y'all Politics - Alan Lang - The 3rd Congressional District Republican Primary
Upsides and Downsides

Y'all Politics also has the audio of the David Landrum interview on Paul Gallo this morning.

Starkville forum

Starkville Daily News - Congressional candidates make case during campus event - With days remaining in the contest, seven candidates for Mississippi’s open Third Congressional District seat in Mississippi made their cases in a public setting Wednesday night in Starkville.

Ross, a former state Senator, pointed to his experience in the Legislature as a lawmaker who grew up in nearby Eupora.

Rounsaville, a former aide to Pickering and Gov. Haley Barbour, called into play his experience as on Capitol Hill and his status as a Mississippi State University graduate.

Landrum says he is running on a “common sense, business mindset to Washington.”
In his remarks during the event, did not address allegations he did not vote in recent major elections but did answer questions about the charges afterwards.
He said that he and his wife Jill did vote in the 2003 election but they were improperly registered in Hinds County, did vote by the affidavit process, but then found out that their votes did not count. He said they did vote in 2007 in Madison County and records will reflect that. “It’s basically a lie,” Landrum said of the allegations. “Really, it’s just an attempt by some campaigns to get in the mud, but I’m not going to sling it,” Landrum said. “... Some are compromising the truth to win. ... I’d rather lose with integrity and character than win without it. ... We’ve got a lot of momentum, we’re cautiously optimistic but we’ve got to push hard these last four or five days.”

Roll Call: (Absence of) Voting Record Hurts Landrum

Roll Call - (Absence of) Voting Record Hurts Mississippi Candidate - With less than a week to go before primary day in Mississippi, wealthy businessman David Landrum, the assumed frontrunner in the 3rd district GOP race, has been tripped up by controversy over his voting record — or lack thereof — dating back to 2003.

The Landrum campaign, with the help of a strong fundraising arm and more than a half-million dollars of Landrum’s personal fortune, has enjoyed a strong media presence during the race. That has helped to build up Landrum’s name identification in the crowded eight-way GOP primary to replace retiring Rep. Chip Pickering (R).

But depending on how much traction the issue generates in the coming days, Mississippi Republican insiders say the voting flap has the potential to make Landrum vulnerable in a runoff for the GOP nomination or possibly even knock him out of one of the top two spots.

The emerging controversy stems from concerns raised in late February by former Pickering aide John Rounsaville (R) — who also is running to replace his former boss — that Landrum didn’t vote in the 2003 election.

In that year’s Mississippi gubernatorial election, Landrum made donations to the campaigns of both Democrat Ronnie Musgrove and Republican Haley Barbour. Though Landrum has given significantly more money to GOP candidates, some of his opponents questioned his Republican bona fides for his Musgrove donation.

Landrum insisted that, like any good Magnolia State Republican, he voted for Barbour. He said he voted by affidavit that year because, after he and his family moved to Hinds County in 2002, his name was not on the official voter rolls.

To back up those claims, Landrum’s campaign produced documents that they said proved both Landrum and his wife voted in Hinds County. Those voter roll documents contained signatures that Landrum told Mississippi reporters were both his and his wife’s.

But an investigation by the Clarion-Ledger newspaper found that those signatures did not match up to either Landrum or his wife. In an article published Sunday, the Clarion-Ledger found two former Hinds County voters who said the signatures were in fact theirs.

This week Landrum explained that his campaign released the voter roll documents before he had the chance to review them and admitted that the signatures were neither his nor his wife’s.

Landrum campaign manager Neil Forbes said Wednesday that Landrum and his wife were on the campaign trail on the day the campaign released the documents and had been unable to verify their signatures.

According to an e-mail sent to supporters by Jill Landrum, Forbes offered to resign over the matter but Landrum refused.

This week, Landrum continued to insist that he voted in 2003 and Forbes said the campaign is calling for an investigation into what happened to Landrum and his wife’s voting records, which have yet to be found. Forbes described the entire issue as “desperation politics” stirred up by other campaigns. He added that the camp wants to find out who had access to Landrum’s voting records and if those records could have been tampered with.

On Wednesday, several Mississippi political insiders described the voting controversy as a classic case of the coverup being worse than the crime.

“If he didn’t vote and had voter registration problems just say so and move on,” said Sid Salter, an editor and syndicated columnist with the Clarion-Ledger who was involved in the paper’s investigation into the Landrum controversy. “In a nutshell the coverup and disingenuous manner in which it has been handled I think is much more of an issue than not voting itself.”

But is it enough to knock Landrum out of a runoff?

Probably not, Salter said. A lot more people have seen Landrum’s TV commercials than have seen the story on his voting record. But that could change in a runoff.

“At that point I think it’s a whole new ballgame and I think there’s going to be an even greater level of scrutiny brought to bear on his statements and on these bogus releases,” Salter said.

“I do think [the controversy] absolutely stopped whatever momentum [Landrum] might have had, and wherever he was two weeks ago is about his high point,” said Mississippi attorney Andy Taggart, a former chief of staff to then-Gov. Kirk Fordice (R).

Taggart said the biggest beneficiary of the current voting flap may not be Rounsaville, who sparked the entire issue, but rather state Sen. Charlie Ross and Rankin County Republican Party Chairman Gregg Harper, who are the other top-tier Republicans in the primary race.

“Sometimes the conventional wisdom is even if a claim is accurate the person who has blown the whistle on it sometimes gets fragged by having made the claim,” Taggart said. “This is definitely ... to the benefit of both Ross and Harper, who have been perceived to be outside the fray and I think they are benefiting from the fact that lots of people are falling off Landrum.”

For his part, Harper chose not to discuss the voting issue in an interview Wednesday.

“We are going to continue to run a clean, positive campaign, and we will stay on message until the end of this race,” Harper said. “I do believe that if there’s a runoff that we’ll be in that runoff.”

Landrum's voting scandal

Madison County Journal Editorial - Landrum's voting scandal - David Landrum has some explaining to do. So far, his ever-evolving story about his voting record isn't holding water.

The next Landrum press release could very possibly cite the Madison County voter roll "scandal" that was breaking at press time as proof of the corruption he's been alleging. The problem is, Landrum has never stated unequivocally that he voted regularly during the nearly decade in question. The record reflects that Landrum didn't vote after November 2000 or before November 2007. The Madison County voter roll story is overblown, by all accounts.

A blog entry late Wednesday by Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger said the Landrum campaign is likely to ramp up previously vague allegations they've made of possible tampering with voting documents in Hinds County. Because Landrum was hit in the Madison County voter roll purge, they will suggest a similar pattern exists in Hinds County.

"That's a stretch, considering that the Hinds County affidavit voter register remains available for inspection. But look for a conspiracy scenario to emerge that attempts to give the Landrum campaign some cover on what they've already admitted - manufacturing false evidence to bolster Landrum's voting claims," Salter wrote.

The stakes are high and the shoes to be filled are big in this election on Tuesday. Mississippi would be well served in Congress by a Harper, Ross or Rounsaville.

But Mr. Landrum has some explaining to do.

If casting a ballot on election day isn't really that important, then why are we in Iraq? For a flag-waving Republican trying to get elected to Congress, failing to participate regularly in the most basic of democratic processes is an unforgivable sin.

The controversy began Feb. 11 at a debate in Noxapater when Landrum was asked directly for whom he voted in the 2003 gubernatorial election between incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove and Republican challenger Haley R. Barbour. "Well, my vote is for Gov. Barbour," Landrum said, dodging the question. But Landrum acknowledged making a $1,000 donation to Musgrove at the request of friends and business associates interested in tort reform.

Many of the other candidates are aware of Landrum's voting record, but only one, John Rounsaville, has had the courage to call Landrum out. He did so in a Feb. 20 press conference - not with a whisper campaign or mud-slinging. Now that's the kind of integrity and character we need in Washington.

On Feb. 22, two days after the press conference, Landrum's campaign provided documentation saying that signatures on a Hinds County voting log belong to Landrum and his wife Jill. The Clarion-Ledger reported on Sunday that other voters say the signatures are theirs - and they are.

By Monday night, Landrum's campaign chair was explaining that the Feb. 22 press release was sent out without Landrum's knowledge. "It never occurred to either David or Jill to verify the signatures. David accepts responsibility for an honest mistake," wrote Bill Lampton, the campaign chair, in an e-mail.

Hogwash!

Records show Landrum didn't vote at all, wasn't even registered in Hinds County. What about the other elections between 2000 and 2007?

The Landrum coverup began and continues with a classic campaign tactic of admitting nothing, denying everything, demanding proof, minimizing the effects and making wild counter accusations.

Landrum's story simply isn't adding up and voters deserve an explanation from a candidate who has made integrity an issue. Landrum has spent nearly $400,000 of his own money campaigning. For a man who professes to be the anti-politician of the bunch, he sure is acting like one.

Voting is the solemn right, privilege, and civic duty of every American citizen. Landrum has yet to state definitively that he's voted regularly since 2000. Is David Landrum telling the whole truth?

Marshall Ramsey on David Landrum

Clarion Ledger - Thursday's Cartoon - OK, I just wrote a long post explaining that this cartoon refers to the 2003 election in HINDS County about which the Landrum campaign presented false signatures to prove he voted in the race between Musgrove and Barbour (he gave money to both) and not to the 2007 one where his and 9,999 other names were mysteriously purged from the MADISON County voter rolls. But Pluck just wiped out the post I had been working on for 20 minutes. I guess Pluck's part of the conspiracy to get David Landrum. I know it seems to be getting my blog. Anyway, here's the cartoon.

Neshoba Editorial: Is Landrum telling the truth?

Neshoba County Democrat - Is Landrum telling the truth?

The field of Republican candidates for the Third Congressional District seat is impressive. Among the seven Republicans are four leading candidates, each of whom has been able to garner significant support from various sectors of the GOP faithful.

Few will deny that Chip Pickering has been an outstanding representative and served with distinction. And even fewer would argue with the declaration that the late G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery served the district like a true statesman for 30 years.

So the stakes are high and the shoes to be filled are big on March 11, particularly so in this part of the state, where Rep. Montgomery was known fondly to his many friends as "Sonny" and Rep. Pickering as "Chip" to his.

To be sure, neither one of the leading four candidates has a corner on faith, conservatism or family values.

Granted, each gentleman brings a significantly different life experience to the contest, Mississippi would be well served in Congress by a Harper, Ross or Rounsaville.

Before David Landrum can be included in that lot, however, he must come clean on his voting record.

So far, Landrum's ever-evolving story isn't holding water.

The problem is, Landrum has never stated unequivocally that he voted regularly during the nearly decade in question.

The record reflects that Landrum didn't vote after November 2000 or before November 2007.

If casting a ballot on election day isn't really that important, - as some of Landrum's supporters now contend - then why are we in Iraq?

For a flag-waving Republican trying to get elected to Congress, failing to participate regularly in the most basic of democratic processes is an unforgivable sin.

The controversy began Feb. 11 at a debate in Noxapater when Landrum was asked directly for whom he voted in the 2003 gubernatorial election between incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove and Republican challenger Haley R. Barbour.

"Well, my vote is for Gov. Barbour," Landrum said, dodging the question.

But Landrum acknowledged making a $1,000 donation to Musgrove at the request of friends and business associates interested in tort reform.

Many of the other candidates are aware of Landrum's voting record, but only one, John Rounsaville, has had the courage to call Landrum out. He did so in a Feb. 20 press conference - not with a whisper campaign or mud-slinging. Now that's the kind of integrity and character we need in Washington.

On Feb. 22, two days after the press conference, Landrum's campaign provided documentation saying that signatures on a Hinds County voting log belong to Landrum and his wife Jill.

The Clarion-Ledger reported on Sunday that other voters say the signatures are theirs - and they are.

By Monday night, Landrum's campaign chair was explaining that the Feb. 22 press release was sent out without Landrum's knowledge. "It never occurred to either David or Jill to verify the signatures. David accepts responsibility for an honest mistake," wrote Bill Lampton, the campaign chair, in an e-mail.

Hogwash!

Records show Landrum didn't vote at all, wasn't even registered in Hinds County.

What about the other elections between 2000 and 2007?

The Landrum coverup began with a classic campaign tactic of admitting nothing, denying everything, demanding proof, minimizing the effects and making wild counter accusations.

Landrum's story simply isn't adding up and voters deserve an explanation from a candidate who has made integrity an issue.

Is Landrum telling the truth?

Landrum has spent nearly $400,000 of his own money campaigning.

For a man who professes to be the anti-politician of the bunch, he sure is acting like one.

Voting is the solemn right, privilege, and civic duty of every American citizen.

Landrum has yet to state definitively that he's voted regularly since 2000.

Vote this Tuesday, March 11.