frauds using fraud to detect alleged fraud!

Builders group uses trick to check out voters’ signature

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The Building Industry Association of Washington recently sent hundreds of surveys to King County residents, claiming its purpose was to help project housing trends in the Puget Sound region.

Turns out the three-question survey -- enclosed with a $10 check as an incentive to return it -- was part of a plan by backers of former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi to search for fraudulent votes cast in the disputed November election, The Seattle Times reported Friday.

The surveys were mailed to more than 400 voters whose absentee ballots were questioned after the election and who signed post-election affidavits to ensure their ballots were counted.

The BIAW sent the survey in January and February, hoping to collect enough signatures to match against the affidavits, which were collected by Democratic volunteers and helped Democrat Christine Gregoire win the election.

Tom McCabe, the group’s executive vice president, said about 120 checks or surveys have been returned. About 20 of them raised questions for McCabe.

Some signatures on voter affidavits Democrats submitted in November don’t match signatures on surveys and checks the builders group collected from the same people. McCabe said he suspects Democratic volunteers forged signatures. State Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said that didn’t happen and suggested that what the BIAW did should be against the law.

“It’s very unseemly. It actually is stealing people’s signatures,” Berendt said. “What he’s done is essentially a form of identity theft.”

A few voters The Times contacted this week agreed and said the signatures on their affidavits were theirs. Some said they use different styles signing different types of documents, in some cases to lower the risk of identity theft.

Christina Spears-Bartunek of Duvall had a quick answer for why the signature on her check was so different from the one on her affidavit.

“My husband signed the check,” she told The Times, calling the survey deceptive.

Seattle voter Arthur Pasette, a retired physician, said he used different signatures on his voter affidavit and the check. While he writes more legibly and spells out his first and last name when he signs checks, he said he used a more stylized signature on the affidavit.

Berendt said that many volunteers who collected signatures said voters told them their signatures on the ballots didn’t match the signature on file with the county because they, too, use different types of signatures depending on what they sign.

The politically powerful builders association contributes large amounts to Republican candidates and has worked to find evidence Republicans could use in their lawsuit challenging Gregoire’s election.

The group’s survey came with a cover letter that told people they had been “selected to participate in a market research study being conducted by the Building Industry Association of Washington.”

“Our association is conducting this study to help estimate trends in home ownership and demographics relating to home affordability in the Puget Sound Region.”

The voters were told they wouldn’t be contacted again, and even if they didn’t fill out the survey “we would like you to accept the enclosed check as a thank you for your time.”

McCabe said that even if there are no forged signatures, he’s glad he began the effort
because it led him to the wider hunt for felon voters.

He said authorities have not been interested in his findings.

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Well, do you think that the authorities are not "interested in his findings" because he has been perpetrating FRAUD?! I would think that the only reason authorities would be interested would be if they were pressing charges against him! Is it even POSSIBLE for repubs to be honest?!

I cannot believe that the repubs up there are STILL hounding everyone about this one election! As they tell us over and over and over again: "GET OVER IT!"